Friday, January 11, 2008

a couple of events of note

I felt that I should mention that Tuesday was the 100th birthday of actor William Hartnell. Of course, he died in 1975 and was unavailable for comment on the event. William Hartnell was best known in the United States for being the first actor to play the role of The Doctor in the show Doctor Who. He held the role from 1963 to 1966.

Also, Sir Edmund Hillary just died at the age of 88. In 1953 he became the first person to climb Mount Everest creating a new growth industry for the Sherpas of Nepal. He followed this with a 1958 jaunt to the South Pole in modified tractors - the first successful vehicle-borne trip to the bottom of the world - and a 1975 jetboat expedition to the source of the Ganges.

Much of his time, however, was dedicated to bettering the lot of the Sherpa people. His Himalaya Trust raised about US$250k annually which was invested in schools, hospitals, bridges, pipelines and even an airfield, many of which Hillary helped personally to build. [source: The Register]

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