The first Briton to conquer Mount Everest will tell an Oxford audience about his experiences as a professional mountaineer.

Doug Scott and his companion Dougal Haston braved temperatures of minus 45C to scale the south west face of the world’s most famous mountain in 1975.

The pair spent the night before reaching the summit in a snow cave they had dug at 28,700ft, and managed to survive without sleeping bags or oxygen by staying awake.

The next morning they went on to make history by reaching the 29,029ft summit, 33 days after they had first set off.

For Mr Scott, a CBE, the climb was the result of years of practice.

He first began climbing with his friends as a 12-year-old using his mother’s clothes line and a car tow rope. Now 67, the Nottingham-born adventurer says he still climbs, but dedicates much of his time to the charity Community Action Nepal, which he formed 10 years ago.

He said: “Climbing lifts you out of the ordinary and leaves you refreshed. It leaves you feeling more positive and more at peace with yourself — having risked your life you become more alive.”

On Thursday, November 27, Mr Scott will give a lecture at the Saïd Business School as a fundraiser for the charity.

His talk, called A Crawl Down The Ogre, will detail the perilous eight day descent he made from the 24,000ft summit of another infamous mountain, The Ogre in Pakistan, having broken both of his legs just 150ft from the top.

Describing the 1977 climb, Mr Scott said: “The best climbs are those where the outcome remains uncertain until the end.

“That was very uncertain — whether I would get off and back home — so it was very exciting.

“It was painful, especially the right leg.

“That made me quite sick because it was all crunchy. I split the shin up the middle and broke the ball at the bottom of my tibia.

“But when you break your legs like that, all the trauma kind of warms you up.

“The mountain wasn’t climbed again for 24 years and has only been climbed once more.”

To find out more about Community Action Nepa,l visit canepal.org.uk.

Tickets for the talk are available for £12.50 by calling 01865 778536.