In January next year I'll be among more than 80 people taking on ice, snow, cold and savage winds in the biggest Spine Race yet, with another 50 running the 105-mile Spine Challenger "sprint" from Edale to Hawes, North Yorkshire.
Although reviewers liken Edward St. Aubyn to Evelyn Waugh and Oscar Wilde (hard not to, when his characters have neon names like David Windfall), he is a colder, more savage writer than either.
The following did, however, appear: "Savage Cold Could Halt Fuchs" (12 January 1958), "Sir Vivian Fuchs At Palace" (16 May 1958), and my favourite, "Sir Vivian Fuchs For Antarctic" (6 December 1963).
Despite the savage cold and prodigious rain, the Yaghan sported no clothes and when on land only bunkered down in flimsy wigwams.
No one pulled off that savage, cold light of day feeling better than Karen and Billy – and this scene, where they slowly come round in the primary-school classroom where she works was an absolute joy.
Not only does much of his style descend from the book, but at one point he alludes to Wollstonecraft as he is describing a cold wasteland: A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
He helped her edit To Kill a Mockingbird, while she helped him research In Cold Blood, about the savage murder of a wealthy Kansas farmer and his family.
This thing was an arctic blast on steroids -- a savage, stinging cold that lent itself to wacky backyard experiments with boiling water.
In the effort to keep Carrie happy, he heats his pool, which he prefers to keep on the cold side, and plies his "savage virgin goddess" with a sultan's gifts, ranging from his wife's gold scarab brooch to a "gorgeous ruby-red silk man's bathrobe made up for her by a shirtmaker in the place Vendme" to a "little" BMW for her to tootle around in.
