Hinkes interviewed on Radio 4 tonight

Earlier this year, Hinkes made a first ascent in Kryrgyzstan, and did what any devoted dad would do, and named the peak after his daughter. Awww.

If you’ve been to the National Mountaineering Exhibition at the Rheged Centre, you’ll already know that John Peel is your virtual guide through the history of British climbing (he went to the same school as Mallory, y’know), and Peel also interviewed Chris Bonington and George Band for the documentary ‘The Reluctant Mountaineer’.

Apparently, this didn’t stop him from thanking Alan ‘Spinkes’ for the interview. We caught up with Alan on his way to give a lecture in Gloucester to find out if it was true... “It’s true, the producer rang me up to apologise, and said they’d either edit it out, or chop the ‘Sp’ off, so that John Peel said ‘Inkes’ instead. He’s a big hero of mine – I’ve still got a load of his radio tapes from the 70’s – but I nearly choked when he did that...”

You can listen to the interview at 11pm on Radio 4, but if that’s past your bedtime, you can listen to the programme on the BBC website, or catch up with him on the Challenge 8000 lecture tour which kicked off in Manchester last week.