May 29

Birthdays are often an occasion for riotous celebration. I must admit however, that the older I get the less actively I seek out things of a riotous nature. On the 29th in 1953, Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest. So thrilled was Norgay to stand on the top of the world that from then on he would celebrate his birthday on May 29th. He also managed to get over his disappointment at seeing a clearly posted sign on the summit that said “$20 cover charge and a 2 drink minimum.”