QUEEN’S FLAG ON EVEREST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27056, 3 June 1953, Page 10

QUEEN’S FLAG ON EVEREST

London Hails News With Delight (N.Z. Press Association—Copyrightj . (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 2. The. pews that Everest had been climbed by the British expedition was splashed on the front pages of late editions of London morning newspapers, and gave an added flavour to a Britain already charged with emotion by the Coronation festivities. The headlines told their own story. Examples were:— “Daily Express”: “All This—and Everest Too.” “News Chronicle”: “The Crowning Glory: Everest is Climbed.” “Daily Mail”: “Hillary Plants Queen’s Flag on Top of the World.” Immediately the Queen was told that Everest had been conquered she gave instructions for her congratulations to be sent to the expedition. The “Daily Mail” said that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh heard the news with tremendous delight. The “Daily Mail,’’ in a leading article, said: “No Monarch ever rode to her Coronation with such splendid tidings ringing round her realms. We have talked and written about the new Elizabethan age dawning with our young Queen’s reign. The news from the far-off Himalayas is of an epic achievement, gloriously in line with the adventuring of the first Elizabethans. For years gallant men of many nations have pitted their energy, skill, and endurance against the awful challenge of Everest.

“That howling top of the world has defied them all till now, and it is to the Queen’s flag and the heroic quality of the Queen s men that Everest has at last submitted.’’ “Those who look for omens may see signs in the conquest- of Everest that this is to be the new Elizabethan age,” the “Melbourne Herald” said in Australia tonight. “But the real direction of the adventure is against pessimism in our way of thinking. If youth heeds the example of Queen Elizabeth and her husband it can carry us forward to new triumphs. There are other Everests to climb and new freedoms to win.”

"Hope of New Age” “The Times” in a leading article referred to the conquest of Everest in the light of the new age. “The splendid trophy brought to the Queen from the summit of the world’s highest peak is the earnest of the hope of a new heroic age.” The “Daily Mail” said: "Today the conquest of the last untopped piece of earth is laid at Her Majesty’s feet, so the cheers that greet the Queen today will resound with an even deeper meaning.” The “Daily Telegraph said: “It is a feat without parallel. It cannot of course be pretended that the practical value ofthis feat is immediately noticeable. No man can survive for long on the summit of Everest. All that the victorious climbers can leave behind them are the flag and their footprints.”