John Morris

Despite having poor eyesight, John Morris joined the Army in 1915 and saw action at the Battle of the Somme the following year. He served with the 3rd Gurkha Rifles in the Indian Army and reached the rank of major. He spent a lot of time in Nepal and, being with Nepalese people, he learned to speak the language fluently, and this would be a big advantage to the 1922 and 1936 Everest expeditions he went on.

After being invalided out of the Army, Morris wet up to King’s College, Cambridge where he studied anthropology. He went on to teach at two Japanese universities between 1934-42 and also published two books about life in Japan; Traveller from Tokyo (1943), and The Phoenix Cup (1947). He also wrote his autobiography, Hired to Kill in 1960.

After his time in Japan, Morris joined the BBC in 1943 as head of Far Eastern services until 1952, when he became the controller of the Third Programme until his retirement in 1958. The previous year he was made a CBE for his services to broadcasting.