IN 2011 Ed Caesar read a paragraph about a Yorkshireman who, in the 1930s, decided to mount an ambitious expedition to climb Mount Everest. The man planned to fly a plane from London to the lower slopes of the mountain and walk the rest of the way to the summit - despite having no flying or mountaineering experience. When news of his outlandish scheme became public he was forbidden from carrying it out, but defied authority and embarked on a mammoth trek, flying thousands of miles, walking hundreds more - in disguise to evade arrest - and tackling the inhospitable terrain of the world’s highest peak.