Joe Brown

In August 1970 a spectacular rock climb was televised live on BBC in color. Seven climbers attempted three different routes on the cliffs of Anglesey. The event, presented by Christopher Brasher was transmitted live through 4 connections over the course of 31st of august. The routes climbed were: Spider's Web, by Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis; Wen Slab, by Peter Crew and Don Whillans; and Tyrannosaurus Rex, by Laurie and Les Holliwell, and Janet Rogers. This was the first color live climbing program on BBC, following on from the success of earlier programs such as the ascent of the Old Man of Hoy in 1967.

In April 1966, the BBC broadcast a live program showing Joe Brown, Tom Patey, Ian McNaught-Davis, Chris Bonington, and the American Royal Robbins climbing of the awesome sea-cliffs of Gogarth on Anglesey. The climb was transmitted live through 3 connections over the course of 9th of April as part of the long-running Saturday afternoon sports strand, Grandstand. The vertical wall, composed of unreliably loose rock and guarded by guillemots and seagulls, proved to be a true test for the climbers. The cliff plunges directly into the sea and to climb up it required descending a rope, finding footholds near the bottom and then locating a viable route up the face.

In July of 1967, 15 million people watched one of the most audacious BBC outside broadcasts ever undertaken - the climbing of the Old Man of Hoy. Chris Bonnington and Tom Patey, took the East Face; Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, the South Face; Peter Crew and Douglas Haston took the South-East Arête. A further crew of four climbers- Hamish MacInnes, John Cleare, Rusty Baillie and Ian Clough carried cameras and transmitters. The live broadcast consisted of 6 connections between 7th and 9th of july whose titles were: The Old Man and The Climbers, Six Men, The Bivouac, Six Men-One Challenge, The first man to the summit, The Challenge and the Conquest. One week later BBC broadcasted a 30-minute program with the highlights of the live coverage.

A making of the live broadcast of the ascent of the Old Man of Hoy. In July of 1967, 15 million people watched one of the most audacious BBC outside broadcasts ever undertaken - the climbing of the 'Old Man of Hoy'. This is an account of how the BBC-1 television programme was organised, together with recordings made during the broadcast, and interviews with those who helped to make it possible as well as those who did the actual climb.

Commemorative program for the 25th anniversary of the live broadcast of the ascent of the Old Man of Hoy. In July of 1967, 15 million people watched one of the most audacious BBC outside broadcasts ever undertaken - the climbing of the 'Old Man of Hoy'. Chris Bonnington and Tom Patey, took the East Face; Joe Brown and Ian McNaught-Davis, the South Face; Peter Crew and Douglas Haston took the South-East Arête. A further crew of four climbers- Hamish MacInnes, John Cleare, Rusty Baillie and Ian Clough carried cameras and transmitters. 25 years later, BBC gathers the protagonists to recover the footage and to look back on the achievement.

A British expedition's successful attempt to climb the Trango Tower in the Karakorum Range of the Himalaya's in 1976. The climber Martin Boysen relates the events of the team's first failed attempt to ascend the Tower in 1975. This is followed by footage filmed on the 1976 expedition and the climbers, Martin Boysen, Joe Brown, Mo Anthoine and Malcolm Howells, narrate their experience of the 1976 attempt. The team is seen arriving in the region, hiring porters and trekking over hazardous terrain to reach their base camp. The first attempt to climb the Tower on this occasion is thwarted by bad weather, but the climbers return a few days later to make a successful attempt on the summit.

Documentary featuring some of Britain's leading rock climbers demonstrating their skills on different British rock climbing locations. In the Lake District, the 71-year-old Rusty Westmorland and Monica Jackson climb Napes Needle. In Idwal, Gwen Moffat, the first woman mountain guide in Britain, leads a climb on the Idwal Slabs, seconded by her husband Johnnie Lees. At Windgather Rocks, Geoff Sutton and Gordon Mansell teach a group of novices some basic climbing techniques. The documentary also includes reflections on mountaineering and climbing by George Abraham, Geoffrey Winthrop Young, George Band and Joe Brown. The film ends with shots of Brown leading Suicide Wall at Idwal.

