Jan Morris

Catharine Jan Morris (born James Humphry Morris; 2 October 192620 November 2020) was a Welsh historian, author and travel writer. She was known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy (1968–1978), a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, including Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong and New York City. She published under her birth name until 1972, when she had gender reassignment surgery, transitioning from male to female. She was the only journalist to accompany the expedition, climbing with the team to a camp at 22,000 feet, and using a prearranged code to send news of the successful ascent, which was announced in The Times on the day of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, 2 June 1953. then went on to study at Lancing College, returning to Christ Church, Oxford, as an undergraduate, and taking a second-class honours BA in 1951, which was promoted to the customary Oxford MA in 1961. While at Lancing, aged 16, Morris made a start in journalism, reporting for Western Daily Press, and while an Oxford student wrote for Cherwell, the university's student newspaper.

Career Initially, Morris hoped to join the Royal Navy, only to be prevented due to colour blindness.

Morris wrote for The Times and in 1953 was the only journalist accompanying the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition, which included Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who were the first to scale Mount Everest. and by coincidence the scoop was published in The Times on the morning of the coronation of Elizabeth II.

Reporting from Cyprus on the Suez Crisis for the Manchester Guardian in 1956, Morris produced the first "irrefutable proof" of collusion between France and Israel in the invasion of Egyptian territory, interviewing French Air Force pilots who confirmed that they had been in action in support of Israeli forces. She also reported on the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem. Later, Morris opposed the Falklands War.

Personal life In 1949, Morris married Elizabeth, daughter of Ceylon tea planter Austen Cecil Tuckniss; In 1972, Morris travelled to Morocco to undergo gender-affirming surgery, performed by surgeon Georges Burou, She detailed her transition in Conundrum (1974), her first book under her new name, and one of the first autobiographies to discuss a personal gender reassignment.

Morris died on 20 November 2020 at Ysbyty Bryn Beryl (Bryn Beryl Hospital) in Pwllheli in North Wales, at the age of 94, survived by Elizabeth and their four children.

Awards Morris received honorary doctorates from the University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan, was an honorary fellow of Christ Church, Oxford, and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was elected to the Gorsedd Cymru in 1992, and received the Glyndŵr Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales in 1996.

"Out of polite respect" she accepted her appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours for services to literature, but Morris was a Welsh nationalist republican at heart. In January 2008, The Times named her the 15th-greatest British writer since the War. She won the 2018 Edward Stanford Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing Award.

Works

Morris's 1974 best-selling memoir Conundrum documented her transition and was compared to that of transgender pioneer Christine Jorgensen (A Personal Autobiography). Later memoirs included Pleasures of a Tangled Life (1989) and Herstory (1999). She also wrote many essays on travel and her life, and published a collection of her diary entries as In My Mind's Eye in 2019.

Morris wrote many books on travel, notably about Venice and Trieste. Her Pax Britannica trilogy, on the history of the British Empire, received praise. Morris's 1985 novel Last Letters from Hav, an "imagined travelogue and political thriller" was shortlisted for that year's Booker Prize.

In 1995, Morris completed a biography of First Sea Lord John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, entitled Fisher's Face. She began researching the life of the Admiral in the 1950s, describing the several-decades-long project as a "jeu d’amour" (love game).