Famous Firsts #1

Except that those people come from cultures where people are identified by their family names, not by their given names. 'Tenzing Norgay' wasn't his birth name, it was a name he was given later and has a specific meaning (which I can't remember off the top of my head), so neither 'Tenzing' nor 'Norgay' are his given or family names. He was often referred to as 'Sherpa Tenzing', so I reckon Tenzing should be accepted as well :o)

Please add Tensing as an alternative spelling. This his how the media in the UK have always spelt his name... :)

Thanks. As a New Zealander I know him as Sherpa Tenzing.

but... not presidents of the United States. And not a chief executive. Though the name of the title is similar the two offices don't have much else in common. The president of the Continental Congress had almost no power at all.

^ .. you are *still* doing this? Seriously? It has been *months* that you are copy/pasting this quote, which when originally written made perfect sense, but every time you have pasted it has made none. Is it really so important for you that everyone know that you are too thick to discern the difference between relevant comment and passive aggressive sniping? I have no gripe with "What." I'm not following him around posting nasty things directed at him. I'm responding to his comment with relevant information. Can we please get that block feature up and running QM? Pretty please?

someone else above had commented that there were other presidents.. of... things.. the Continental Congress, I think, and perhaps other things. But these presidents never held the title of President of the United States of America.

Realistically the Everest ascent was made possible by a great team of climbers and a couple of hundred sherpas....... the two to the top were just the pair chosen to do the last little hop!

I kind of doubt Hilary was part of a lucky pair to be chosen. It was his trip. No one else of the 200 would've bothered to go on their own or all together in a group without him.

this question about everest really shouldn’t be in this quiz if there are two of them imo. i understand they did it together so you can’t pick one, but in that case leave out the category altogether and get another one of the many hundreds of others you could have

There's also some debate about whether the first two to make it to the summit were actually George Mallory and Sandy Irvine.

@IsleAuHaulte said:

I kind of doubt Hilary was part of a lucky pair to be chosen. It was his trip. No one else of the 200 would've bothered to go on their own or all together in a group without him.

This isn't true. It was Sir John Hunt's expedition, deputy-led by Charles Evans; and within that expedition, Hillary and Tenzing weren't even the first climbing pair to assault the summit, but the second.

Now, neither Tenzing nor Hillary were "just" lucky; they were the strongest climbers on the team.

Oh man, I hope he had a barf bag. wouldn't be fun to spend a whole day in a capsule with your own vomit floating around.

Modern as in 1961 not 1954....

meh, probably the rest of the world.

Without breaking the sound barrier there would have been no moon landing. It was of major historical significance and was rightly branded as so when I was growing up in the '50s and '60s, but it paved the way to so many more historical feats in more recent history that its importance is no longer recognized as it should be. As samiamco said, apparently more people should watch "The Right Stuff" for perspective. I still remember hearing the sonic booms when I was growing up. They frightened people at first, and the first time my aunt heard one she thought my cousin had fallen out of the barn loft. To say we've come a long way is an understatement, but that doesn't lessen the significance of what Yeager did, or all those pilots before him who died trying.

@ander217 - interestingly enough, his feat was a state secret and not revealed until some later. And even though we look upon it as a great milestone, Sputnik, Glenn, and the moon landing are the milestones we remember from history. I don't know how it happened, but John Glenn even overshadows Alan Shepherd.