A Good Read: Ed Douglas and Andy Cave
Books and Authors
BBC
4.2 • 824 Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2012
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Patricia Highsmith's classic thriller' The Talented Mr Ripley' would make a great expedition read, according to Harriett Gilbert's guests this week, multi-award-winning writers - mountaineers both - Ed Douglas and Andy Cave. Not unexpectedly their choices both feature mountains, but from markedly different perspectives. Ed's good read is Nan Shepherd's 'The Living Mountain', an undiscovered lyrical masterpiece of mountain literature from a writer who made her name as a modernist novelist. Andy chooses a hair-raising account of the life and career of one of France's most colourful and energetic climbers, Lionel Terray, in 'Conquistadors of the Useless'. Harriett GIlbert admits she's not a natural mountaineer but she loves a (fictional) murderous psychopath, namely, Tom Ripley, Patricia Highsmith's famous anti-hero. Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.7 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.4 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to |
| 0:22.4 | helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all |
| 0:28.1 | put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, |
| 0:34.9 | check out BBC Sounds. Thanks for downloading a Good Read. |
| 0:38.8 | You can find more information on all the BBC downloads at BBC.co.uk slash radio four. |
| 0:48.3 | Hello, welcome to a good read where I'm joined today by two mountaineers, Andy Cave and Ed Douglas. Ed has a particular |
| 0:56.5 | passion for the Himalaya, climbing and trekking there for almost two decades, and reporting |
| 1:01.2 | on the Nepali Civil War and its aftermath. A journalist and award-winning author is seven |
| 1:06.6 | books about mountains and their people include the first full-length biography of Tenzing Norgae, who climbed Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953. It was recently |
| 1:15.8 | selected as one of the ten best adventure biographies by Outside magazine. Ed's currently |
| 1:21.3 | working on a biography of the communist rambler, Benny Rothman. Ed, good to have you on the programme. |
| 1:26.7 | Thank you very much for asking me. |
| 1:28.2 | And good to have you to Dr. Andy Cave. In tune with his surname, Andy began his working life |
| 1:34.1 | underground following his dad down the mine. But the miners' strike of the mid-1980s released him |
| 1:39.8 | to go climbing and get hooked, also to earn a PhD in linguistics, hence the doctor. |
| 1:45.8 | As a climber, and is being up the notorious north face of the Iger, |
| 1:49.3 | led expeditions to some of the world's hardest climbs and become an award-winning author, |
| 1:54.3 | his most recent book being Thin White Line. |
| 1:57.5 | He also gives workshops to help organisations become more effective using his mountaineering |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.