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George Mallory entered Magdalene in 1905 to read history. His career as a schoolmaster was interrupted by the First World War: he was called up and saw action in France. After the war he built a formidable reputation as a mountaineer, and was the only man to take part in all three of the British Everest Expeditions of the early twenties. Mallory will always be remembered for his attempt on Everest with Andrew Irvine, in June 1924, which ended so tragically. The mystery surrounding their last climb and their disappearance just below the summit remains to this day.
"Why climb Everest?" was a question posed rhetorically in Mallory's American lecture tours, and the response, given to Harvard undergraduates in 1923, was: "For the stone from the top for geologists, the knowledge of the limits of endurance for the doctors, but above all for the spirit of adventure to keep alive the soul of man."
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