4 Men, 1 Face

The first ever live coverage of UK mountaineering

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.