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"So this Tuesday I need you to DAB on down to your polling precinct and hit dem VOTES lol haha"

THE body of New Zealand explorer and Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary is lying in state today following a traditional Maori welcoming ceremony in Auckland. As the hearse pulled into the forecourt this morning, Lady Hillary emerged from Holy Trinity Cathedral surrounded by family members, including Sir Ed's son Peter Hillary. Sir Edmund, the first person along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay to climb the world's highest peak in 1953, died of heart failure on January 11 at the age of 88. His funeral will be held tomorrow. New Zealand defence force personnel acted as pallbearers as about 100 members of...

NOTE: there was a much better headline from another source, but we are not allowed to use that because of copyright complaint - "Nepal to watch Hillary funeral via link" +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Queen Elizabeth snubs Hillary funeral: Report Wellington - Queen Elizabeth will not send a member of the British royal family to the funeral of Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary next week - a decision dubbed a snub to one of New Zealand's greatest legends on a newspaper website on Friday. The New Zealand Herald said a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman had told the paper the Queen would be represented by...

Sir Edmund Hillary, the lanky New Zealand mountaineer and explorer who with Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide, won worldwide acclaim in 1953 by becoming the first to scale the 29,035-foot summit of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday in Wellington. He was 88.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Edmund Hillary once expressed surprise that it was he -- "an ordinary person with ordinary qualities" -- who became the first man to conquer the world's tallest peak. He spent the rest of his life telling the story of the climb up Mount Everest that made him one of the 20th century's best-known adventurers. But he maintained his reputation for humbleness, while working to aid the impoverished people of Nepal. Hillary died at Auckland Hospital about 9 a.m. Friday from a heart attack, said a statement from the Auckland District Health Board. Though ailing in his...

He was a darling to all those who lived in the harsh and hostile mountains under the protective gaze of Sagarmatha. He was a blessing for the Sherpas. He worked tirelessly to bring water and electricity in the upper reaches of the mountains where they lived. He built hospitals and schools. He was a true mountaineer in all sense and sensibilities. On the morning of 29 May, 1953, Edmund Hillary stepped on the summit of Mt. Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, shot into limelight and refused to fade away even after the evening of his life. Sir Edmund was concerned...

Sir Edmund Hillary and his wife at the 50th annivervity celbration in Nepal May 2003 copyright©Frits Vrijlandt Sir Edmund Hillary has passed way at 88 years young New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has announced. Sir Edmund has been in frail heath for a few year. He is survived by his wife Lady June and children Peter and Sarah. 1953: British Expedition and FIRST SUMMIT. Led by Colonel John Hunt and consisting of climbers Dr. R.C. Evans, G. Band, T. Bourdillon, A. Gregory, Edmund Hillary, W.G. Lowe, C. Noyce, M.P. Ward, M. Westmacott, and C.G. Wylie. Returning as Sirdar...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Sir Edmund Hillary, the unassuming beekeeper who conquered Mount Everest to win renown as one of the 20th century's greatest adventurers, has died, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Friday. He was 88. The gangling New Zealander devoted much of his life to aiding the mountain people of Nepal and took his fame in stride, preferring to be called "Ed" and considering himself just an ordinary beekeeper. "Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was an heroic figure who not only 'knocked off'...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Everest conqueror and Antarctic explorer Sir Edmund Hillary has returned to the frozen continent — at age 87 — for what he believes will be his last time. Hillary joined New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and other dignitaries who flew to Antarctica for the 50th anniversary of the Scott Base, which the adventurer helped build in 1957. "This is probably the last opportunity that I will get to visit the wintery south," Hillary said Friday, the day after he arrived. Hillary helped lead a team to the South Pole in 1955. He was the first...

Conqueror of Everest Sir Edmund Hillary has urged world governments to protect the Himalayas from climate change. The World Heritage Committee, which supervises protection of sites of special interest, meets this week. Environmental campaigners, backed by Sir Edmund, want the committee to put the Sagarmatha National Park in the Himalayas on its danger list. This would mean governments are legally bound to protect it - which, they say, means cutting greenhouse gas emissions. In May 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary joined forces with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the first successful ascent of the world's highest mountain. 'Severe floods' Ever since, he...

Today is the anniversary of one of the great achievements of the 20th Century. Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953. One of the darkest days of the 20th Century occured in Park Ridge, Illinois on October 26, 1947. Hugh and Dorothy Rodham became parents of a bad seed named Hillary Diane Rodham. At the time, Sir Hillary was a beekeeper in New Zealand. (from Snopes) During a stop in Nepal while on a south Asian goodwill tour in April 1995, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton engaged in a brief (and reportedly coincidental) meeting with Sir Edmund...

Hillary's chilly ghost encounter AAP 18jan05 MOUNT Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary says he has met the ghost of eminent British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton who died during an expedition to Antarctica in 1916. In a video promoting conservation work on Shackleton's hut in Antarctica, New Zealand's greatest explorer describes how he saw the apparition when he first visited the hut at Ross Island. "I remember when I first went to Shackleton's hut - and I'm not a person who really sees things very much - but I went inside the door and when I opened the door - it's...

An editor working on ex-President Bill Clinton's memoirs has raised questions about the veracity of his account after reading the book's first draft. "Did you make half of that stuff up?" the editor asked, according to Clinton's own admission during a ceremony at his Little Rock presidential library on Friday. In little-noticed comments covered by the Associated Press, the ex-president revealed the unnamed editor's skepticism, saying, "When I first showed my editor the drafts of my memoirs, he said, 'Boy you've got a lot in here about Arkansas.' "And I said, 'Well read it before you cut it out.'" Then...