Bill Jenkin
There has been quite a bit of discussion about this book on a Facebook group (not all very accurate) but I can’t for the life of me remember who the guy on the camera is. I know the swinger is Dave Pattison. Also I think it must have been Crew 14 in that day – hence the camera tape “14”s on the camera and on the Mole column base. Do you think they had a special photo-shoot for the pictures in this book or did they snap away during a normal day? The book was published in January 1969 so I suppose this would have been 1968.
Doug Puddifoot
John Noakes.
Dudley Darby
Looks like a young Peter Leverick.
Bill Jenkin
I don’t think it’s John Noakes, but could be Peter Leverick, though I’m not convinced
Doug Puddifoot
A scan of the book is available online at http://www.vtoldboys.com/bpbook/bpfc.htm
Here is a photo of John from the book compared with the cover. The cameraman’s dress looks a little too casual for the time, the swinger is still wearing a tie.
John’s shoes from a photo in the book:
David Bunt
There was a live Blue Peter item showing the behind the scenes operations of TC1 on 25 March 1968. If it’s anything like the late 1970’s version (reusing the same script) it will have had Noakes on the camera crane.
Some or all of the photos will hail from rehearsals that day.
After the book came out, it was plugged on the “Blue Peter” [show] of 31-03-1969, with a repeat clip from the 1968 show.
Geoff Fletcher
That’s Noakes up front. Dave P on the arm.
Peter Neill
Think about it – who would they put on the front cover? A cameraman or a presenter?
Peter Hider
I think it’s definitely John Noakes who I got to know quite well in the nineteen-sixties through my friendship with John Adcock who was Assistant Editor under Biddy.
Pat Heigham
This talk of Noakes reminds me of a shoot, where John Noakes was filmed surfing at Newquay.
As radio mics were nowhere near waterproof, his piece to camera on arriving back at shore, was necessarily covered on my pole. I was not happy with the production, as they had booked a hotel room for John to warm up, shower and change. I had been up to my thighs in very cold water to get the shot, but was there at least a towel for this poor bloody sound guy?
No!
However, the recordist and I returned to London with a stone of beautifully fresh plaice in ice!
However, much good occurred, as Ivan Sharp had a BMW 2002, with which I was impressed, so I bought one as my next car, and have been driving them ever since.
Mixing “Blue Peter” in the studio might be thought to be a simple kids’ programme but could get fearfully complicated. Apart from the presenters on their ‘woolsack’ there were TK and VT inserts, and anything from musicians to a military band.
And it was live!
Happy days?
I get a bit peeved with travel programmes, or similar which, to make it ‘interesting’ have to have the presenter ‘having a go’ at something. I’d much rather see an expert doing it properly.
David Brunt
Would that be the one with Chris Trace rather than Noakes, shown 24 August 1964? Noakes was still over a year away from starting.
The earliest surfing film with Noakes (and Purves) is 19 November 1973.
Chris Woolf
Well… John Noakes did some stuff after “Blue Peter”, and one of those programmes was to swim with a kid into a large cave off Penzance to find seals. This was a wet-suit job, and although we were in a paddled rubber dinghy to get pictures and pole for atmosphere (atmos), we needed close conversation. I just used double sandwich bags, tied tight for the TXs, and condoms for Trams – worked fine for the 30 minute swim, and no damage to the kit.
The seals were very curious, and we all swam around after filming. The bull was quite big but not at all threatening – a great finish for the day.
Pat Heigham
Definitely Noakes.
I had left the BBC in 1968, but came back occasionally as a freelance to the Film Unit out of Lime Grove.
So it could have been 1973. Ivan and I went on to shoot an ATV series “Skiboy”, 17 weeks in Switzerland in 1974. Great location in an undeveloped small resort. Only one chairlift! I learned how to drive in snow and ice!
The cameraman on that was Tony Leggo.
