'The soldier, mystic and explorer Francis Younghusband, who fulfilled the romantic dreams of the late British Empire, was once as legendary a figure as Lawrence of Arabia. He lives again most vividly and entertainingly in this remarkable book.' Michael Holroyd In this travelling biography, Patrick French tells the story of the man who held the world record for the three hundred yard dash, discovered a new overland route from China to India, and organised the early assaults on Mount Everest. In 1904 it was Francis Younghusband who single-handedly turned a small diplomatic mission into a full-scale military invasion of the last unexplored country on earth: Tibet. Younghusband spent much of his early life as a leading player in the Great Game -- the battle of wits over the uncharted territory of High Asia -- and his presumed death as a spy in the Pamirs almost sparked off a war between British India and Tsarist Russia. But despite being a classic Edwardian, full of pomposity and repression, in the post-World War I era, he led the way in outlandish, mystical philosophical and sexual free-thinking.