Alan Hankinson Collection

Film recordings of rock climbing activity in the Lake District by the Abraham Brothers of Keswick (1913-1920); ascent of Changabang (1974); profile of Walpole by J B Priestly (1979). Audio interviews recorded in 1977, collectively known as "Everest Storyteller", regarding Mount Everest Expeditions of 1924 - 1975, interviewees are Professor Noel Odell, Dr. Raymond Greene, Sir Edmund Hillary, Lord John Hunt, Eric Shipton, and Sir Chris Bonington

Audio interviews are arranged by date

<p>Records of Mount Everest Expeditions are held at the Royal Geographical Society</p>

This collection is open for consultation. Readers are advised to contact the Mountain Heritage Trust in advance of their visit in order to make an appointment

Donated by Alan Hankinson

The Abraham Brothers' films were given to the donor by the Abraham Brothers

Alan Hankinson was born 25th May 1926 in Gatley, Cheshire. He grew up in Bolton, Lancashire and was educated at Bolton School. Having won a scholarship from Bolton School he studied Modern History at Magdalene College, Oxford. His time at university was interrupted by service in the army, with the 'Black Watch' regiment and the Gurkhas in India. Time spent with the Gurkha people fostered his love for their country and culture. After the War Hankinson resumed his university education and decided on journalism as a career on graduation, a decision he has never regretted. His professional career started by working as a reporter on 'The Bolton Evening News'. He worked in various roles for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service and then spent seventeen years working with Independent Television News in London. Whilst working for ITN Hankinson was able to accompany expeditions to the Alps and Himalayas as a reporter with a film crew. He filmed ascents of the North Wall of the Eiger, Annapurna and Changabang, thus becoming friendly with Sir Chris Bonington, Doug Scott, Don Whillans and Mick Burke amongst others. In 1975 Hankinson moved to the Lake District working as an obituarist for ITN. More recently Hankinson worked as a mountain guide and freelance journalist, contributing articles to Cumbria Life Magazine about the great literary figures that have lived in the area. His published books are

The First Tigers (1972) - A history of climbing in the Lake District

Camera on the Crags (1975) - A study of the Keswick photographers and climbers George and Ashley Abraham

Changabang (1975), with C.J.S. Bonington and Martin Boysen - An account of the Himalayan expedition

The Mountain Men (1977) - A history of climbing in North Wales

Man of Wars - A biography of William Howard Russell of The Times, the leading journalist of his day

A Century on the Crags (1988) - The story of one hundred years of rock climbing

The Regatta Men - a tale of two local eccentrics who organised regattas on Derwent Water

The Blue Box - the history of the touring theatre which came to rest in Keswick and was the forerunner of the current Theatre by the Lake

Coleridge Walks the Fells - A Lakeland Journey Retraced (1991) - won the 'Lakeland Book of the Year' award and the Portico Prize for Northern writers

First Bull Run - an account of the first victory for the South in the American Civil War Vicksberg - The story of the battle of Vicksberg which was the turning point in the American Civil War

Geoffrey Winthrop Young (1995) - A biography which won the Boardman Tasker prize for Mountain Literature

Twelve Miles from a Lemon - a compilation of the writings of the clergyman and humourist Sydney Smith

Alan Hankinson died in March 2007