Maverick Mountaineer: The Remarkable Life of George Ingle Finch by Robert Wainwright

George Ingle Finch, mountaineer, thorn in the side of the British Alpine establishment, scientist and World War I hero, was one of the great characters of his age: a boy from the Australian bush who set out to conquer the world - and succeeded. 

Rebellious, brilliant and complex, Finch was a natural climber who scaled all the great peaks of Europe before attempting the biggest peak of all - Everest - as part of George Mallory's 1922 expedition. With the aid of two technological advances, the use of oxygen and an early puffer jacket, he was able to reach the highest point then ever attained by a human being - and only his decision to save the life of a companion stopped him from making the summit. But Finch's achievements were sidelined by members of the expedition who considered him as an outsider: a man who polished his own boots and resented 'gentlemen climbers'. And then there was the question of his divorce ... and his relationship with his son, the actor Peter Finch.

Here, acclaimed biographer Robert Wainwright accords George Finch his rightful place in a tribute to one of the twentieth century's most eccentric anti-heroes.