'It's a lot of money for a tin of beef dripping'

A man who spent hundreds of pounds on a tin of beef dripping which was taken on the first successful Mount Everest expedition said it was an "investment in the story".

Graham Keene, from Exeter,bought the 70-year-old can of Colonial Beef Dripping for £500 after it went up for auction at Bearnes Hampton Auctioneers on Wednesday.

It was sold with a letter from E M Elliot detailing that it came from the house of Mike Westmacott, a British mountaineer from Torquay. It was taken on the 1953 trip by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who were the first confirmed to reach the summit.

"It's a very good prop to tell people about Mike Westmacott and his story from Devon to the Himalayas," he said.

Brian Goodison-Blanks, head of the maritime retirement sporting department at the auctioneers, said it had a "unique history".

Keene said he became the eldest Briton to climb Everest in 2022, adding: "I obviously have quite an interest in what goes on in the Himalayas."

"It's a lot of money for a tin of beef dripping," he said.

"It will become a prop for me as I speak to schools and adult groups around the county.

"It's an investment in the story rather than the tin of beef."

Keene said his budget was originally £100 but he got "carried away".

"This is how I justified it, if 1,000 people hear me speak over the next year, that's 50p per person," he added.

He said beef dripping had "a lot of fatty acids", providing endurance for the expedition.

"In truth it was a very good idea to be taking beef dripping," he said.

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