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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Vanessa Thorpe

Was ‘the first man to reach the North Pole’ a fraud?

Frederick Cook was a successful adventurer, but he may have faked his most famous exploit.
Frederick Cook was a successful adventurer, but he may have faked his most famous exploit. Photograph: Mirrorpix/Getty Images

Who was the first person to reach the north pole? According to American adventurer Frederick Cook, it was him. But now a new book will set out the evidence that the explorer’s 114-year-old claim was an instance of fake news on a global scale.

In The Explorer and the Journalist, author Richard Evans has examined the greatest scandal in polar history, reigniting a debate that has smouldered since September 1909, when Cook, who had been missing for a year, sent out a telegram announcing he had reached the pole in 1908.

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