What is Hedin?
1.
Sven Anders Hedin (1865-1952) was one of the great Swedish explorers. He was not the greatest, but was certainly one of them. Hedin was born in Stockholm and educated in both Sweden and Germany. Before he was 21 he started on his first exploration, of his back garden. He then travelled through Mesopotamia, part of which is now known as Iraq. Fascinating. In 1893 he began a 4 year journey across central Asia, looking for the lesser spotted Asian Zebra a friend had told him about. After four years his friend admitted he had lied. During a journey across the Pamir-La-Anderson Mountains his party found several ancient cities, called 'New York', 'Boston' and 'Disneyworld'. From 1927-35 he was in charge of the joint Chinese-Swedish expedition. They found China, but lost Sweden in the act. Which was a shame. I like Sweden. They invented Abba.
Person 1: 'Oh look! I found Jehol: City of Emperors by Sven Anders Hedin!'
Person 2: 'Well, he's an okay Swedish bloke, but I prefer Gustaf Dalen, who revolutionised lighthouse equipment and invented the Aga cooker.'
