The Night Climbers of Cambridge

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The Night Climbers of Cambridge is a book written under the pseudonym "Whipplesnaith" about nocturnal climbing on the Colleges and town buildings of Cambridge in the 1930s.

"Whipplesnaith" is apparently a pseudonym for Noel Howard Symington, although the book is the work of several contributors. One of them, Eric Wadhams, a choral scholar at King's, either took or was featured in most of the photographs. The book was originally published in October 1937 by Chatto and Windus, revised in November 1937 and was re-printed in 1952 and 1953. The second edition contains a re-ordered selection of photographs and a missing diagram explaining the escape from the roof of Marks and Spencers.

The book is now highly sought after, especially in Cambridge itself where it is still regarded as one of few "guidebooks" to the routes onto the roofs of the town's ancient buildings. Famous climbs documented in the book are the ascent of King's College and St. John's' College chapels and the "Senate House leap", together with many photographic plates.