I had not really appreciated that Amundsen was planning on going to the North Pole, then changed his mind and only told Scott once afloat.
Some of the colour in this must read article is gobsmacking: choosing not to use morphine at the end, their colleagues searching for Scott’s certainly dead team over a team which could be alive, Oates deliberately freezing his leg to stop it hurting.
I cannot understand what drove these men on and am not sure we have had anyone quite like them alive since.
Time to read some more, I think. Birthday Boys is a great book, but this has confirmed that there is a lot I don’t know.