F. Spencer Chapman (1907–1971)

Interesting view from a perceptive 'Private Secretary' on the 1936 to 1937 British mission to Tibet. It is an interesting view unfiltered by the later events of WWII, Mao and current Tibetan politics.
The author was an excellent mountaineer and bird watcher. His enumeration of these gets a bit tedious in sections.

This is an account of a year spent by the author and his family, travelling by van around south, central and east Africa. Not a patch on Chapman's earlier, seminal work "The Jungle in Neutral", though that was not entirely unexpected.

Essentially two books in one reprint: the memoir of a mountaineer part is 'Helvellyn to Himalaya', the author's account of his development as a mountain climber, climazing with the first ascent of Chomolhari, a 24,000 ft peak straddling the borders of Tibet, China and Bhutan. This was in 1937 - Chomolhari was not climbed again until 1970. 'Lhasa: The Holy City' is the second bokk in this reprint: an account of Spencer Chapman's six-month sojourn in Lhasa, as part of the 1937 British Mission. show more The text is far from scintillating, saying little about the talk/negotiations which took place (perfectly understandable as he was writing contemporaneously). However, the book does paint a picture of a little-known country and its society - best understood with some viewing of the photographs taken by the author, including historic colour cine film. show less

My first acquaintance with Spencer Chapman was his 'The Jungle is Neutral', the quintessential 'behind enemy lines' story of the Pacific War. And added irony to that story was that his allies in the jungle were essentially the Communist Party of Malaya led by the perennial Chin Peng (his group finally ceased hostilities in 1989). It may have been the dramatic circumstances, or a maturing in Spencer Chapman's writing, but it has to be said that this earlier book detailing his journeying in show more Tibet in the 1930's is exceedingly dull. Which is doubly odd - and disappointing - as he had extraordinary access (via his temporary diplomatic posting) to the most powerful and influential Tibetan leaders of the day. None of this, however, overcomes S-C's plodding style; "I did this, then I did this, after that I did this". If ever a man was in need of a good editor... As for the description of the mountaineering, well nobody has ever better conveyed the tedium of climbing up big piles of rocks. Don't dismiss his 'Jungle is Neutral' or think less of the man (try a biography perhaps), but this is more miss than hit. One for the modern Tibetan history folk. show less