A tin of beef dripping that was taken on the first successful Mount Everest expedition has been sold at auction. The can of Colonial Beef Dripping was taken on the 1953 journey by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who were the first confirmed to reach the summit of the world's tallest mountain. The 70-year-old food, along with a letter from E M Elliot detailing that it came from the house of Mike Westmacott, a British mountaineer from Torquay who was also a member of the expedition, were sold for £500 at Bearnes Hampton Auctioneers in Exeter. Brian Goodison-Blanks, head of the maritime retirement sporting department, said it had a "unique history". Goodison-Blanks said there were collectors "worldwide" who enjoyed these sorts of pieces from expeditions relating to the Arctic, Antarctic and in particular Mount Everest.…