Bee-keeper was first on top of the world

WERE the men who conquered Mount Everest in 1953 all professional mountaineers? — M.

At 29,002 feet, Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth.

In 1953, just before the Queen’s Coronation, the mountain was climbed for the first time.

A party of 10 climbers were led by John Hunt, a Colonel in the army.

Of the 10, Edmund Hillary was chosen for the final assault, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

Tenzing , of course was a professional mountain guide, as were the 20 other Sherpas used in the expedition.

However, the climbers had a variety of occupations, and none were really full-time mountaineers. Hillary was a bee-keeper! The others were a Cambridge student, a doctor, a statistician, a physicist, a surgeon, an officer in the Brigade of Gurkhas, a director of a travel agency and even a primary school teacher.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the final bid for the summit.

Using open - circuit oxygen equipment they departed the final camp at 6.30am on May 29. Climbing steadily, they persevered into the unknown.

Hillary later said: “I continued hacking steps along the ridge and then up a few more to the right . . . to my great delight I realised we were on top of Mount Everest and the whole world spread out below us.”

Tenzing and Hillary had reached the highest point on Earth.