In 1953 two historical events coincided - the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the conquest of Mount Everest by John Hunt's British expedition. The news of the success, which broke in London on the morning of the coronation, was published in The Times, and all round the world the coincidence of the two happenings is remembered still as a moment of high historical romance. This account is by Jan Morris who, before a change of sexual role, was James Morris, and was the Times reporter who accompanied the expedition and got the story back to Britain.