The Last Hero

By Tim Madge

Arguably the greatest explorer and adventurer the twentieth century produced, Bill Tilman was in his eightieth year when he disappeared in Antarctic waters in 1977.

The yacht on which he had set sail was ill-suited for the voyage but he had committed himself to go. His iron-willed integrity forbad any last minute doubts. It was his will power, as well as his extraordinary tenacity, that most of those who knew him remember best. To a later generation those qualities were often perceived as stubborn wayward refusal to accept the inevitable.

To many who knew him well, as much as to the thousands of climbers and sailors, who relished each of his 15 memorable books, Tilman remained an enigma – a shy self-effacing man with a wicked dry sense of humour who hardly credited his own achievements and who never married.

Bill Tilman was one of the 20th century’s greatest travel writers, a master of a good story, with a black sense of humour. Using a mass of previously unpublished material from thousands of letters and papers, The Last Heroshows the human face of a man who deserves a belated wide-spread recognition from a world which, more than ever, needs its adventurers and heroes.

Tim Madge is a social historian, lecturer and journalist. He is the author of a number of books, including Maiden (with Tracy Edwards) and White Mischief, subsequently turned into a BBC Radio Four documentary series which he wrote and presented. Dr Madge is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.