Gwen Moffat
{{short description|British mountaineer and writer (born 1924)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Gwen Moffat
| birth_name = Gwen Mary Goddard
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1924|7|3|df=y}}
| birth_place = Brighton, East Sussex, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Mountaineer, writer
| nationality = British
| years_active =
| genre = Fiction, biography
| spouse = {{ubl
| Gordon Moffat
| {{marriage|John Lees|1955|1970|end=divorced}}
}}
| children = 1
}}
Gwen Mary Moffat (née Goddard; born 3 July 1924) is a British mountaineer and writer.{{cite book|editor1-last=Klein|editor1-first=Kathleen Gregory|title=Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=0313287708}}
Climbing career
Moffat was an Army driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, stationed in North Wales after the end of the Second World War, when she met a climber who introduced her to climbing and a bohemian lifestyle.{{cite news|url=http://cwherald.com/a/archive/inspirational-climber-recognised-by-national-body.453521.html|title=Inspirational climber recognised by national body|date=29 January 2016|work=cwherald.com|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126071036/http://cwherald.com/a/archive/inspirational-climber-recognised-by-national-body.453521.html|url-status=dead}} During the 1940s and 1950s she lived rough, climbing in Snowdonia, the Lakes, Scotland and the Alps, supporting herself by working in several roles including as a domestic service, a farmer, a forester, an artist's model and the driver of a travelling shop. In 1953 she became the first female British certificated mountain guide, and for ten years she was closely associated with the RAF Mountain Rescue Service, making a living from climbing.{{cite news|title=Inspirational climber recognised by national body|url=http://cwherald.com/a/archive/inspirational-climber-recognised-by-national-body.453521.html|work=cwherald.com|date=29 January 2016|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=26 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180126071036/http://cwherald.com/a/archive/inspirational-climber-recognised-by-national-body.453521.html|url-status=dead}}
Moffatt was known for often climbing barefoot, claiming that it was better because there was more contact with the rock and no constriction of the toes.{{cite web|title=Gwen Moffat // Interview|url=http://www.womenclimb.co.uk/gwen-moffat-interview/|website=womenclimb.co.uk|accessdate=25 January 2018}} She is an honorary member of the women-only Pinnacle Club and the British Mountaineering Council.{{cite news|url=http://www.itv.com/news/border/2016-03-16/91-year-old-from-penrith-honoured-for-being-the-first-british-mountain-guide/|title=91-year-old from Penrith honoured for being the first British Mountain Guide|work=ITV News}}
Media
Moffat featured in the BBC film Eye to Eye, broadcast in 1958.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebmc.co.uk/rediscovered-tv-film-of-climbing-history|title=Rediscovered: TV film of climbing history|website=www.thebmc.co.uk|access-date=2018-07-28}} Joe Brown did the hard amateur climbing and Moffat, the professional, took her husband up a route on Idwal Slabs. In 2015 Jen Randall and Claire Carter made a film, Operation Moffat, based on Moffat's autobiographical book Space below my Feet{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cumbria-35720184/film-celebrates-life-of-91-year-old-climber-gwen-moffat|title=Trailblazing climber celebrated in film|work=BBC News}}. The film was premiered during Banff Mountain Film Festival's UK tour,{{cite news|url=http://geographical.co.uk/reviews/films/item/1597-operation-moffat-at-the-banff-mountain-film-festival|title=Operation Moffat – The story of Britain's first female mountain guide – Geographical|last1=Cole|first1=Laura|accessdate=25 January 2018}} and has won over 20 international film awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-tvs-operation-moffat-swarming-to-a-screen-near-you|title=BMC TV's Operation Moffat: swarming to a screen near you|website=www.thebmc.co.uk|access-date=2018-07-28}} Moffat is included in Herrington's photographic work The Climbers{{cite book|title=The a Climbers|last1=Herrington|first1=Jim|date=2016|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-1-68051-083-6}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/reading_between_the_lines_-_gwen_moffat-9478|title=INTERVIEW: Reading Between the Lines - Gwen Moffat|last1=Berry|first1=Natalie|date=28 June 2017 |publisher=UKC|accessdate=25 January 2018}} featuring 60 climbers considered legends of the 20th century. In 2017 she contributed to a documentary Give Me Space Below My Feet, for BBC Radio 3.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/02/93-year-old-mountaineer-relive-climb-life-radio-via-3d-sound/|title=93-year-old mountaineer to relive the climb of her life on radio via '3D sound'|last1=Singh|first1=Anita|date=2 September 2017|work=The Telegraph}}
