Жозеф Браун: Британиялық альпинист және таушының өмірі мен жетістіктері

English mountaineer and rock climber (1930–2020)

Joseph Brown (26 September 1930 – 15 April 2020) was an English mountaineer who was regarded as an outstanding pioneer of rock climbing during the 1950s and early 1960s. Together with his early climbing partner, Don Whillans, he was one of a new breed of British post war climbers who came from working class backgrounds in contrast to the upper and middle class professionals who had dominated the sport up to the Second World War. He became the first person to climb the third highest mountain in the world when he was on the 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition. Some of his climbs were televised and he assisted with mountaineering scenes in several films; Brown died on 15 April 2020 at the age of 89.

Brown was born the seventh and last child of a family in Ardwick, Manchester, England. After leaving school he trained as an apprentice plumber and general builder, working for a plumber and general builder called Archie. In 1949–50, he was conscripted for 18 months in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, where he spent his free time climbing with friends. Brown broke his leg in three places in a scrum for the tea urn but was back up and climbing three months later. In Hard Rock, Ken Wilson said of Brown: "The reader may gain some idea of his ability by studying those of his climbs featured in this book. He has brought to climbing a rare combination of attributes: keenness, patience, strength, technical ability, eye for a line, competitiveness and, above all, a subtle and mysterious charisma. Few would deny that his place in British rock climbing remains pre eminent." Reviewing Brown's autobiography The Hard Years in 1967, the climber A. B. Hargreaves said: "This is a remarkable book by a remarkable man. As for the man, the hard man, the climber, his achievements both in rock climbing and mountaineering have been very great. In twenty years he has become a legend". An early climbing partner was Don Whillans, from the neighbouring city of Salford. They were among the first of a new breed of post war climbers from working class backgrounds, in contrast to the upper and middle class professionals who had dominated the sport up to the Second World War. So famous was he that the Post Office delivered a letter to him simply addressed "The Human Fly, UK". Brown established a number of new routes in Snowdonia and the Peak District that were at the leading edge of the hardest grades. Examples on Dinas Cromlech in the Llanberis Pass include "Cenotaph Corner" (1952, graded E1, with Doug Belshaw) and "Cemetery Gates" (1951, E1, with Don Whillans). In 1956 he made the first ascent of the west summit of the Muztagh Tower in the Karakoram with Ian McNaught Davis. The other members of the team, John Hartog and Tom Patey, reached the main summit the next day.

On 17 February 1957, Brown married Valerie Melville Gray. They had two daughters.

Brown was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and in 2011 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year's Honours List for services to rock climbing and mountaineering. Upon receiving the CBE, the BBC reported him as saying: "Receiving the CBE is so strange, because it's like I'm being awarded for enjoying myself".

Throughout his climbing career Brown was involved in films such as Hazard, Upside Down Wales, Five Days One Summer, in which he and other British climbers assisted with the mountaineering scenes. In 1986 he was the stunt double for Robert De Niro during the climbing scenes in The Mission. Brown is remembered for televised rock climbs in the 1960s, three in Snowdonia, and in 1967, a spectacular new route on the Old Man of Hoy, a Scottish sea stack, with Ian McNaught Davis and Chris Bonington, which was broadcast live by the BBC. In his 2010 book Unjustifiable Risk? : The Story of British Climbing, Simon Thompson, says of Brown: "Joe Brown is regarded by many as the finest British climber of the twentieth century".