Image: Ian McNaught Davis, Chris Bonington and John Cleare
Over the weekend of 8 and 9 July 1967, viewers of BBC One were treated to a succession of programmes, which followed the climbing of the Old Man of Hoy. The 450 foot sandstone stack, located on the remote west of the Orkneys, was a great challenge to climbers, having only been conquered the previous year. The achievement of capturing the action on camera and bringing it to viewers made for a weekend of television that was both compulsive television and a landmark outside broadcast.
Chris Bonington and Tom Patey – who made the ascent in 1966 – took the East face of the Old Man, with Rusty Baillie as their climbing cameraman. The new South face route was scaled by Joe Brown – nicknamed the human fly – along with Pete Crew, Dougal Haston and Ian McNaught Davis. The climbing camera team was completed by John Cleare, Ian Clough, Hamish McInnes and George Wagland. The climbers had to contend with brittle rock and vomiting fulmars – a defence mechanism the birds used if disturbed.
In 1984 the BBC returned to the Old Man and broadcast a new ascent live over a day. Joe Brown was among the climbers, this time accompanied by his 18 year old daughter, Zoe. The Old Man of Hoy continues to exert its attraction on climbers and in 2014 Chris Bonington climbed it to mark his 80th birthday.
