Robert Falcon Scott Markham's first choice as leader but, having decided on him, the older man's support remained constant. There were committee battles over the scope of Scott's responsibilities, with the Royal Society pressing to put a scientist in charge of the expedition's programme while Scott merely commanded the ship. Eventually, however, Markham's view prevailed; Scott was given overall command, and was promoted to the rank of commander before "Discovery" sailed for the Antarctic on 6 August 1901. King Edward VII, who showed a keen interest in the expedition, visited the Discovery the day before the ship left British shores in August 1901,
Scott of the Antarctic (film) four when the tragedy happened, but Scott has always been one of my heroes and it's jolly satisfying to feel that the job of helping to bring the. great story of British enterprise and grit to the screen has fallen to me." Three years' research was done for the film. Cameraman Osmond Baradaile spent six months in 1946-47 shooting background footage in the Antarctic at Hope Bay as well as at South Shetland and the Orkneys, travelling 30,000 miles. Filming started in June 1947 in Switzerland for four weeks, at the Jungrau Mountain and the Aletsch Glacier. In October 1947