Dr Griffith Pugh and the Conquest of Everest - Harriet Tuckey's Book.
The Anniversary Lecture 1993
One evening in May 1993 I fond myself struggling to push my father, in a borrowed wheelchair, into the crowded lecture hall of the Royal Geographic Society with my mother following close behind. Forcing through throngs of people, we moved him towards a row of seats near the front that has been reserved for the members of the 1953 expedition to Mount Everest. My father, Dr Griffith Pugh, had been the oldest member of the expedition. The lecture we were about to hear was a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the conquest of Everest
I was only six in 1953 but I can still remember the euphoric public reaction to the news of the British triumph. Everest was climbed on 29th May. The story was rushed home in the greatest secrecy but then held back and released on 2nd June in a blaze of nationalistic publicity on the morning of the coronation of the youthful Queen Elizabeth. It seemed as if the Everest prize was being laid at the feet of our new queen to remind her of the underlying greatness of her loyal subjects crushed by postwar austerity and the loss of empire. Young boys felt surging pride and patriotism. It was a cheering, uplifting moment and now it was being celebrated 40 years on with an illustrated lecture given by members of the expedition, to be followed by glittering reception at which Queen Elizabeth would be the guest of honour.
The members of the 1953 expedition had been allocated seats in the second row directly behind the Queen and other members of the royal family. There was an air of tension among the officials who were trying to make sure that the large audience would be in their seats in time to rise respectfully at the Royal entrance. Suddenly it occurred to them that my father's wheelchair might be an obstruction if it was allowed to remain near the front and after much dithering and chopping and changing they resolved to leave my mother at the front and shunt to my father to the very back of the lecture hall where he would be out of the way. There I left him sitting alone in his wheelchair in the back aisle, a diminutive hunched figure who had once been so tall, strong and athletic. His unruly red hair, which had faded to the colour of ripe corn but which portrayed no trace of grey to testify to his 83 years was plastered down with Trumper‘s oil and his thick spectacles hung slightly askew on his nose.
I had agreed to go to the RGS reluctantly only because my mother had persuaded me to help with transport for this prestigious occasion. My father had become partially disabled from a series of accidents and my mother, who was not strong, felt unable to handle the wheelchair herself, He had been a remote and irascible parent I didn’t get on with him and I had never asked him about his work and knew little about it, though I had always been vaguely aware that my mother felt he hadn’t received fair credit for his achievements. It crossed my mind that his current position at the back of the lecture theatre seem to underline this point rather acutely since the organisers had known for a long time about Griffith's infirmity Still I found a spare seat a few rows in front of him and prepared to watch the lecture, expecting to be bored.
As the lecture progressed, however, I became captivated. Magnificent slides showing a chaotic mass of huge ice boulders barring the way up Everest's infamous 'Icefall'. The climbers were tiny specks in a vast and threatening landscape. Members of the expedition spoke about the brilliant leadership of Sir John Hunt, about the peerless logistical support given by George Band and consummate organisational abilities of Charles Wiley and the skill and determination of the Sir Edmund Hilary and his climbing partner Tenzing Norgay. Then a tall man with thick greying hair who I had never seen before, stood up to speak.
Dr Michael Ward. His opening words took the audience by surprise.
'We have been hearing a great deal this evening about the extraordinarily brilliant leadership provided by Sir John Hunt on the 1953 Everest expedition but there had been 11 previous expeditions to Mount Everest, many of which had excellent leaders - and they failed.
We have been hearing about the great skill of our climbers, but there had been many highly skilled climbers on previous Everest expeditions, yet they failed to get to the summit.
We’ve been hearing about the brilliant logistics, but there have been other well organised and well planned expeditions which all failed.
What I want to talk about tonight is the most important reason why the 1953 expedition succeeded where all of its predecessors failed, and that is the work of the unsung hero of Everest.
At this point he paused and a perceptible hush descended as the audience gave him their full attention. Then he spoke the name 'Dr Griffith Pugh'.
I felt a jolt of surprise. As the speaker began to describe the series of scientific innovations that had played a pivotal part in the success of the expedition, unexpected tears came to my eyes. Turning back to my father I saw his chin rising with pleasure and pride.
The audience remained in thrall until Dr Ward had finished speaking and at the party afterwards Griffith Pugh became the centre of attention, the celebrity of the evening. The Queen spent several minutes bent over his wheelchair talking to him. Rebecca Stevens, the first British woman to reach the summit of Everest (and a renowned beauty) stooped down to take its hand and gaze into his eyes; he was surrounded by attentive people. On the way home afterwards he said with great satisfaction that the Queen had been very gentle and made no further comment.
Within a few months he was bedridden and demented after a series of small strokes; a year later he was dead. Not long afterwards I read the official book about the Everest expedition of 1953 'The Ascent of Everest' by the leader John Hunt and I was mystified to find that Hunt had chosen not to reveal the true extent of my father's role in the expedition.
From Harriet Tuckey (Griffith Pugh's daughter's) book: 'Everest: The First Ascent' (2013)
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