Who is Jan Morris? Jan Morris Bio/Wiki

Jan Morris was a Welsh historian, travel writer, and author. In particular, she was known for the Pax Britannica trilogy (1968-1978), the British Empire’s history, and portraits of cities such as Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City. She was born on 2 October 1926 in Clevedon, Somerset, England.

Until 1972, when she underwent gender reassignment surgery after transitioning from male to female, she wrote under her birth name, James.

Jan Morris has died at the age of 94.

Writer and journalist #JanMorris has died at 94. Her son Twm has said in a statement – “This morning at 11.40 at Ysbyty Bryn Beryl, on the Llyn, the author and traveller Jan Morris began her greatest journey. She leaves behind on the shore her life-long partner, Elizabeth.” pic.twitter.com/TqmcLtR42J

— Vincent Dowd (@dowdv) November 20, 2020

Age

She was 94 years old.

Career

Morris wrote for The Times after the war and was his correspondent for the British Mount Everest Expedition in 1953, which was the first to scale Mount Everest. In a coded message to the newspaper, “Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned may twenty-nine stop awaiting improvement”.

Morris announced the progress of Hillary and Tenzing, and by happy chance, the news was published on the morning of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.

Initially, the message was interpreted to indicate that the summit had been reached by Tom Bourdillon and Tenzing, but the first name was changed before the news broke. Claims that the news was kept back disregard the communication difficulties of the time; it was quite an accomplishment to get the news by Coronation Day to London, as it had to be sent by the runner to Namche Bazaar.

Morris provided the first irrefutable evidence of collusion between France and Israel in the invasion of Egyptian territory, reporting from Cyprus on the Suez Crisis for The Manchester Guardian in 1956, interviewing French Air Force pilots who reported that they had been in action in support of Israeli forces.

Morris was reporting on Adolf Eichmann’s 1961 trial. The Falklands War was opposed by Morris.

Death Cause

Morris died at Ysbyty Bryn Beryl, Pwllheli in North Wales, on 20 November 2020. Her death was confirmed by her son Twm.

Oh no, Jan Morris. So brilliant and witty, and the greatest advocate of “the religion of kindness”.

Always loved the way she stylishly undermined one of her own best anecdotes from Everest, about Sherpa Tenzing enjoying a decent claret: pic.twitter.com/olqlzPVUmY

— Tom Parfitt (@parfitt_tom) November 20, 2020

So sad to learn of the death of Jan Morris. Such a wonderful writer, a brave journalist and an extraordinary human being, who made a huge contribution to our post-modern understanding of gender identity #RIP pic.twitter.com/Do6kbdSdMc

— Jonathan Fryer (@jonathanfryer) November 20, 2020

, it still seems to me only common sense to wish to be a woman rather than a man—or if not common sense, at least good taste.

—#JanMorris, 1974 Conundrum
*img James Morris in Nepal, 1953 + Jan Morris in London April 26, 1974 pic.twitter.com/n27AmofM3w

— heretik (@heretikradikal) November 20, 2020