Nuisance calls force Sir Edmund Hillary's widow to change phone number

Wellington, Feb 10 : The grieving widow of Sir Edmund Hillary has been compelled to change her telephone number, after numerous nuisance calls.

Lady Hillary said the alarming late-night calls meant she had to change the telephone number Sir Edmund insisted on being published so the public could call him.

Sir Ed, the first man to conquer the world's highest mountain in 1953, died in Auckland on January 11 from a heart attack, reports the NZPA.

When Sir Edmund was alive he insisted on being in the Auckland phone book and loved getting calls from school students or potential donors to his charity, the Himalayan Trust, Lady Hillary said.

She told the New Zealand Herald that she spent most of her time helping run the Himalayan Trust, and it was problematic having to change her number.

ANI