DUCHÁS Clonakilty Heritage will host best-selling author Michael Smith this Thursday evening October 10th at the GAA Complex in Clonakilty at 8.30 pm.
Smith will deliver a lecture on Antarctic explorer Tom Crean.
Tom Crean from County Kerry was the unsung hero of Antarctic exploration whose exploits exploring with Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton were overlooked for 80 years.
Crean, who ran away from home as a teenager, served on three expeditions to the Antarctic, spent longer in the ice than either Scott or Shackleton and outlived both men.
He was among the last to see Scott alive near the South Pole in 1912 and returned to the ice to bury his frozen body.
Crean was also a major figure on Shackleton's 'Endurance', expedition to the Antarctic exactly 100 years ago.
Tom Crean could never speak about his exploits and took his remarkable story to the grave.
Michael Smith, author of the best-selling 'An Unsung Hero – Tom Crean', recalls the challenge of rescuing Kerry's Antarctic explorer from obscurity and creating an iconic Irish hero.
'An Unsung Hero' is among Ireland's most successful non-fiction books with worldwide sales of over 150,000 copies and has been translated into Chinese, German and Spanish.
Tom Crean's story is now included in the schools' curriculum and has inspired other spin-offs, including a successful stage play and the Tom Crean Brewery.
Further information can be found on the Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage Facebook page here.
