Roland Huntford Biography

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Roland Huntford (born 1927) is principally an author of Polar biographies. He has written biographies of Robert Scott, Ernest Shackleton and Nobel Peace Prize winner Fridtjof Nansen. Huntford's The Last Place on Earth (originally titled Scott and Admundsen) had a tremendous impact on public interest in Polar matters. Part of the interest was because of Huntford's unflattering treatment of the iconic Captain Scott, and his adverse comparison of the planning and execution of the large and well-funded British expedition against the small Norwegian one led by Roald Amundsen. Huntford can be credited with re-inventing much Scott mythology, and increasing the stature of Amundsen. The historical roots for the book's structure range from Plutarch (Lives) through Alan Bullock (Hitler and Stalin). The two books which followed, biographies of Shackleton (Shackleton) and Nansen (Nansen) were also widely acclaimed. Nansen claims to be the first full-length biography in English of the great explorer and statesman using original sources, previously untapped.

Recently there has been a rebuttal of Huntford's attacks upon Scott by the British adventurer and baronet Ranulph Fiennes, who points out that Huntford lacks direct experience of Polar travel and man-hauling and asserts that Huntford is therefore not really qualified to comment on Scott's technical deficiencies. Fiennes also accuses Huntford of selective quotation editing, and of even inventing stories for his version of events, casting some doubt on the accuracy of Huntford's account.

Huntford's other books include The New Totalitarians, Sea of Darkness and The Sayings of Henrik Ibsen. He lives in Cambridge, and was formerly Scandinavian correspondent of The Observer. He was also the Alistair Horne Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford.

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