Thomas William Birkett (born 1952) better known as Bill Birkett is an English civil engineer, climbing writer, photographer, rock climber, and mountaineer, from the Lake District, Cumbria, who has undertaken many expeditions around the world. The 541 peaks of the lake district listed in one of his books are known as Birketts in his honor.
Bill Birket was born on 13 May 1952 the son of pioneering Lake District climber Robert James 'Jim' Birkett.[1] [2]
He grew up in Langdale and started climbing as a child, lead his first extreme graded climbs at the age of 16.
Birkett studied civil engineering at Teesside Polytechnic, graduating in 1976. He then went on to work for Cumbria County Highways. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1981 and gained chartered status.
He has made the first ascents of a number of rock climbs including one of the first E7-graded climbs in Britain with Centrefold on Raven Crag Langdale in 1984.
Birkett is a member Member of the Climbers' Club, the British Mountaineering Council, the Austrian Alpine Club the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, British Guild of Travel Writers and the Society of Authors.[3]
Birkett began writing and photographing for climbing magazines in the late 1970s, and in 1985 he became a freelance writer and photographer. Birkett's books have been published by a range of publishing companies including Cicerone Press, Oxford Illustrated Press, Constable, Harper Collins, AA, David & Charles and Frances Lincoln. In 2009 he set up his own publishing company, Bill Birkett Publishing to "have complete control" over future walks books.[4]
Birkett has twice won Excellence awards from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild for A Year in the Life of the Langdale Valleys in 2005, and A Year in the Life of the Duddon Valley in 2007.[5]
A Year in the Life of the Duddon Valley also won the Dalesman Award for Best Outdoot book in 2007.[6]
The 541 hills listed in Birkett's book the Complete Lakeland Fells (1994) have become known as Birketts (see Hill lists in the British Isles) and are a popular list used as a target by Hill Baggers.[7]
Birkett has written or co-authored over 30 books, including:
He is a regular contributor to The Great Outdoors, Climber, Climb, On the Edge, High and Cumbria magazines.
Birkett appeared on the Chanel 4 series Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District (series 3, episode 1, 2019) climbing the North West Arete on Gimmer Crag in Langdale with his daughter Rowan Birkett.[8]