1980: PETER DUNCAN cleaning Big Ben is NERVE-WRACKING | Blue Peter | Classic BBC clips | BBC Archive
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- čas přidán 17. 06. 2022
- Peter Duncan visits Big Ben, where - in the spirit of his Blue Peter predecessor John Noakes - he joins a team of steeplejacks in a hair-raising mission to clean the famous monument's clock face.
This is another terrifying watch, not one for the faint-hearted!
Originally broadcast 25 September, 1980.
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"You kind of forget where you are for a minute, don't you really?"
"Yeah well don't"
😄
Fred Dibnah is laughing from his grave...
I had to giggle at that too, but i recon the bloke said that out of nerves.
Read that exactly as they said it lol
That made me laugh!
😂😂😂
Fair play to Peter Duncan, second only to Noakes going up Nelson's column for guts. Surprised Blue Peter didn't lose a presenter or two back in the 70's.
Yes I'm surprised they didn't either and what scandal there would've been had they lost anyone, I can just imagine all the endless enquiries into what should and shouldn't have been done, all too late as usual once a person has died. They wouldn't be getting away with nothing but a pissy little wooden seat now, full harnesses would be compulsory, which this guy did ask about so even then it was mental not to be securing themselves better.
Noakesy!
It is completely beyond me how these guys can do this with little (visible) sign of nerves or fear. I'm literally sh**ing myself just watching this. Kudos to Peter Duncan and the BBC Blue Peter cameraman.
There was a guy called Fred Dibnah who may have been on TV at about the same time as this. He was an older man and he would climb up gigantic chimneys with no harness , on ladders that seemed very fragile and he would have a few pints before he went up as well lol
This is a ridiculous task for a young presenter to be assigned, I can't believe what I'm watching. "Butch" the cameraman had it even worse, I guess before they had a technical union at the Beeb? Basically, if they'd had a brief loss of consciousness for any reason, they would have gone over the side. No way on earth this would be allowed now! Noakes always complained that he was asked to do crazy **** without insurance of any kind.
@indieshack4476 I totally agree. 7:37 in particular; one slip at that point and it could have easily been curtains for young Peter Duncan. But since when did the BBC care about safety when they wanted to televise a daring stunt?
@@laurarules3642 There are clips with Dibnah here on the tube as well - just do a search. It's awesome.
You literally shat yourself? I do hope you do not go to your local cinema to watch a horror movie. Especially in the summer.
Imagine being a young enthusiastic reporter trying to carve out a career. You turn in for work and say "OK, what do you want me to report on today?" and some TV executive says "we want you to cover the cleaning of Big Ben. We also want you to dangle on a piece of wood 300ft in the air doing so. The kids will love it"
"What? Why can't I just make a replica of Tracy Island out cereal packets and loo rolls?"
And to follow up they go and do the Duncan dares series no wounder you never see him on telly anymore.
@@ryanward8122 He went on to do some travel documentaries in the 90s, he obviously had such heavy balls of pure steel they couldn't allow him to be in one place for too long or he'd sink through the ground.
If you pay ill do it for charity and that's regarding myself I am a bit pissed so probably fuelled with the fear when I wake up but at this place in time I'm invisible under my duvet.
@@ryanward8122 Well if you are going to climb such a blasted thing, the more drunk the better. At least then if you fall, you won't care all that much?
Silly comment at a silly moment how you doing anyway.
Yeah just climb over the edge in a pair of Dunlop green flash, no harness and swing around on a plank tied to some old rope we rescued from the cutty sark
Brilliant! Made me laugh!
By today’s safety standards this is insane. Very brave!
Back in the days when the instinct for self-preservation was the primary safety standard.
@@petergivenbless900 Sounds like something an overseer who doesn't care about his workers would say
Reg: "It's quite safe" 🤯
😱
He did a lot of ‘stunts’ like this, so many they gave him his own show - Duncan Dares.
"You kind of forget where you are for a minute"..."well don't"
Indeed.
No harness! Doesn’t look a bit nervous. Duncan was very brave doing that. Me - never.
Imagine doing it on a New York skyscraper 😳
@@jacobmassey3897 they didn't wear any protection building those skyscrapers
Cameraman was braver. No hands free back then.
he want that brave .we've just bred a nation of wimps since then
@@anthonylawrence60 you do it then 🤣
Well he earned his Blue Peter badge that day!
- 'Do I wear a Harness as well?'
