Polar evening about polar pioneer Trygve Gran

As a young man, Gran, like most other young people, was fascinated by Fridtjof Nansen's ski expedition across Greenland, not least after a meeting with Ernest Shackleton who had just made a breakthrough towards the South Pole. Gran went so far with his polar interest that at the age of 18/19 he made an agreement with Skåluren to build a fishing vessel that would take him to the South Pole. He also made an agreement with Carsten Borchgrevink to use Cape Adare as a base. Nansen got wind of the plans, and because Nansen also knew that Robert F. Scott was almost ready to sail south, he advised Gran to join Scott as a ski expert.
Gran joined as a ski instructor. At 23 years old, Gran was the youngest participant in the expedition. In November 1912, Gran was part of the patrol that was sent out to search for Scott and his comrades who were found dead. On the way back to base, Gran used Scott's skis and noted in his diary that at least the skis would complete the entire expedition. In Scott's tent, they also found a letter with the message that Roald Amundsen had reached the Pole first. Gran was then asked to take the letter home to King Haakon in Norway.
After the South Pole expedition, Gran learned to fly, and obtained his pilot's license at Louis Bleriot's flying school in Buc. On 30 July 1914, Gran became the first to fly across the North Sea, in 4 hours and 10 minutes from Cruden Bay in Scotland to Revtangen on Jæren in a Blériot aircraft. The flight was a great achievement, on par with Blériot's flight across the English Channel four years earlier.
Gran was an active pilot in the British Royal Airforce (RAF) from 1915 to 1919. In May 1928, Gran helped found the Norwegian Aero Club. Roald Amundsen became chairman and Gran a board member. When Amundsen crashed with Latham in 1928, Gran was the leader of the "Veslekari Expedition". The Arctic ship "Veslekari" searched east of Svalbard for two weeks, but without success.
Trygve Gran also played some football during his studies in Switzerland, and was included in Norway's national football team when they played the very first international football match, against Sweden in Gothenburg, 1908.
Herman Gran is retired, but from time to time gives lectures on aviation/polar history, as the last surviving first generation descendant of the great polar and aviation pioneers of the time. Herman has worked as a journalist/television producer at NRK for nearly 50 years.

On Friday, March 20th, he will come to the Ishavsmuseet.
In the usual style, dinner will be served after the lecture, and this time the menu includes herring and milk soup. Registration for dinner is required. Ticket here