John Blacker (1929-2008)

When John's death was announced at the AC meeting in January 2008, I seemed to be the only member present who had known him, so naturally stood up to say a few words off the cuff. Although we knew each other from often meeting at the Club, it was only when we both joined Peter Mould's 'Green Expedition to the Basingthang peaks of Bhutan' in October 1991 (AJ 1992/93 p.55) that I got to know him rather better and appreciate his friendship.This was an area of delightful glaciated peaks around 5600m, southeast of Chomolhari. We were in a group on the modest first ascent of Ngum Tang Gang III, and the two of us on a recce of the more challenging Wohney Gang, which was later climbed by a stronger party of Langmuir, Lovatt and Mould.   John had a rather studious and academic mein which suited his unusual profession as a demographer. He spent much of his life organising population censuses in developing countries. In 1997 he also carried out an interesting demographic survey on the membership of the Club. I included some of his conclusions on p244 of SUMMIT, my 150 year history of the AC, and quote them as follows: 

"A demographic survey carried out in 1997 by our member, John Blacker, showed the average age of Club members to be 54 and that we have a life expectancy six years more than the average elsewhere.  The average age of  new members is 38 and there are eleven men to every woman in the Club as a whole.  ‘Can we therefore conclude,’ wrote Blacker  ‘that provided we don’t fall off, climbing mountains is good for our health and longevity?  Tempting and plausible though this conclusion might seem, it sadly cannot be justified on the basis of this evidence. The causation might go the other way: only those who are pretty fit in the first place take up climbing.  Or the association between longevity and membership of the AC might be because AC members tend to come from above-average socio-economic backgrounds; they smoke less, are better educated, better fed, and better cared-for medically’."

From 1958 to 1965 John lived in Nairobi and had various adventures on Ruwenzori and Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro and the lesser peaks of East Africa. He was also a yachtsman and had sailed from Iceland to Turkey in search of mountains to climb from his boat. In due course I hope a fuller more considered obituary will appear in the AJ.

George Band