Youngest Briton succeeds in South Pole trek

Almost 100 years since Captain Robert Scott attempted to walk to the South Pole, Tom Avery was yesterday set to be the youngest Briton to succeed.

Speaking by satellite phone, the 27-year-old yesterday said he and his companions were nine miles from the pole and expected to reach it within hours. Their arrival will end a 702-mile trek, which began in the Chilean Antarctic.

Mr Avery is accompanied by Briton Patrick Woodhead, 27, Canadian Paul Landry, 45, and Andrew Gerber, 28, a South African. The team makes up the British Centenary Expedition, which aims to raise £500,000 for children's charities and the Prince's Trust.