Tryggve Gran

Polar exploration

Gran took an interest in science and exploration which in 1910 led to Fridtjof Nansen recommending his services to Robert Falcon Scott, who was in Norway at the time preparing for an expedition to the Antarctic and testing the motor tractor he intended to take with him. Scott was impressed with Gran, who was an expert skier, and Nansen convinced Scott to take Gran as ski instructor to Scott's men for the Terra Nova Expedition.

Arriving in Antarctica in early January 1911, Gran was one of the 13 expedition members involved in the laying of the supply depots needed for the attempt to reach the South Pole later that year. From November 1911 to February 1912, while Scott and the rest of the Southern party were on their journey to the Pole, Gran accompanied the geological expedition to the western mountains led by Griffith Taylor. In November 1912, Gran was part of the 11-man search party that found the tent containing the dead bodies of the past South Pole party. After collecting the party's personal belongings the tent was lowered over the bodies of Scott and his two companions and a 12-foot snow cairn was built over it. A pair of skis were used to form a cross over their grave. Gran travelled back to the base at Cape Evans wearing Scott's skis, reasoning that at least Scott's skis would complete the journey. Before leaving Antarctica he made an ascent of Mount Erebus with Raymond Priestley and Frederick Hooper in December 1912, an occasion which…

After the war, Gran started holding lectures on aviation and his journeys to the polar areas, as well as writing books. In 1928, he sailed on the Veslekari as part of a concerted effort to search for the polar explorer Roald Amundsen, lost flying while trying to discover the fate of Umberto Nobile's North Pole expedition on board the Airship Italia.

In 1931 Gran proposed a solo attempt to reach the South Pole on a motorcycle. Gran received the Cross of the Légion d'honneur in 1934. It was awarded on 24 July by General Denain, French Air Minister at the fr:Cercle Militaire, on the occasion of a dinner given by the minister. Gran and other Norwegian flyers were in Paris as part of the festivities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Blériot's historic cross-channel flight. It was also almost exactly 20 years since Gran's 500 km record-breaking flight to Norway. The party earlier visited Villacoublay, and also laid a floral wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

During the Second World War, Gran was reportedly a member of Nasjonal Samling (NS), Vidkun Quisling's collaborationist party. The NS used Gran's hero-like status in their war propaganda, and in 1944, a commemorative stamp was issued to mark the 30th anniversary of Gran's flight across the North Sea. He stood trial in 1948 for his war-time activities. One of the witnesses was Oberst Gudbrand Østbye, brigade commander for the Norwegian forces in Valdres in 1940. He said that Gran had spent some time in a military…

Tryggve Gran was born in Bergen, Norway, growing up in an affluent family dominant in the shipbuilding industry. His great-grandfather Jens Gran Berle (1758–1828), had founded a shipyard in the Laksevåg borough of the city of Bergen. His father, Jens Gran (1828–94) who had inherited the shipbuilding business, died when Tryggve was only five years old. In 1900, after school in Bergen and Lillehammer, Gran was sent to a school in Lausanne, Switzerland for a year, where he learned some German and French. Three years later, he met the German emperor, Wilhelm II, a common guest with the families of Tryggve's friends. Meeting the emperor made an impact on the then 14-year-old boy, who from that moment on wanted to become a naval officer. At this time, he had several years behind him as a member of the Nygaards Battalion, one of Bergen's buekorps. He entered the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy in 1907 and graduated in the spring of 1910.

Gran was married three times. Firstly, as "Teddy Grant, formerly Tryggve Gran" on 29 April 1918, in London, to actress Lily St. John (Lilian Clara Johnson) who later starred in The Naughty Princess, marriage dissolved 1921; secondly in 1923 to Ingeborg Meinich (1902–1997) with whom he had two daughters, the marriage dissolved; lastly in 1941 to Margaret Schønheyder, a renowned portrait painter. With his last wife, he had a son, Hermann who was born in 1944. Gran was also a gifted football player, earning one cap for Norway in 1908. This was Norway's first ever international match, and was played against Sweden in Gothenburg. Gran played as a striker. Sweden beat Norway 11–3. Tryggve Gran died in his home in Grimstad Municipality, Norway on 8 January 1980 aged 91. A memorial was unveiled in Cruden Bay during 1971. Gran, together with his third wife Margaret, are buried in the churchyard at Fjære Church in Grimstad Municipality.