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The British North Greenland Expedition was the first large scale British led expedition covering the Greenland Ice Sheet. Led by Commander James Simpson, between 1952 and 1954 the expedition had a wide range of aims and objectives including developing understanding of geological mapping, meteorology, polar medicine, and polar logistics.

Across the expedition 30 men participated. Most were members of the military, with the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army all being represented, with the remainder, non-military scientists. Many of the participants involved went on to have notable careers in exploration, academia, after the expedition, several members participated in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-1958. Some of the those figures included Captain Mike Banks who later wrote a book about the expedition and went on to participate in further expeditions and Peter John Whyllie, a geologist who went on to have a notable academic career in the field. Also involved was Hal (Harold) Lister who had a notable career as a glaciologist and academic including a career at Newcastle University and Stan Paterson who also went on to have a successful academic career in glaciology after the expedition.

The expedition established it's main base at Britannia Lake for the duration of the expedition with a field base at Northice. Two field teams traversed the ice undertaking work including measuring the ice sheet, gravimetry and meteorology. A mixture of dogs and sleds and Weasel tracked military vehicles were used for transportation around the ice sheet. As well as maintaining radio communications between the individual elements of the expedition, the expedition maintained radio communications with a base in London (known as PakIce) and staff at the Danish and US Air Force base at Thule. Resupply missions were carried out by parachute drop from airplane and overland from Thule. Overall the expedition acted as a test-bed and development opportunity for practices that would be used in later polar expeditions by Britain and other countries.

While the mission was largely successful in achieving it's many broad scientific aims, there were failures too. Perhaps the most notable was the crash of an aircraft onto the ice-sheet during an early re-supply mission in September 1952, which resulted in the loss of the craft and several injured crew who had to shelter in the wreckage until a successful rescue airlift attempt. There was one fatality amongst expedition staff, Captain Hans Jenson died in an accident while working in the field. Near misses included fires in the engine room of a base which was extinguished before it caused significant damage, and breakdowns and accidents involving the Weasel tracked vehicles which were used for travel on the ice sheet.

Born in west London in 1927, Richard Brooke went to Dartmouth Naval College from the age of 13 before joining the Royal Navy. He participated on the crew of several naval ships during World War 2, before later joining the survey ship HMS Scott. From here, encouraged by his ships commander, he joined the British North Greenland Expedition as a surveyor. The expedition lasted from 1952 to 1954 and undertook pioneering research in the fields of meteorology, geology, seismology, physiology and the logistics of polar exploration.

After the expedition Brooke would remain in the Royal Navy until 1966. During this time he was able to engage in several more expeditions, a highlight amongst them being the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955 - 1958, which was led by Brooke's former naval commander Vivian Fuchs and involved a New Zealand support team lead by Sir Edmund Hillary of which Brookes was a member. In recognition of work, which included leading a survey team, the highest mountain in the Prince Albert range was named Mount Brooke. After leaving the Navy Brooke worked for the Electricity Council in the Birmingham and Bristol areas and continued his passion for mountain treks. He died in June 2020.

Eleanor Brown was born in 1969, and grew up in Scotland. After reading English Literature at York University, she became a menial in the Banqueting Department of a Cambridge hotel, and then a Pizza Express waitress. She later travelled in France, where she lived for a while in a convent; after working as a barmaid in a North London pub for several years, she served time as a legal secretary before taking up her present post of Writing Fellow at the University of Strathclyde. In 1997 her first collection Maiden Speech was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and her new version of Sophocles' play Philoctetes was staged by Inigo at the Cockpit Theatre in London. Eleanor Brown was one of the five young poets in Bloodaxe's 1997 New Blood promotion.