- 'Well there's no need to, it's quite safe'
Crazy that health and safety was literally not a thing 30 plus years ago, no way they would get away with that now.
Yeah I like the bit when he says quite safe ! REALLY lol
The professional cleaner was smoking a cigarette too... Dicing with death there...
You wonder if they'd maybe had a few pints at lunchtime too! @@trevordance5181
Harnesses are still pretty much non existent unless it's a city job with Osha inspectors ... there a pain to work with... nobody I know or work with uses em and we work 3 to 4 story's up
@@tonyrichard8078mate we're talking about abseiling down Big Ben...
My legs have gone to jelly just watching this - it's insane
This video is a most marvelous laxative.
Extra kudos to Butch, who was not only dangling in space but had to operate a camera too, being paid about 11p for his troubles.
LOL. I noticed that he was wearing a harness though!
@@pompeymonkey3271 Might just be camera equipment, film was used back then and those cameras go through quite a bit. Although with the weight of the camera I don’t blame him if he is wearing a harness - I certainly wouldn’t go anywhere near there! Fair play to him.
11p !!🤣😆🤭
"As long as you don't step back and admire your work." I bet that really put Peter Duncan at ease.
My god even looking at this from the safety of my armchair gives me the creeps! Lol brave man Peter!
Blue Peter was genuinely entertaining back then
A wonderful juxtaposition of the phrase "a job for the experts", as we cut to a single bit of wood dangling off a couple of pieces of rope.
"Ya kinda forget where you are for a minute"
" Yeah well dont!" Hahaha
The cameraman sitting on the ledge without a harness with a 40kg camera. Applause to you!
That was a 16mm film camera, they don't weigh anything like 40kg. 😂
@@michaeldibb
If it was 4 grams I would sh*t myself.
@@NoLefTurnUnStoned. 🤣me too
40kg camera? It's rather a 4kg camera
Watch again, camera man wore a harness (orange straps). Peter Duncan didn't get a harness because it makes for more sensational TV. Makes you think about the motivations of the producer team behind this show huh...
This is on par with the insanity of Noakesy going up Nelsons column a few years earlier. No consideration for health and safety whatsoever. Absolute madness.
that gave me nitemares- climbing the last part on an angle gave me vertigo just watching
He had to climb it twice first time they forgot to film it or something
Yeah I think that takes more balls than this. It's still a bit sketchy climbing into the chair though.
If they were both 6 foot off the ground it would be easy, but the fact that "one mistake and your dead" makes it so much harder.
But they got the job done. and the pyramids weren't built with H&S. Maybe more of our old buildings would be savable if it were done the way it's been done for thousands of years.
they were on a bout at work having to put up scaffolding to replace a 4' by 3' pane of glass, needless to says it's too expensive to do and now shall not be done
@carruthers100 Exactly. Lets see these keyboard warriors glamorising the pre H&S days do this. Me thinks they'd chicken out.
Nightmare fuel this. Getting over and on to the chair is scary enough let alone having to wash the clock face as well 😳
"it's perfectly safe...." He says dangling from a plank of wood connected by a couple of bits of rope and hanging off the ledge at the start and finish with nothing but your grip to stop you plummeting to your death....jeez!
I had a memory of this as a kid and I could have sworn it was Noakes that did it...the Mandela effect I guess. It accurately enough brought back my fear of falling though....
John Noaks went up nelsons column. Equally as brave/bad/mad?
@@jonathanp8509 yes...I came to Blue Peter at the tail end of the Noakes era and I must have blended in my head seeing what he did up the column with Peter Duncan doing this from over 40 years ago when I was a child...
And both equally as fearless with practically no safety gear...just a pair of sandshoes...a bucket and a chamios or brush 😳
I'm glad I haven't got their nerve in my tooth
@@jonathanp8509 so did his crew.
When he said its perfectly safe he was very reassuring about it which probably acted as a placebo effect in his mind making him believe he'd be ok. Plus they didn't really brief him or give him a long talk about how dangerous it was he was straight over the side within a minute of getting to the top. So he didn't have much time for his brain to actually process how dangerous that was
@@laurarules3642 I take your point, but in fairness, even after all that, the second I looked at the rope and then looked over the side, my "sod that" reaction would have kicked in.... Pete was just downright fearless in these things he did...probably still is
Being brave in 2022. “I made an unsecured Wi-Fi connection”.
This triggered my fear of heights (and falling from them) as a kid. And it’s just done it all over again!
You and me both!
