1953..

....is 60 years ago now.   But what a year it was.   I remember it well.   It was the year of the Coronation, the year when England won the Ashes for the first time in 19 years, the year of the Matthews Cup Final and England getting a football lesson from Hungary with a 6-3 defeat at Wembley.   Crick and Watson discovered the structure of DNA, with more than a little help from Rosalind Franklin.   Some famous births in 1953 included Mike Oldfield, Victoria Wood, Nigel Mansell and Andrew Wiles, he who finally cracked the proof of Fermat`s last theorem.  Among the arguably less celebrated were Stephen Byers, Tony Blair, Michael Portillo, Peter Mandelson, Hillary Benn and Alastair Darling.  

But for me, in all the uncertainties and apprehensions of my burgeoning adolescence, the thing I recall celebrating perhaps more than anything else in that year was the conquest of Everest.   The timing was impeccable, almost like being a Coronation gift to Her Majesty the Queen by the successful party led by John (later Lord) Hunt and comprising a group of experienced climbers and Sherpas.   It was, of course, Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay who became the first to reach the summit.

I remember saving my pocket money and the proceeds of some dubious extra-scholastic employment so that I could buy a copy of `The Ascent of Everest` by John Hunt - the original cover of the book is shown above.   It was a volume I treasured for many years until, like my collection of vinyl albums, it became victim to one of our many `clear outs.`   And yet I still recall the members of that famous expedition - Hunt and Hillary and Tenzing of course, but also others - among them George Band,  Tom Bourdillon, Alfred Gregory, MIke Westmacott and George Lowe.

George, like his fellow New Zealander Hillary, was an outstanding climber and explorer and after Hillary and Tenzing had achieved their unforgettable feat, the two men were met on their descent to the South Col by George Lowe.  It was then that Hillary delivered his immortal summary of their achievement, "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off." 

George Lowe died yesterday at the age of 89 and he was the last climbing member of that famous expedition to leave us.    It almost seemed to close the book on that era when heroes came as modest, unassuming, dedicated and utterly genuine.   I wonder how many of those born in that remarkable year will be remembered with such admiration and affection as George Lowe.