29th May 1953: Hillary and Tenzing Conquer Everest
New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Mount Everest was named after Sir George Everest, the surveyor-general of India who was the first to produce detailed maps of the Indian subcontintent including the Himalayas.
Edmund Hillary was knighted on his return.
Sir Edmund took part in several expeditions after that including a trip across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1958. He set up a medical and educational trust for the Sherpa people in 1961 and was New Zealand High Commissioner to India in Delhi from 1984 to 1989.
He died aged 88 in January 2008
Tenzing Norgay was awarded the George Medal for his achievement and later became director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling. He died in 1986.His family are campaigning for a posthumous knighthood...By the 50th anniversary of the ascent in May 2003 over 1,300 people had reached the summit of the roof of the world.
