Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/05/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 01:05 PM 5/3/99 -0700, John Hudson wrote: >I had been under the impression that New Zealander, Edmund Hillary was >awarded a Knighthood for reaching the summit of Mount Everest and that the >announcement of Hillary's achievement was announced on the day of the >Queen's coronation. Well, this IS off-topic, but here is the tale: THE TIMES (to US citizens, that is THE Times, the (London) Times, who doesn't use a city designator -- we have the NY TIMES and the LA TIMES, but London just has, "THE TIMES") sent James (now Jan) Morris as their correspondent. Once Hillary summited -- as he yelled to George Lowe, "we knocked the bastard off!" -- Morris arranged to have the news sent to the nearest Indian Army radio station, which then encrypted the news and sent it to London, all done hush-hush and doncha know, old boy! The then-still-uncrowned Queen Elizabeth directed that only her mother, the present "Queen Mum" and Lt Col Howard-Bury, leader of the '21 Reconnaissance, be informed prior to her coronation. Neatly done, and with grand style, well worthy of the Empire. Then someone realized Hunt's family probably should be advised, but, in the end, they were only advised of the Ascent around the time the news release became a FLASH! around the world. Though, no one has ever understood why Brigader Teddy Norton, Mallory's expedition leader, was not informed in advance. The question has been raised for forty-six years, without an answer. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!