Adventurer's Eye: The Autobiography of Everest Film-Man

Tom Stobart is probably best known for being the film-man on John Hunt's Everest Expedition in 1953, but this is the culmination of this book. Well written, and with plenty of pace, this is Stobart's autobiography of his life basically from the time he left Cambridge until 1953 and the success of Hillary and Tenzing on Everest.

Two things that stand out about Stobart are his drive to succeed and his stubbornness, and these who things, which might be one in the same, helped him achieve incredible things.

Studying zoology at Cambridge may have influenced the field in which he worked, but it was love for a Romanian girl in London who returned home shortly before the War (WWII) that started his travels - he travelled to Romania to visit her (and make a film on Romania) and in transit the Russians signed their pact with Germany, which effectively kicked off the war. Instead of turning tail and heading home, he carried on, visiting his girl, although he had to leave fairly quickly, making his way back to Britain, but needing to find a new route to avoid Italy.

Not content with awaiting callup in the military (he was still too young for the intakes at that point) he joined the Quakers to make another trip to Romania, where he again stayed too long, and was isolated by the war. Never one to sit back and wait (not that he had much choice, as the Germans struck into the west) he headed off through Bulgaria and Turkey, then by train to reach India.

I am going to need to speed this up, as this review has got lengthy already - and all of this occurred in the first 60 pages of the book! In India Stobart was shoulder-tapped to join the army as a film-maker and spent two years filming for the military, but on leave he got his first taste of the Himalaya, as he planned an expedition to Nun Kun, and grappled with the problems of high altitude filming.

By now he had made a name for himself, and was sought out to make a film of an Antarctic expedition, and then worked for the famous Armand Denis and his wife Michaela in Kenya and then South Africa, filming their many exploits with wildlife. This continued into Australia with them, in the Gulf of Carpentaria filming crocodiles, where Stobart was struct down with fever, and repatriated to Britain for specialised medical treatment.

It was early in his recovery that he found out he had been selected for the Everest expedition, although he had tried to hide his illness. Then began his race to recover and gain some fitness for what was to be one of the biggest physical challenges of his career.

This book was loaded with fascinating anecdotes and stories, including meeting Ralph Izzard, and it alludes to the next adventure in line for him, an expedition with Izzard and Charles Stonor to find the Yeti, covered in Izzard's The Abominable Snowman Adventure, also excellent.

Great bio.
5 stars.