The first attempts to summit Everest are amongst the most well-known stories during the age of empire. In 1922, and then again 1924, a group of British climbers set off to ‘conquer’ the world’s highest peak – Mount Everest. Two of them, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, died in their attempt to reach the summit. The pair were hailed as heroes who embodied all that was believed to be ‘great’ about ‘Great Britain’. It was a story that captured the public’s imagination for decades and cast Mallory and Irvine as two of the Empire’s greatest adventure heroes.
100 years later, this exhibition re-examines the story. It looks at the climbs through the lens of Captain John Noel’s films and photography. As the official cinematographer and a pioneer of expeditionary filmmaking, Noel’s films helped create the hero narrative around the climbs. This exhibition goes behind the scenes of his two earliest films, Climbing Mount Everest (1922) and The Epic of Everest (1924), to unpick the uncomfortable and complex social, racial and geopolitical dynamics that shaped the expeditions – from their beginning to enduring legacy.
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Note about the captions
Within the Society's Collection there are some historical images (and image titles or captions) which are recognised as containing unacceptable forms of language, or present image content that is considered inappropriate. In such cases, as part of its Collections policy, the Society maintains access to those images and descriptors as a source of context and information for researchers, recognising that the historical language used or image subjects in themselves do not reflect the Society's contemporary position as an organisation wholly committed to principles of equality and diversity.
Featured image: The Epic of Everest poster heading, 1924.
Catch up with our Everest events
Watch recordings of our events related to Everest.
Other Everests
Read about the AHRC funded project, Other Everests, which brings together international scholars, archivists, curators, learned and professional societies and the UK mountaineering community to critically assess the legacy of the Everest expeditions and to re-evaluate the symbolic, political and cultural status of Everest in the contemporary world.