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Chris Bonington 1955.
The son of one of the founding members of the SAS, Christian John Storey Bonington was born in London on 6th August 1934. Educated at University College School Hampstead, he began climbing at 16 years old, and, after leaving school, undertook national service with the RAF before being identified for officer training. Entering Sandhurst in Rhine Company, Intake 16, he rose to junior under-officer and was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment in December 1955. After three years regimental duty in Germany, he served as a mountaineering instructor at the Army Outward Bound School. During his army service, he took part in the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Frêney on the south side of Mont Blanc and the joint British/Indian/ Nepalese forces expedition to Annapurna II in 1960. Leaving the army in 1961, he worked for a short while for Unilever before becoming a professional mountaineer and explorer.
Making a living as a magazine correspondent, he covered expeditions including climbing in Ecuador, hunting caribou with Inuit on Baffin Island and, with John
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