Jeremy Clarkson as Robert Falcon Scott

exceedingly british

refuses to adapt

somehow the famous one despite his idiotic decisions

doomed

"i will not be beaten by a dog" - actual jeremy clarkson quote

Richard Hammond as Ernest Shackleton

fan favorite

any problem can be fixed with a little elbow grease

plucky and indomitable spirit

allegedly contagious smile

James May as Roald Amundsen

indie fan favorite

happy to adapt to native technology

no-nonsense except when he's being sporting

Apsley Cherry-Garrard/Robert Falcon Scott/Edward Adrian Wilson, E, 5952 words

The cigarette company John Player & Sons issued this cigarette card as one of a set of 25 cards relating to polar exploration. A list of all 25 cards can be seen here. Ernest Shackleton is well-known as an Antarctic explorer, who went on Scott's first Antarctic expedition. He later led the `Nimrod' and `Endurance' expeditions.

John Player & Sons Ltd: Lieut Sir E.H. Shackleton, C.V.O. [1915].

A rather dashing portrait of Sir James Clark Ross. As indicated by the inclusion of Polaris in the upper right corner and the instrument in the lower right, this painting commemorates his fixing of the North Magnetic Pole as it rested on the Boothia Peninsula in 1831.

I believe most are aware of it, but for those who aren’t the magnetic poles are not fixed points but shift with the Earth’s irregular rotation. Earth doesn’t really rotate smoothly as portrayed on TV and movies, there’s a slight wobble to it, something it will take a geologist or astronomer to explain in further detail. The pull of magnetism at these points is so strong compasses become useless, a fact any reader of polar exploration will come across when looking at the sources. This leads me to that instrument on the bottom of the painting- the dip circle. Though I don’t have the knowledge of geomagnetism to explain exactly how it works, I do know this was the type of instrument Ross used to fix the magnetic pole. Anyone who knows a lot more about geomagnetism feel free to elaborate on it.