Fawcett Douglas

(Bearbeiten)

Biografie:
Douglas Fawcett (1866- 1960).
Edward Douglas Fawcett, a mountaineer-philosopher who may be known to some members by his two most notable works, The Zermatt Dialogues (1934) and The Oberland Dialogues (1939), was the son of an Equerry to King Edward VII, and brother of the Colonel Fawcett, whose disappearance in Brazil still captures the imagination of romantics. Douglas Fawcett was as adventurous as his brother, but in a different way. A precocious boy at Westminster, he early turned his mind to science fiction, and in imaginative prescience was well ahead of H. G. Wells, particularly in his forecasting the air bombing of London and the use of armoured fighting vehicles in desert warfare.
His first marriage took him to Switzerland, where he lived for many years, and he became a pioneer skier and an experienced mountaineer, as well as an early motorist. In 1904 he managed to drive his car up the mule-path from Chamonix to the Mer de Glace. Annually, he climbed the Matterhorn until at the age of 66 he had a heart attack and had to desist. However, at 68 he learned to fly and, until he was 84 (excluding the war years), he was indefatigable in flying his light aeroplane among the Alps. When his flying licence was not renewed, he took to playing chess, and reached championship standards. Although never a member of the Alpine Club, this dashing and versatile man is one whose memory most certainly deserves a mention in our pages.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 65, 1960, Seite 228


Geboren am:
1866
Gestorben am:
1960