Name: A screening of 'The Epic of Everest' with Introduction, Prologue and final Blessing by the Monks
Start: 2026-07-03T19:30:00+01:00
Location: Bradgate Road, MK40 3DE Bedford, United Kingdom

A screening of 'The Epic of Everest' with Introduction, Prologue and final Blessing by the Monks

THE EPIC OF EVEREST
The official record of Mallory and Irvine’s 1924 expedition
A film by Captain John Noel
Captain John Noel was the official photographer on the first British expedition to Everest in 1922, and again on the fateful attempt by Mallory and Irvine in 1924. His films, ‘Climbing Mount Everest’ and ‘The Epic of Everest’ brought moving images of the mountaineers, their sherpas and guides and the astonishing landscape of the Himalayas to western audiences for the first time.
Through the journey across Tibet with footage of Tibetan people and the yak caravans preparing for the expeditions to the final attempt at the summit by Mallory and Irvine, and the final realisation that they would not be returning, the film offers images that captivate the viewer. Had Chomolungma, the Mother Goddess of the World, claimed her own, determined that men should never reach the summit?
An excellent publicist, Captain Noel invited seven Tibetan Lamas from Gyantse in Central Tibet to travel to Europe to provide a ‘prologue’ to screenings of ‘The Epic of Everest’ as he toured the film around England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and to France and Germany between December 1924 and October 1925. Their visit attracted enormous public interest, as the British Journal of Photography noted in December 1924: ‘Never before has a Lama been prevailed upon to leave his icy fastnesses.’ Press reviews of the performances describe the effect of the genuine ‘native’ music as ‘an immensely effective prologue to the film’, adding ‘a valuable touch of local colour’, carrying the audience ‘…very effectively into the Buddhistic atmosphere of Tibet’.
Now a hundred years later, monks from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery recreate the original prologue prior to screening Captain Noel’s film, ‘The Epic of Everest’, with the same magnificent instruments and distinctive music which so captivated audiences in the 1920s.