A Man of the World

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Go behind the yellow border to meet the family that made National Geographic an American institution. Gilbert M. Grosvenor’s 60-year career followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather—but he learned that sometimes he had to do things his own way. In his new memoir, A Man of the World, Grosvenor recounts a crucial decision that made him rethink the way National Geographic covers the world. Grosvenor also shares an unforgettable conversation with Jacques Cousteau and how he witnessed Jane Goodall’s transformation from unknown young scientist to, well, Jane Goodall. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Check out Gil Grosvenor’s new memoir, A Man of the World: My Life at National Geographic. From his first day of work in 1899, Gil’s grandfather, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, put National Geographic on the map. A behind-the-scenes photo from our archives shows Grosvenor testing a state-of-the-art camera in 1913. Gil’s commitment to environmental storytelling is now a part of National Geographic’s DNA. See how we continue that legacy with initiatives like Planet or Plastic and our special issue, Saving Forests. Also explore: Learn more about seminal explorers Jacques Cousteau and Jane Goodall in our previous episodes, “The gateway to secret underwater worlds” and “The next generation’s champion of chimps.” Subscribers can also read about the development of Cousteau’s Aqua-Lung, which threw open the undersea world, and revisit Goodall’s groundbreaking 1963 National Geographic article, “My Life With Wild Chimpanzees.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tell me about how did you come to dive under the North Pole?
0:06.7	One day I'm sitting in my office.
0:08.5	It's the long about four o'clock.
0:10.5	I'm bored.
0:11.5	And the phone rings.
0:13.6	In 1979, Gil Grovner was the editor of National Geographic magazine.
0:18.6	In that job, you don't stay bored for long.
0:20.9	And as a voice, it was my friend Al Giddens, who was a filmmaker.
0:25.2	And he said, hey Gil, I'm mounting an expedition.
0:29.9	To dive under the ice at the North Pole, would you like to come?
0:34.2	Oh my goodness, of course I'd like to come.
0:37.0	Even though Gil had lots of scuba experience, diving under the North Pole was a new frontier.
0:42.7	Only a handful of people had ever done it.
0:44.8	And Gil would be the first journalist.
0:47.2	As he sat in a special dry suit with his legs dangling over the gaping hole when the polar ice,
0:52.6	he thought of all the things that could go wrong.
0:54.8	One of the instructions was,
0:57.2	you have to be very careful not to get ice crystals in your regular area.
1:05.2	If you do, your air supply will be cut off.
1:09.0	You have to be very careful not to swallow the 28-degree salt water
1:14.9	because it could paralyze your lungs, in which case you're not coming back.
1:22.1	Gil was connected to an emergency rope that ran up to the surface,
	...

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