Mike Banks (mountaineer)

Michael Edward Borg Banks MBE (22 December 1922 – 9 February 2013) was a British soldier, adventurer, climber and author.[1]

Early life

Banks was born in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, on 22 December 1922.[1] His father Humphrey Borg, an engineer, and mother Elsie (nee Millicent) worked in Malta, where Banks was schooled until returning to Chippenham when he was 14.[1] He adopted the surname Banks by deed poll, in adulthood.[1]

Career and later life

Banks joined the Royal Marines, with a commission, in January 1942.[1] He was a member of the British North Greenland Expedition (1952 to 1954).

He appeared as a castaway on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs on 25 November 1954.[2] He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1959.[1]

In 1958, he made the first ascent of Rakaposhi with Tom Patey as part of a British-Pakistani joint forces Himalayan expedition.[3]

At the age of 77, in May 2000, he climbed the Scottish sea stack, the Old Man of Hoy becoming the oldest person to have done so.[4]

He died in Bristol on 9 February 2013, aged 90.[1]

Bibliography

  • (1955). Commando climber. Dent.
  • (1957). High Arctic: The story of the British North Greenland Expedition. Dent.
  • (1957). High Arctic. Secker & Warburg.
  • (1959). Rakaposhi. Secker & Warburg.
  • (1961). Snow Commando. Burke.
  • (1975). Greenland. David and Charles. ISBN 978-0715369111.
  • (1979). Mountaineering for Beginners. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0340236956.

References

  1. "Michael Banks". The Daily Telegraph. 11 February 2013. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  2. "Desert Island Discs – Castaway : Captain M B B Banks RM". BBC Online. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2014. [sic]
  3. Banks, M.E.B; Mills, E.J.E (1960). "The Ascent of Rakaposhi". The Geographical Journal. The Royal Geographical Society. CXXVI. JSTOR 1790422.
  4. "Alpine Club Newsletter 3/2000". Alpine Club. July 2000. Archived from the original (MS word) on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
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