[rollei_list] Re: Alfred Gregory, '53 Everest photographer death

  • From: Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:54:32 -0400

At 11:58 PM 3/14/2010, CarlosMFreaza wrote:
>Marc,  in the chapter  "Return" Sir John Hunt comments about James
>Morris work (he wrote the preface for the book "Gregory's Everest")
>and that they heard in "All India radio" while waiting news on the
>Queen Elizabeth coronation on 2 June 1953 the following headline
>"...The wonderful news broke in London last night that Everest has
>been climbed by the British Expedition...",  the news were known at
>London 24 hours before the Queen coronation, the expedition members
>dumbfounded because none of them had seriously imagined that it could
>already known at home twenty four hours ago despite Morris said about
>to send a brief message back quickly. The expedition members at least
>Hunt- thought the news could be known in London after the Queen
>coronation and not before.

Carlos
Morris' account has been accepted without question by every serious Everest researcher. It is borne out by the records of the Indian Army, the British Army, and of the British Royal Family. Morris got the word out as he had promised Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother he would. If Lord Hunt later suggested otherwise, well, old men often reinvent the past late in their lives. Sir Edmund Hillary certainly accepted Morris' role in things -- Hillary knew what Morris and his cronies were doing -- and stated in the 1960's that Lord Hunt applauded Morris for his sterling efforts once he learned of them. If Hunt later changed his story, well, again, old men often reinvent the past.
If Morris didn't get the message out, who did? The only messengers to have gone from Base Camp to Darjeeling were Morris' runners. There were no two-way radio communications between the Expedition and India, and Nepal at that time had precisely zero broadcasting facilities -- hell, there was not a single motor car in Nepal at the time. 

Marc



msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!

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