Hello and thank you for downloading our history programme witness with me Louis Adaggo.

Today we're going back 20 years to the day when the Norwegian Polar Explorer,

Borgeusland, became the first person to cross Antarctica alone.

It was on January 7th, 1997, that a lone figure finally emerged from his journey across the frozen wilderness.

There were people there looking at me and wonder who I was.

And I told them that I skied across the whole of Antarctica.

And he didn't believe me at first.

He thought I was just kidding.

But Borge Ussland was not kidding. The Norwegian had just become the first person to cross the continent of Antarctica,

alone and unaided, a grueling almost 3,000 kilometer journey across the

loneliest, most inhospitable land on earth. Soon he was being welcomed into the warmth of the

Antarctic Research Center,

McMurdo Station, and after two months of almost complete solitude

was talking to the world by radio.

It hasn't really come true that I made it yet. I think I just have to let it think I've worked for this for several years and now I'm here and it's fantastic.

All the unsecurity is left behind.

You don't need to worry about crevasses anymore, you don't need to worry about the cold the holding winds and bad weather and if you're

going to make it or not. It's just like being born again. You know everything is new, the first

coffee, a good meal to sit on a chair with knife and fork, to sleep in a bed,

and not to forget the first shower, which is also quite important.

Borga Eusland's journey had begun in November 1996.

My idea was to ski all the way from the Weddle Sea, from the edge where the ocean meets the ice and all the way across Antarctica to Rossy via the south pole.

...