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In 1953 The Times held exclusive press rights to reporting the story of the first successful British ascent of Everest led by Col. John Hunt. The newspaper’s special correspondent James Morris (who later became Jan Morris) reported exclusively on the triumph. Morris devised an ingeniously coded telegram, and using Sherpa runners, produced a celebrated scoop which made it back from Nepal to London in time for the Queen’s Coronation on 2 June. The Royal Geographical Society and Alpine Club, functioning as the Himalayan Committee, organised the logistics of the expedition and liaised with The Times. In an illustrated talk, Paul Clements, who has written Morris’s biography, Jan Morris: life from both sides, recounts the excitement of the adventure almost 70 years ago which saw Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first two mountaineers to stand on the summit of Everest.

This event has been organised by the Northern Ireland committee.

For more information, please visit the event website here.