The Coronation

The new Queen put her own stamp on the momentous day, and ensured all could share in the excitement on TV

- MITYA UNDERWOOD

World Events

1953

Mountaineer Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 29. The news was received on the morning of the Coronation.

On August 19, Len Hutton led the England cricket team to victory in The Ashes, beating Australia for the first time in 19 years.

The Korean War ended after three years of intense fighting. The Korean Armistice Agreement is signed on July 27.

Marlon Brando starred as Marc Antony in the film version of Julius Caesar, released on June 4. Nominated for Best Actor Oscar, he lost to William Holden in Stalag 17.

On May 25 the US performed a nuclear weapons test codenamed Upshot-Knothole Grable, the only nuclear artillery shell fired on US soil.

Egypt appointed its first President, Mohammed Naguib, on July 28, marking an official end to the revolution and the country's constitutional monarchy.

Just 16 years after witnessing her father crowned King, Elizabeth returned to Westminster Abbey for her own Coronation. While her ceremony was steeped in tradition, the new Queen, then just 27, set many a precedent.

Most importantly, she defied the wishes of Prime Minister Winston Churchill by agreeing to make history and televise the ceremony. This determination is something for which she later became known and admired.