Hero who conquered the Roof of the World goes to his rest
Edmund Hillary, 1919 – 2008
On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary, a mountaineering beekeeper from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa guide in Nepal, stood on top of the world. For the first time, men had climbed onto the summit of Mount Everest.
The two men shook hands, took some photographs and Tenzing buried some Buddhist offerings. Then, after 15 minutes, they were low on oxygen so they started back down the mounatin.
As they descended, they met George Lowe, another member of their expedition. “Well George, we’ve knocked the bastard off,” said Hillary.
News travelled more slowly in those days. The Times had a correspondent on the expedition, James Morris (now travel writer Jan Morris), who ran up and down from camps to send telegrams to London about the progress of the climb. Morris had a code in place, ‘Snow conditions bad,’ which would mean that the climb had succeeded.
The news of the successful climb reached England on the night of June 2, the day before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The newspaper of June 3 had to fit both stories on their front pages. The Times combined them as, ‘All this and Everest too’.
For his success, the Queen made Hillary a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). Tensing Norgay was awarded the George Medal, the second highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. The two became so famous that Hillary Clinton later claimed to have been named after Sir Edmund, even though she was born in 1947, long before the climb made him well-known. Tenzing was sometimes worshipped by people who believed him to be an incarnation of Buddha or Shiva.New Zealand, a tiny country at the bottom of the Empire, was astounded at suddenly being in the news around the world. When Hillary arrived home, Auckland went wild with parades, mayoral receptions and cheering school children. A song was written, ‘You’ve done it/Reached the summit/Done it for the red, white and blue/Hillary we’re proud of you!’
Edmund Percival Hillary was born in the small New Zealand town of Tuakau, south of Auckland, the middle of three children of Percival Hillary and his wife Gertrude Clark.