Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was born on 20 July 1919 to 11 January 2008 was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist.Hillary was also part of a British reconnaissance expedition to Mt Everest in 1951 led by Eric Shipton. Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–1961, and 1963–1965. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.