Writing career
Moffat began her writing career in the 1950s, working for BBC radio, and published her autobiography in 1961. In the 1970s, she started writing crime fiction, in particular the Miss Pink series featuring Melinda Pink, a middle aged climber and magistrate.{{cite web|title=Gwen Moffat |publisher= Tangled Web |location=UK|url=http://www.twbooks.co.uk/authors/gmoffat.html|website=twbooks.co.uk|accessdate=25 January 2018}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/author_view.aspx?AUTHOR_ID=195|title=Gwen Moffat|work=Shots Magazine|location=UK|access-date=2018-07-28}} Following a commission by Victor Gollancz Ltd to follow the California Trail{{Cite web|url=http://www.twbooks.co.uk/authors/gmoffat.html|title=Gwen Moffat |publisher= Tangled Web|location= UK|website=twbooks.co.uk|access-date=2018-07-28}} and produce a book, she subsequently wrote 11 mysteries set in the American West. She wrote her last novel, Gone Feral, when she was in her 80s. She currently reviews for the crime magazine Shots.{{Cite news|url=http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/book_reviews_view.aspx?book_review_id=2041|title=Book Review: Do No Harm|publisher=Shots Magazine|location=UK|website=shotsmag.co.uk|access-date=2018-07-28}}
Personal life
Moffat married Gordon Moffat with whom she had a daughter, Sheena, born in 1949. In 1955, she married Flight Sergeant John Lees, GM, BEM. They divorced in 1970.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/aug/24/guardianobituaries|title=Obituary: Johnnie Lees|last=Perrin|first=Jim|date=24 August 2002|work=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-07-28}}
Moffat turned 100 on 3 July 2024.{{cite web|url=https://shop.dalesman.co.uk/cumbria-and-lakeland-walker-july-2024-issue.html|title=Cumbria and Lakeland Walker July 2024 issue|publisher=Cumbria and Lakeland Walker|date=3 July 2024|accessdate=3 July 2024}}
Works
- Space Below my Feet (1961){{cite book|author=Gwen Moffat|title=Space Below My Feet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXzK2TR8ZdAC|year=1961|publisher=Sigma Leisure|isbn=978-1-85058-769-9}}
- Two Star Red (1964)
- On My Home Ground (1968)
- Survival Count (1972)
- Deviant Death (1973)
- Lady with a Cool Eye (Melinda Pink) (1973)
- The Corpse Road (1974).
- Hard Option (1975)
- Miss Pink at the Edge of the World (Melinda Pink) (1975)
- A Short Time to Live (Melinda Pink) (1976)
- Over the Sea to Death (Melinda Pink) (1976)
- Persons Unknown (Melinda Pink) (1978)
- Hard Road West (1981)
- Die Like a Dog (Melinda Pink) (1982)
- The Buckskin Girl (1982)
- Last Chance Country (Melinda Pink) (1983)
- Grizzly Trail (Melinda Pink) (1984)
- Snare (Melinda Pink) (1987)
- The Stone Hawk (Melinda Pink) (1989)
- The Storm Seekers (1989)
- Rage (Melinda Pink) (1990)
- The Raptor Zone (Melinda Pink) (1990)
- Pit Bull (1991)
- Veronica's Sisters (Melinda Pink) (1992)
- The Outside Edge (1993)
- Cue the Battered Wife (1994)
- A Wreath of Dead Moths (1998)
- The Lost Girls (Melinda Pink) (1998)
- Private Sins (Melinda Pink) (1999)
- Running Dogs (1999)
- Quicksand (2001)
- Retribution (Melinda Pink) (2002)
- Man Trap (2003)
- Dying for Love (2005)
- Gone Feral (2007)
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffat, Gwen}}
Category:English crime fiction writers
Category:British women autobiographers
Category:English women novelists
Category:20th-century English women writers
Category:20th-century English writers
Category:21st-century English women writers
Category:British women biographers
Category:British women mystery writers
Category:English autobiographers
Category:British mountain climbers
Category:English women non-fiction writers
Category:British female climbers