Everest and its 8848 meters
The highest peak in the world was coveted by the British, you know it since 1921. But it was not until May 29, 1953 that the Mountain will finally know its winners, namely the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, both representatives of the late British Empire. So this success, led with a bang by the soldier John Hunt, an expedition leader, was awaited by the whole kingdom. The height of happiness, it would coincide with the coronation of a very young queen of 26 years, Elizabeth II.
On June 2, the coronation of Elizabeth took place, broadcast live on television and the same day, the announcement of the victory of Everest
Perfect timing and an exciting gift for the queen who opened her reign under the auspices of this sublime ascent, emblematic of the British spirit of adventure. It was still necessary that the news arrive in due time, from the distant base camp of Everest, in Nepal to London. You should know that the newspaper The Times had dispatched a special envoy, James Morris, with the instruction to jealously guard the exclusivity of the victory. For this, James Morris and his journal had developed a number of coded messages. Thus, on May 29, Victory Day, a mail runner sherpa, that is to say a postman seizes at the base camp the message that James Maurice had scribbled on a paper. The journalist wrote these few words. Bad snow conditions, stop, advanced base camp abandoned, stop, wait for improvement.
Which actually means summit of Everest reached on May 29 by Hillary and Tenzing.
Yep, that’s the trick. The Sherpa, who has been instructed to be quiet and fast, runs to Namche Bazar, a small village on the mountainside perched at 3400 meters. Then, a radio held by an Indian transmits the famous message, still coded in Kathmandu, to another gentleman called Simon Hays who will forward it to London. Mission accomplished since on June 2, when James Morris wakes up from the sleep of the just and opens his radio receiver well wedged in his sleeping bag, he hears that an announcer announces the success of Everest. James Morris, Crown Messenger, and The Times had won their bet, and Britons in the streets could both celebrate the radiant Queen and salute Everest. Symbols of hope and joy are thus multiplied, and the monarch would be able to reign over a proud, patriotic people, happy at least as much as the French who had woken up from the post-war period by becoming the first conquerors of a summit of more than 8000 meters, the Annapurna. In this month of September 2022, there are no longer any of the protagonists of this Everestian story: the queen is dead, long live the king!
As for James Morris, in 1972, he announced his sex change and became Jan Morris.
She was the first public figure to announce her transition, benefiting from gender reassignment surgery. Jan Morris was, until her death in November 2020, a noted historian who received all the great titles of the Order of the British Empire. She wrote this incredible story and was published by Editions du Mont-Blanc under the title The Crown Messengers.
Editions du Mont-Blanc, Editions Catherine Destivelle.