Meyer Harold A.

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Biografie:
HaroId A Meyer (1898-1980)
The death of Harold Meyer in July 1980 caused a sad loss to his many friends and among writers and mountaineers in numerous countries. Born in 1898 to parents who were inveterate travellers, he was allowed to accompany them together with his older brother Edward from the age of 6 on their annual holidays in the Alps. Those tours laid the firm foundation of a great passion for Alpine motoring in later years.
In 1917 he left Westminster School to serve in the Great War as an infantry officer with the 4/5th South Lancashire Regiment. He was stationed in India and it was here, whilst on sick leave in Darjeeling, that his life-long love of the Himalaya was kindled. On demobilisation in 1919 he took up a scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford where, besides obtaining Honours with Distinction in Modern Languages, he represented the University against Cambridge in the sprints, gained his 'Blue' for athletics and won the AAA 'gold' as a member of the winning Achilles relay team at the 1925 championships. He retained a lasting interest in athletics throughout his life, editing 2 books on the subject, and specialized in trackside photography. In 1926 he married Myfanwy Jenkins who was to bear him a daughter and a son. He was successively schoolmaster, bank clerk, member of the London Stock Exchange, Civil Servant and finally business executive and was engaged in intelligence work during the war. Ever since his army service he devoted all his leisure time to climbing, walking and photography. His Alpine experiences began in 1922 with his ascent of the Jungfrau and he subsequently climbed many other Alpine peaks including the Wetterhorn, Mönch and the Breithorn. Together with his wife he walked the length and breadth of the Alps, which he visited more than 30 times. In this country he spent several seasons in the Lake District, as well as Snowdonia, and was a member of the Fell and Rock in addition to the Alpine Club. He achieved a prominent place among contemporary mountain writers and photographers, working under the pen name of Hugh Merrick.
Harold Meyer came to writing late in life. Pillar in the Sky, the first of his five novels, all set against a mountaineering background, was published in 1942; Savoy Episode, one of his most successful books, followed in 1944; Andreas at Sundown in 1946; The Breaking Strain in 1951 and Out of the Night in 1957. Many of his novels were translated into French and German and the last 2 were both dramatized and produced on BBC radio, the latter with Michael Hordern in the leading role. Later he published a book on photography and travel called Rambles in the Alps which includes over 120 of his huge collection of Alpine photographs, and, in 1958 at the request of his good friend and publisher Robert Hale, The Great Motor Highways of the Alps The Perpetual Hills, a personal anthology of the mountains, was also published in 1958, to be followed in 1970 by The Alps in Colour, and Companion to the Alps in 1974. Many of his photographs also appeared as illustrations in books by other authors and in the Alpine Calendar. Apart from his lifelong passion for airing his views in The Times' Letters to the Editor column, he contributed between the years 1950 and 1969 a large number of articles on mountain subjects to newspapers and journals, including the Sphere, Autocar, Country Life and John 0 'London's. Most readers of the AJ will surely remember the controversy that developed in the early 1960s on the plausibility of certain claims that were made in connection with the Chinese Photograph. He was one of the top translators in the field of mountaineering literature, including To the Third Pole, Nanga Parbat Pilgrimage, The White Spider and many others. In later years he resumed his love for painting in oils and produced more than 70 canvases, mostly of Alpine and Himalayan scenes. He was always rather modest about his skills as a painter, but nevertheless submitted 2 of his last paintings to the 1980 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. He also wrote poetry, some of which was published, as well as what many experts regard as the best complete Heine translation into English to date. In addition to all this, he was an accomplished musician, having performed under the baton of Sir Adrian Boult, and counted many eminent musicians among his friends. Having become an expert on the history of violins he continued playing until his death and his friends will treasure the many tapes he recorded over the years. At the age of 80 he became the oldest contestant to appear on “Mastermind”, answering questions on the Alps. After 22 years membership of the British Olympic Association he resigned over the team's decision to participate in the Moscow Olympics.
His sudden death after a mercifully short illnes deprived him of the ultimate joy of seeing the reprint of The Breaking Strain and Pillar of the Sky. Camejeon, his last and he believed best novel, remains to be published.
Mary ElIis, a great lady of the theatre and his lifelong friend since childhood days, summed up my feelings when she said that there would never be another man like him. With his genuine modesty he had entitled his autobiography Master of None; on his gravestone he wanted to have only four words engraved: 'I tried my best'.-Few could have done better.
Per Scheibner
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 86, 1981, Seite 267


Geboren am:
1898
Gestorben am:
07.1980