George Leigh-Mallory was born a natural climber and athlete. Blessed by the gods as being an extraordinarily beautiful and charismatic man, he excelled in school at both mathematics and gymnastics. He began his climbing career in Primary school. He climbed in the Alps from the age of fourteen and on some of the most challenging rock-climbs in Wales. The list of his first ascents of daring new routes comprises the cutting egde of climbing in his day. He read history at Magdalen College Cambridge, and published a biography of James Boswell in 1912. A commited Fabian, he was a proponent of women's suffrage and other advanced social causes. He was part of the Bloomsbury group, whose members included the Stracheys, Lytton and James, Duncan Grant, Leonard and Virginia Woolf, and Clive and Vanessa Bell. He was a member of the Alpine Club and the Editor of the Climber's Club Journal. He taught at the Charterhouse school in Surrey, where he was a very progressive master. 1914 in Italy, he fell in love with Ruth Turner. They were engaged after only a month's acquaintance and married just before the outbreak of the war. He described Ruth as 'my sweet angel' and showed her an openness and devotion he had never been able to manage with any other woman. She was the perfect foil for him, down-to-earth, steady, tremendously supportive and sweet-natured. Although the war kept them apart a good while of their first five years togther, they had two daughters in this time, Clare and Berry, followed by son John in 1920. George, who had been climbing in the Alps, missed John's birth by half an hour.

George was one of the top climbers of his day and was a natural choice for the three Everest expeditions, although he was torn about leaving his little family for the dangers of the mountain. On Everest, his talent and ability shone forth, although his fellow team mates were not blind to his faults; he was a terrific slob for instance, and in camp could be quite absent-minded. 'He is a great dear,' Col. Bruce wrote, 'but he forgets his boots on all occasions.' But there was no doubt about who was master of the mountain. When the time came to choose a climbing leader, it was George. He made a tour of England and America after the first two expeditions, giving well-attended lectures, from whence came the famous, irritable answer as to why anyone should climb Everest: 'Because it is there'. On the third expedition, when the Everest committee chose Sandy Irvine, George was delighted, not only because he was 'a fellow Birkenhead man' - from the same village - but because here was a chance to mentor a young man as he had been mentored by Irving, Young, and others. He and Sandy got on straightaway, and by the time they had reached India for the trek across Tibet, they were fast friends. As early as Darjeeling, George had no real intention of climbing with anyone else, for Sandy's strength, good-humour, willingness, and mechanical ability with the oxygen apparatus were the perfect combination for success on the mountain.

After three unsuccessful attempts, on the morning of 4 June 1924 Mallory and Irvine left Advance Base Camp for their summit bid. On the night of the 7th George sent down a note from their high camp, apologising for the mess the tent was in. He said it was 'perfect weather for the job!' They left before dawn, and shortly before 1.00 pm were seen at the Third step - the last obstacle to the summit - 'going strongly for the top'. A storm moved in below them, obscuring view of them. Thus they walked into eternity, tantilising us with the legend of Mallory and Irvine down to this day. Did they make it? Was George Leigh-Mallory the first man to stand on top of the world? Most of his climbing friends believed that he was, 'because Mallory was Mallory'.