John Kempe

[4] From 1944 he flew, principally Mosquitos, in North Africa and acted as a convoy escort on the Malta run.

[6] The party went on to attempt an ascent of the unclimbed 6,500 metres (21,300 ft) Nilkanta, on the route they bivouaced at 16,000’ and 17,000’, but ultimately they were defeated by heavy snow.

[7][8] In 1954, Kempe led a party to 8,586 metres (28,169 ft) Kangchenjunga, the 3rd highest mountain in the world, which had not then been climbed.

This was intended as a reconnaissance expedition, the party also included J. W. Tucker (who wrote a book about the expedition's activities),[9] S. R. Jackson (the brother of John Jackson),[7] T. H. Braham, G. C. Lewis and medical officer, Dr. D. S. Mathews, they explored the upper Yalung glacier with the intention to discover a practicable route to the great ice-shelf that runs across the south-west face of Kangchenjunga.

[12] The party, comprised three from the 1954 Kangchenjunga expedition (Kempe, Tucker and Matthews) supplemented by Mike Westmacott, George Band and John Streetly.

He was also vice-chairman of the European Atlantic Movement Committee (1982–1992; vice-president thereafter), and trustee of the University of Cambridge Kurt Hahn Trust from 1986 to 1989.