Old Man of Hoy (BBC outside broadcast)

The Great Climb : The Old Man of Hoy outside broadcast

On 8-9 July 1967, 15 million people watched one of the most audacious BBC outside broadcasts ever undertaken - the climbing of the 'Old Man of Hoy'. A team of six climbers was filmed ascending a spectacular 450-foot sea stack off the Orcadian island of Hoy in a live broadcast that has been likened to an early example of what we now know as 'reality television'. The programme featured three pairs of climbers: Bonington and Patey repeated their original route, whilst two new lines were climbed, by Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, and by Pete Crew and Dougal Haston.

As academic Paul Gilchrist has described the groundbreaking event: "It connected an armchair audience with the elite of a sport subculture intent on conquering one of Britain's most spectacular geological treasures".

FINGERTIP PHENOMENON

Ron Fawcett ay his peak in the climbing on the breathtaking limestone walls of the Verdon Gorge of Southern France.