International   

The world’s tributes

London: Queen Elizabeth II led Britain in tributes to Sir Edmund, as public figures and fellow adventurers hailed him as a hero and an inspiration.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July 1953. The news of his achievement was made public on the day of her coronation the previous month.

The monarch went on to meet him many times, most recently at a ceremony at her Windsor Castle home in 2004 and two years before at a garden party during a tour of New Zealand.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown described Hillary as a “truly great hero who captured the imagination of the world” and a “towering figure who will always be remembered as a pioneer explorer and leader.”

The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don McKinnon, said he was a Kiwi hero, a “leader of men” and fully-deserving of the state funeral now being afforded him.

“We just saw him as that iconic New Zealander, slightly self-effacing, didn’t take life or himself particularly very seriously,” he told BBC radio.

The British adventurer and environmentalist Pen Hadow, who was the first man to trek solo without resupply from Canada to the geographic North Pole, said Hillary’s death “closes one of the great chapters of planetary exploration.”

“He was physically and metaphorically at the pinnacle of high adventure,” the Arctic and Antarctic explorer said.

Because of his conquest of the world’s highest peak, “millions of people will know him and will be affected in some way by his passing,” he added.

Mr. Hadow said Sir Edmund was one of three adventurers — alongside France’s Jacques Cousteau and the solo round-the-world sailor Francis Chichester — who inspired him.

Mountaineer Graham Hoyland, who has climbed Everest nearly a dozen times and investigated whether British explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine actually beat Hillary to the summit in 1924, was also full of praise.

“You can’t beat being a pioneer,” he told BBC radio. “When you follow what they did, you realise just what tough guys they were. He was tough, modest and a real hero.”

But he said Hillary’s real legacy was the work he did to improve the lives of Sherpas in Nepal by building schools and bridges: “He used his celebrity to make a real difference.” — AP

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Chavez wins freedom for Colombian hostages
China to limit use of plastic bags
Shots at Benazir fired from a .30 gun: report
Diana killed for anti-mine campaign?
Sarkozy’s wife loses book case
Hamas rejects Bush’s promises
Superjumbo rolls off tarmac; damage “superficial”
The world’s tributes
Oil from algae a solution?
33-year-old woman spends months disguised as boy
Malaysian Indian leader shot dead

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu