Ever wondered what your cout of arms would look like?

At the College of Arms in London you can do research on heraldry and genealogy. In case you're not up to do any research you can still enter the hall and get to know some of the cout of arms.

Pictured is the most unusual crest I came across in the hall - a kiwi grasping an ice axe. As the former owner died in 2008, the College of Arms keeps it and proudly presents it to its visitors.

You probably know already whom I'm speaking of. In 1953, he was the first - together with sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay - to climb the summit of Mount Everest and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire the same year: Sir Edmund Hillary.

Speaking of honors, I got my first A today - for my newsfeature on plaques commemorating important people who'd once lived in a house. Admittedly it's an A-, but who cares.