How does climbing Everest compare with winning a Nobel prize?

Apart from the occasional pub quiz, I’ve not won many things in my life. I did once win a tent in an outdoor website’s prize draw, which was a nice surprise. And in my twenties, I won a bottle of wine at a comedy club in London for making up a joke in the interval which everybody liked.

But when it comes to winning a prize for being good at something, that’s always been another matter. I don’t write the sort of books that will ever be considered for an award. I was pretty average at sport, and n...