UKC

Shuffling through the vids last night for something to watch-I don't think I could watch Michael Jackson without throwing up- I came across 'Perrin OTE'.
Ah Ha...I remember this.Jimbo's four part series on the history of Welsh climbing made in 1990 which I'm pretty sure was only seen in Wales.
Given that rock climbing progs have never exactly jammed the schedules in this country,therefore the competition is not that great,nevertheless, Jim's 2 hour sojourn is possibly the best climbing docu ever made in this country.
I'd forgotten how good it was.
'Lakeland Rock' was very watchable too but only because we had the chance to see Peascod and Whillans in action just before they died
Strange that unlike LR the production company who made 'On the Edge' never put it out officially ?

In reply to Jonno: never heard of this Jonno but I`m a great fan of Perrin`s writing- which climbers/climbs were featured?

I quite enjoyed the TV thing he did on Snowdonia- the delights of Bethesda on camera !

In reply to lummox:
If you didn't see it I can tell you that it was pretty comprehensive in its account of Welsh Climbing.
The first prog dealt with the early pioneers...the botanists and quarrymen.Did you know that it was a botanical local vicar who climbed the East Buttress of Cloggy in the 18th century looking for rare plants..that it was quarrymen who first climbed Lliwedd's Slanting Gully 40 years before the Abraham Bros...that the UK's first recorded rock climb was on Lliwedd 'before' Hasktt Smith's Napes Needle.
The 2nd prog moved on to Archer Thompson,OG Jones,Wynthrop Young et al who began to move out of the gullies on to the faces.... finishing in the great war.
Prog 3 moved on to the great technical advances brought on by Kirkus,Menlove et al beore Prog 4 wrapped everything up by taking us from Brown in the 50's to JD on the Quarryman in the late 80's.
Jim Perrin presents it really well and there is some great historical footage,creative modern footage,interviews with stalwarts like Brown and Longland and stirring music to boot.
A lost classic I would say.

In reply to Jonno: Yeah - I taped that series - some haunting shots of great Welsh climbs.

In reply to Jonno:

My Liwedd guide has the first recorded "proper" rock climb as East Gully in 1896, by Archer Thomson and the often-overlooked Oscar Eckenstein.

Napes Needle was done in 1886, and anyway, as we keep mentioning on RT, it was *far* from being the first "rock climb for rock climbing's sake" route. Needle Ridge was done in 1884, the Jordan climbs in 1882, the Pendlebury Traverse in 1872, Slab & Notch in 1863 and Old West in 1826.

Do you know of an earlier recorded Liwedd climb than East Gully?

In reply to Jonno: Aye, it was a very good series indeed. The first episode was the best, seeing the quarry workers in action certainly helped to deflate any pretensions I ever had of being a good climber.

Like you say, the footage(some tremendous film of Brown if I remember correctly), and JPs presentation helped to make a tremendous account of Welsh climbing.

Now if only they'd got someone like JP to present Scotlands equivalent 'The Edge' it would have been much better(saying that, I still think the 2 episodes covering Murrays,and Marshalls careers take some beating).

In reply to Jonno:

Wow, wish I'd seen that. Presumably no-one has any idea where one could get a copy?

In reply to Jonno:

Well it's possible I suppose though there's no mention of it in the Abrahams' books or Haskett Smith's definitive early guide.
And the main thing I remember from these are the fairly long lists of the people who were killed attempting the first ascent (isn't it graded Diff these days?)