Sir, - It is surely relevant to the Ruairi Quinn controversy that Sir Edmund Hillary's first remark after his ascent of Mount Everest with Tensing Norgay was: "Well , we knocked the bastard off."
There is no record of any complaint by either the Tibetan or Nepalese authorities, or indeed by the person most concerned, Qomolungma, Mother Goddess of the Snows. - Yours, etc.,
Joss Lynam, Sorbonne, Ardilea Estate, Dublin 14.