On 28 September 1963, the BBC broadcast a live program of an ascent of Snowdon's Clogwyn du'r Arddu, 'the finest crag in Britain south of Scottish border'. It starred the French climber Robert Paragot alongside the cream of British talent: Joe Brown, Don Whillans, and Ian Mcnaught-Davis. The program had commentary by Chris Brasher and it was transmitted on Grandstand between Davis Cup tennis and Horse racing from Newbury. Grandstand presenter David Coleman introduced the climb as a TV first -the first-ever live coverage of UK mountaineering. Unfortunately, the action was clouded by rain and mist, and many of the cameras failed on the day of the broadcast, so most of the images of the climb ended being a kind of blurred haze.

Don Whillans was one of the leading rock climbers of his generation. This film examines Don’s gritstone horrors, his hard routes in Wales, then follows him to the Alps and beyond on several of his epic expeditions. But it also focuses on Don’s unique humor, his devastating oneliners that pricked pomposity wherever he found it and poked fun at those who deserved it. Don may have died 20 years ago but the myth surrounding Whillans can still be heard whenever climbers reminisce about a time when hard men were hard and legends were being made. Perhaps his partner Joe Brown best sums him up, 'Don was unique'.

Portrait of British mountaineer Joe Brown, who demonstrates his climbing technique and discusses his philosophy of climbing. The film was shot in and around Llanberis, where he lived, and on the cliffs of South Stack Lighthouse in Anglesey. Brown is regarded as the outstanding pioneering English rock climber of the 1950s and early 1960s. He established an unprecedented number of classic new routes in Snowdonia and the Peak District that were at the leading edge of the hardest grades. He made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1955 and and other big achievements in the Alps and Himalayas.

Film of the 1955 British expedition to Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak, led by Charles Evans. The first ascent of Kangchenjunga was made on 25th May 1955 when Joe Brown and George Band stopped just short of the summit, a promise they had made to the Nepalese authorities in respect of local beliefs that it is a sacred place. Norman Hardie and Tony Streather summited the following day. At this time, Kangchenjunga was the world’s highest unclimbed peak.

Don Whillans and Joe Brown climbing Cemetery Gates (E1) on Dinas Cromlech in the Llanberis Pass. They made the first ascent 32 years before. They were good friends since they met in 1951. Tragically this was Don's last major climb as he died a few months later. Don Whillans, was a leading climber of his generation. Whillans climbed the Bonatti Pillar of the Dru and made the first ascent, along with Chris Bonington, Jan Długosz and Ian Clough of the Central Pillar of Freney on Mount Blanc. In 1962, with Chris Bonington, Whillans made the first ascent of the Central Tower of Paine, Patagonia. Later, with Dougal Haston, he made the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna. Whillans was known for his humour, safety and heavy drinking.

Dave Bathgate, Dorothy Wood, Cynthia Grindley, and Joe Brown climb the Old Man of Stoer, a rock stack on the Sutherland coast (Scotland), miles away from anywhere. An episode of the Mountain Days series produced by the BBC: a series of six programs where viewers were invited to sample the outdoor life in the company of a collection of 'mountain people'.

Mountains for the Masses is a documentary about rock climbing that takes place in Clogwyn Du'r Arddu. It was directed by Geraint Rees in 1973 and produced by HTV. It is a part of the series Climb when you are ready! (3/3). It features Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and Joe Brown.

Best Forgotten Art is Johnny Dawes' classic climbing film about the desperate art of climbing gritstone cracks. Featuring great climbing and bouldering on grit in the Peak District. Starring John Allen, Joe Brown, Johnny Woodward, Boone Speed, Chris Plant, Arthur Dolphin, Airlie Anderson, Ruth Jenkins, and Leo Houlding.

A BAFTA award nominated dramatised documentary telling the story of two steelworkers who attempt to climb a rock in the Dolomites.