Life is a Meeting

This book is not a formal autobiography from the cradle to the cross benches of the House of Lords. It is more a reflection on facets of a life which has involved travel and climbing in equal parts with professional soldiering, and pioneering and administration in the fields of education. Apart from the triumph of Everest in 1953, Lord Hunt's mountaineer memories include alpine-style climbing in the Karakoram and the Himalayas before the second world war; later joint expeditions with Russian climbers in the Caycasys and the Pamirs; exploration in unclimbed parts of Greenland and the Yukon; more relaxed excusrions to Mount Sinai and Athos; as well as numerous climbs nearer home in the Alps where he learnt his skills and has watched the changing moods of that playground of Europe for five decades. Other chapters describe Intelligence work in Bengal in the thirties, war experiences in italy and Greece, the setting up and establishing of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, heading the British Relief Mission to Nigeria during the Civil War, and thoughts on penal reform, and the role of the House of Lords. Here is a full life in full measure, a reflection on some of the events and preoccupations which have broadened the horizons of our century.