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During the early 1950s Murray turned his attentions to the Himalayas,
including Everest in 1951, which proved that a feasible approach
to the mountain lay up its western side - the route taken by the
eventual first ascentionists. Murray's subsequent book The Story
of Everest, became a best seller when its publication coincided
with an upsurge in public interest in the mountain following the
successful ascent by John Hunt's British Commonwealth Expedition
in 1953.
Murray spent most of the rest of his life engaged in writing on
an eclectic range of Scottish subjects. These included geography
and natural history (his books on the West Highlands and Western
Isles are still widely read), sport (he wrote the definitive book
on curling) and history. His 1982 book Rob Roy MacGregor - his
life and times, became the classic account of the famous Scot's
life and which formed the basis of the successful 1995 Hollywood
film Rob Roy (although Murray, much to his annoyance, never received
a penny in royalties).
The Evidence of Things Not Seen is, naturally, strong on
the climbing aspects of Murray's life, but his depictions of warfare,
experienced during the desert campaigns in North Africa are outstandingly
vivid. Likewise, Murray's depictions of PoW life are eloquently
observed and revealing. The extent to which a vibrant intellectual
life was maintained in the camps is startling, and at times it almost
seems like the prisoners were operating an overseas summer camp
of the Workers Educational Association with their lectures on Shakespeare,
their reading groups and general self-improvement.
Reading between the lines Murray also hints at tensions between
those factions of the prison population content to 'improve themselves'
while waiting passively for liberation, and the obsessive 'escapers'
such as fellow inmate and SMC member Alistair Cram who escaped 13
times before finally being captured and tortured by the Gestapo.
These accounts are certainly the strongest and most engrossing parts
of Murray's autobiography and are the most important in helping
to understand what shaped the quasi-religious mysticism which gave
his climbing books such a distinctive cast.
Hardcore climbers may be disappointed by the relatively small amount
of new background material relating to Murray's inter- and post-
war winter climbing activities. But it seems Murray felt he had
said pretty much everything he wanted to in his original books and
so editor Ken Wilson has resorted to inserting excerpts from Mountaineering
in Scotland to ensure a chronological flow in the Murray life story.
Similarly, abridged parts of Murray's expedition books are pressed
into service to fill evident gaps in the post-war sections for the
same reasons but as several of these have long been out of print,
this is a welcome 're-release' of classic material, rather than
a 'patch'.
Previously unpublished words of wisdom are to be found, however,
in a later chapter devoted to Murray's highly influential work as
one of the first effective Scottish conservation campaigners. In
1962 the National Trust for Scotland approached him with a view
to producing a survey of 'the best of' the Highland landscape. The
need for data was pressing; blanket afforestation and a plethora
of hydroelectric schemes were in the offing and threatened to swamp
the gorgeous places of Caledonia. The result, Highland Landscape,
identified 21 'National Scenic Areas' which have long been regarded
as a de facto shopping list for a series of Scottish National Parks.
Although it is over 40 years since he made his arguments, the undeniable
sense of Murray's selection has continued to nag away at the conscience
of the planning plutocracy, and now two of Murray's areas, Loch
Lomond and Cairngorms, are finally to achieve exulted National Park
status. Surely it's only a matter of time before the rest follow.
Such a legacy would be fitting for a man who gave years of unpaid
service as a founding commissioner of the Countryside Commission
for Scotland.
For someone as knowledgeable, romantic and lyrical as Bill Murray,
committee meetings with your typical bone-headed quangocrats must
have been a sore trial. "They had no intimate knowledge of the countryside
- …their awareness was strictly confined, - yet all could express
strongly confident opinions on subjects of which they were quite
profoundly ignorant," he once wrote after a meeting in the 1970s.
Plus ca change: it all sounds horribly reminiscent of a modern
Scottish Natural Heritage forum.
Despite the frustrations at having to suffer fools gladly, it didn't
stop Murray from getting involved in an astonishing range of wildland
campaigning groups: the Ramblers' Association, Mountaineering Council
of Scotland, Friends of Loch Lomond, Scottish Wild Land Group all
benefited from his help. Even toward the end of his life he was
still at it, helping to set up the John Muir Trust in the mid-1980s
and becoming Patron of the Scottish Council for National Parks in
1990. Perhaps the best indication of Murray's wider influence is
the fact that, although his classic books are often quoted in the
climbing literature, there can be few British climbers who have
also been quoted by a Vice President of the United States (Al Gore
in Earth in Balance).
Evidence is therefore important in reminding us of Murray's
contribution to the modern appreciation of the Scottish outdoors,
be it climbing, conservation or history. The book is a fitting testimony
to the life of a gentle, introspective man whose writing transcended
a natural diffidence to help shape the popular contemporary conception
of Scotland's mountains. "Dreams are for action," he once said.
And he had plenty of both.
Colin Wells
8/8/2002
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