ian Stanbury
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- Thread starter ian Stanbury
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ian Stanbury
Enthusiast
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My god Pavel - how clever are you?
You must have been watching BBC news as well but the bad news 'young man' if I can call you that, is that RF Scott (who's son Peter was a famous twitcher - check that one out Pavel) actually DISCOVERED the south pole today, one hundred years ago.
Now Pavel dear boy I am about to teach you to suck eggs..a little known Czech history lesson..
Because of his Scott's discovery of the South Pole and his discovery of 'True South', compasses finally worked correctly and places like Prague were finally 'on the map' - since then Jiri Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund were able to use a compass to find the rest of the world as we know it. ( yes, other than Pavel and I, none of you know who these famous chaps are!!)
They were extraordinary figures in recent Czech history: They organised extensive expeditions to regions around the world including Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. Jiri Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund first made their mark when they set out on an expedition to Africa and Latin America in 1947. They had hit upon an original idea for their time: gaining sponsorship from the Tatra automobile company by choosing to travel in one of their cars, the sleek, scarab-like Tatra 87...
The two-man team also negotiated to send written articles, radio and film reports back to Czechoslovakia in return for financing. Their first expedition lasted more than three years, beginning on the northern coast of Africa and ending in Central America. Here Jiri Hanzelka describes a hair-raising encounter with an African hippo:
"It was a few seconds that I was chased by a hippo - my guess is that he must have weighed somewhere between 1 - 2 tons - he was chasing me at a speed that would have broken Emil Zatopek's records."
After making it as far as Mexico, the duo had no choice but to return to a country that was descending into what would become one of its darkest periods: the Stalinist 1950s, a time of trumped up political show trials and executions.
In spite of the changes in the country, the adventurers were at first treated affably by the new regime: they were allowed to publish at a time when most Czechs were forbidden from travelling abroad. Eventually, they prepared for a new journey, this time to Asia, Australia, and Oceania. On a journey lasting more than five years they reported on four specific areas: Indonesia, Irian Jaya, Japan, and the Soviet Union.
The last report would have a devastating effect on the future of their work. Providing a realistic picture on poverty and hardship in the Soviet Union at the time, the report got Zikmund and Hanzelka blacklisted, preventing further expeditions. The duo's activities during the 1968 Prague Spring, and later Jiri Hanzelka's signing of the human rights Charter 77 again put them in disfavour with the Communists. In the end, the report on the Soviet Union would only be published after 1989. The explorers enjoyed a brief return to travel in the 1990s, though Jiri Hanzelka soon suffered health problems that prevented him from continuing his life's passion.
Sadly like Scott, both are now dead.
Beat that for 'on the ballman ship' team!!
Read it quickly though as this story will be disappearing at midnight Prague time tonight!!
You must have been watching BBC news as well but the bad news 'young man' if I can call you that, is that RF Scott (who's son Peter was a famous twitcher - check that one out Pavel) actually DISCOVERED the south pole today, one hundred years ago.
Now Pavel dear boy I am about to teach you to suck eggs..a little known Czech history lesson..
Because of his Scott's discovery of the South Pole and his discovery of 'True South', compasses finally worked correctly and places like Prague were finally 'on the map' - since then Jiri Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund were able to use a compass to find the rest of the world as we know it. ( yes, other than Pavel and I, none of you know who these famous chaps are!!)
They were extraordinary figures in recent Czech history: They organised extensive expeditions to regions around the world including Africa, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. Jiri Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund first made their mark when they set out on an expedition to Africa and Latin America in 1947. They had hit upon an original idea for their time: gaining sponsorship from the Tatra automobile company by choosing to travel in one of their cars, the sleek, scarab-like Tatra 87...
The two-man team also negotiated to send written articles, radio and film reports back to Czechoslovakia in return for financing. Their first expedition lasted more than three years, beginning on the northern coast of Africa and ending in Central America. Here Jiri Hanzelka describes a hair-raising encounter with an African hippo:
"It was a few seconds that I was chased by a hippo - my guess is that he must have weighed somewhere between 1 - 2 tons - he was chasing me at a speed that would have broken Emil Zatopek's records."
After making it as far as Mexico, the duo had no choice but to return to a country that was descending into what would become one of its darkest periods: the Stalinist 1950s, a time of trumped up political show trials and executions.
In spite of the changes in the country, the adventurers were at first treated affably by the new regime: they were allowed to publish at a time when most Czechs were forbidden from travelling abroad. Eventually, they prepared for a new journey, this time to Asia, Australia, and Oceania. On a journey lasting more than five years they reported on four specific areas: Indonesia, Irian Jaya, Japan, and the Soviet Union.
The last report would have a devastating effect on the future of their work. Providing a realistic picture on poverty and hardship in the Soviet Union at the time, the report got Zikmund and Hanzelka blacklisted, preventing further expeditions. The duo's activities during the 1968 Prague Spring, and later Jiri Hanzelka's signing of the human rights Charter 77 again put them in disfavour with the Communists. In the end, the report on the Soviet Union would only be published after 1989. The explorers enjoyed a brief return to travel in the 1990s, though Jiri Hanzelka soon suffered health problems that prevented him from continuing his life's passion.
Sadly like Scott, both are now dead.
Beat that for 'on the ballman ship' team!!
Read it quickly though as this story will be disappearing at midnight Prague time tonight!!
lazyduck15
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Amazing lives! I kind to lived and enjoyed their experience by reading this short story.
Firstandbest
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Beware of 2012. The poles can also switch places. Scientists can study when this has happened by examining rocks on the ocean floor that retain
traces of the field, similar to a recording on a magnetic tape. The last time the poles switched was 780,000 years ago, and it's happened about 400 times in 330 million years. Each reversal takes a thousand years or so to complete, and it takes longer for the shift to take effect at the equator than at the poles. The field has weakened about 10% in the last 150 years. I predict the 'flip' will occur on 21 December this year .
You heard it here first!
traces of the field, similar to a recording on a magnetic tape. The last time the poles switched was 780,000 years ago, and it's happened about 400 times in 330 million years. Each reversal takes a thousand years or so to complete, and it takes longer for the shift to take effect at the equator than at the poles. The field has weakened about 10% in the last 150 years. I predict the 'flip' will occur on 21 December this year .
You heard it here first!
ian Stanbury
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reidalpine
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Hi Ian!
Sorry-didn't notice your post before now.
-must have been Bad for Scott and his crew to finally get to the Pole just to see there had been a swarm of raggedy-ass Norwegians b4 him. I'm amazed people set out on these hellish adventures at all-easier just watch it on Discovery or Aunty Beeb afterwards. -R.
Sorry-didn't notice your post before now.
-must have been Bad for Scott and his crew to finally get to the Pole just to see there had been a swarm of raggedy-ass Norwegians b4 him. I'm amazed people set out on these hellish adventures at all-easier just watch it on Discovery or Aunty Beeb afterwards. -R.