Conference Agenda

The fatal expedition of English Antarctic explorer Robert F. Scott (1868–1912) has been etched in the British psyche since his death. His doomed race to the South Pole with four other men inspired music, visual art, and stories as soon as news of their deaths reached London, and commemoration of the Terra Nova expedition continues to play an important role in perceptions of Antarctic heritage and Britishness. Paul Pelham and Lawrence Wright’s popular song “’Tis a Story that Shall Live For Ever” (1913) is one such example. Though it hasn’t been considered in scholarship, the song’s text and music are particularly illuminating as to how Scott’s story was instantly memorialized in ways that drew on his own writings and inextricably linked him to pre-1914 ideas of Britishness. “’Tis a Story” was first recorded just two weeks after Scott’s death was reported at home, and it was initially paired on a record with Pelham and Wright’s popular Titanic memorial song “Be British,” which likewise emphasizes and intertwines sacrifice, courage, and Britishness.

This paper highlights similarities between the two songs and shows that the musical commemoration of Scott’s expedition in “’Tis a Story” captures the sentiments of the moment, some of which historian Max Jones addresses in his essay “‘Our King Upon His Knees’: The Public Commemoration of Captain Scott’s Last Antarctic Expedition” (2000). The framing of the Terra Nova deaths as British heroism in “’Tis a Story” not only conflates Britishness and Englishness, but it is also representative of historic attitudes toward Antarctic exploration. Both of these factors enabled the song to valorize the lost men as well as the achievements of Britain’s South Atlantic conquests. This framing is something that has continued into the present with commemorations of Scott (and other explorers and expeditions) that are haunted by nationalistic sentiments.