Most people in Britain know who Sir Ernest Shackleton was and have a rough idea of what he did America however has only just discovered him  although the Wall Street Journals description of Shackleton earlier this year as an Antarctic explorer whose beats went all but unnoticed for most of the 20th century is taking things too far But now the Americans are making up for lost time with powerful enthusiasm Biographies and accounts of the voyage of the Endurance are in production and are expected to spring off the shells as fast as they are stacked the American Museum of Natural History is mounting a grand exhibition and Columbia Tristar is preparing a film based on Shackletons life