Peter Gillman

Peter Gillman (born 1942) is a British writer and journalist specialising (but not exclusively) in mountaineering topics. His book, Direttissima; the Eiger Assault (1967), also published under the title Direttissima, co-authored with Dougal Haston, told the story of the ascent of the Eiger North Face in which John Harlin II lost his life.

Early life and education

Gillman attended Hawes Down school, Dulwich College (1953–61), and University College Oxford (1961–64). He was editor of The Isis Magazine at Oxford.

Career

He became a journalist on leaving Oxford and was soon writing for the Sunday Times, first as a freelancer, and then as a staff member, where he spent five years on the newspaper's Insight team. He became a freelance journalist in 1983 and has written for most British newspapers. He specialises in mountain writing with his wife and writing partner Leni Gillman. Their 2000 book, The Wildest Dream, is a biography of the Everest climber George Mallory. The Gillmans' 2015 book, Extreme Eiger, is an account of an ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in 1965.

Works

Books

• Gillman, Peter (1978). Fitness on Foot: Climbing and Walking for Pleasure. Tadworth : World's Work : The Sunday Times.
• Elaine Davenport, Paul Eddy & Peter Gillman (1978). The Plumbat Affair. Futura Publications. ISBN 0-233-97016-9.
• Gillman, Peter & Gillman, Leni (1987). Alias David Bowie: A Biography. New York: H. Holt.
• Gillman, Peter & Gillman, Leni (1980). Collar the lot!: How Britain Interned and Expelled Its Wartime Refugees. London ; New York: Quartet Books.
• Gillman, Peter & Gillman, Leni (2001). Everest: Eighty Years of Triumph and Tragedy. Boston ; London: Little, Brown.
• Gillman, Peter & Gillman, Leni (2000). The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory. Seattle, WA: The Mountaineers.
• Gillman, Peter & Gillman, Leni (2015). Extreme Eiger. London: Simon and Schuster.
• Gillman, Peter & Hamann, Paul (1987). The Duty Men: The Inside Story of the Customs. London: BBC Books.
• Gillman, Peter (1989). In balance: Twenty years of mountaineering journalism. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
• Gillman, Peter & Salkeld, Audrey (1993). Everest: The Best Writing and Pictures from Seventy Years of Human Endeavour. Boston: Little, Brown.

Selected articles

• Gillman, Peter (February 17, 2013). "The truth about Truman Capote" (PDF). The Sunday Times Magazine.
• Gillman, Peter & Gillman, Leni (June 21, 1992). "HOAX: Secrets that Truman Capote took to the grave". The Sunday Times Magazine.