On this day, 19.10.1918; 🇬🇧 Charles Evans was born in Derwen, North Wales. A surgeon by profession and one of the leading British mountaineers of his generation, Evans played a crucial role in the 1953 British Everest Expedition. As deputy leader, he and Tom Bourdillon made the first summit attempt, reaching the South Summit at around 8,750 m on 26 May 1953. For the next three days, they had climbed higher on Everest than anyone before them. With failing oxygen equipment, limited time and the difficult final ridge still ahead, they turned back, a decision that likely saved their lives. Evans returned to the Himalaya two years later as leader of the 1955 British Kangchenjunga Expedition. Under his leadership, Joe Brown and George Band made the mountain’s first ascent on 25 May, followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather the next day. Evans had earlier promised Sikkimese authorities that climbers would respect Kangchenjunga’s sacred summit, so the team deliberately stopped just below the highest point, beginning a tradition later followed by other expeditions. Evans was known for calm leadership and putting the team ahead of personal glory. A doctor, wartime medical officer, Alpine Club president and later university principal, he was knighted in 1969. Charles Evans died in 1995, aged 77. Photo ©: Charles Evans Archives.