Yes, I also melted like Peter Kay's rich tea biscuit. 🥵
Wimp.
My legs went wobbly as he ascended and climbed out of the chair. Balls of steel 😂
Climbing a clock is not difficult, it just takes time.
For a second there I though you were trying to tick me off! Got to hand it to you though!
@@sanchoodell6789 Come the man, come the hour.
Come on you guys, stop winding me up ! 😅
Or a second I thought you were winding everyone up, but as the minutes past I realised in time that the joke was hands down top banter. Shame I'm late finding the comment but time flies.
The weight of a coin to adjust the clock! Amazing!
Yeah I found that part interesting . I wonder how many coins they need to adjust it when the clocks go forward and backwards an hour
No goodness… Peter was breathtakingly beautiful here. What a heartthrob, and brilliantly spoken. Could watch him for hours. London looked amazing back then, unlike the hellhole it’s become nowadays.
Him & John Noakes both legends
Whatever they paid Peter, it wasn't enough
I bet Peter was Blue after this...
"watch your feet...make sure don't kick the glass" naively thought for a second he was going to tell him to steady himself lol
Obviously he knew what he was getting into, agreed to it, and had some time to mentally prepare, but all I could think watching this was that at about 3:15, I would have started sobbing uncontrollably until the cleaning crew got disgusted and reached over and pulled me back onto the landing, wisely avoiding getting anywhere close to touching my pants.
Its called a bosons chair. I've seen footage of fred dibnah using one
@@Fcutdlady That's on CZcams too. czcams.com/video/6W_7uIapoHc/video.html
Something else, was our Fred.
Don't feel ashamed. I don't care how much money they offered me to do it, I wouldn't have accepted it, I hold my life in high esteem.
It's Reg again! The same Reg that scared the crap out of John Noakes a few years earlier
What brave blokes.
And stupid
I always thought John Noakes going up Nelson's Column was the most bonkers thing I've seen on Blue Peter. This rivals that.
That Noakes had a terrifying journey even to get as far as the Bosun's chair means that he has the palm.
@@JMoruzzi
Then at the end he decided to climb right to the top!
@@JMoruzzi I don't know how true it is but theres a rumour he actually had to climb it twice on the same day because the camera wasn't recording or there was a fault with it
Never mind the London skyline, 7:41 is definitely the best view for miles around
When I think back to being 5 years old in 1980. Watching Blue Peter was quite an event at times, loved it when the Christmas countdown kicked off. Good times, back when we only had three channels to worry about.
The unbuttoned shirt and cat make this all so much better.
Such a nicely spoken and good looking young man.
I would
anyone else get sweaty palms watching him go into the chair, i did! Health and safety would have fit if he did this now!
Mom's spaghetti here;)
Sweaty everything! Why no safety line at all?
@@greatwestern101 health and safety wasn't that strong, Fred Dibnah would climb ladders right to the top of chimney, with out any safety lines,
I watched this and Noakes doing Nelson's Column back to back. Palms are drenched.
Blue Peter 😜. He was quite a looker back in the day.
This is INSANE. No safety briefing, no instructions prior to climbing over the railing and onto a thin plank, no form of safety equipment, the list is endless.
Doesn't bother me.
@@trishayoung6373 Yeah it's so nutty to prefer some sort of safety equipment when dangling your soft human body dozens of metres in the air 🙄
Totally right, the BBC really didn't care about risking others' lives for entertainment. Four words for them: "LATE LATE BREAKFAST SHOW".
this was how the modern world was built, it's not insanity, maybe how we view it now, but whether it's steeplejacks, miners, deep sea divers, doing the things needed that most would'nt dare to do
@@davidrentonthe modern world was built on the back of cheap labor, many people died, including children. It wasn't that health & safety didn't exist but it reduced profits for the wealthy.
wow 42 years ago this feels like yesterday to me takes me back to when I was but a wee lad
My grandad used to do this for a living with his dad.. cleaned all the tallest building in Manchester!. Rest in peace old man.. don’t make em like they used to
Peter Duncan- *BALLS OF STEEL!* Well done that man!
Flippin’ heck - I thought that watching John Noakes climbing Nelson’s Column was brave enough - but this is off the scale!
I think the John Noakes one was scarier - that overhang on the ladder is what does it for me.
@@ben9DB I dont know how John did that, free climbing with nothing to stop him falling.
@@oddities-whatnot Apparently they had to shoot that whole scene twice as well. The first time, the cameraman wasn’t able record the footage properly. Just incredible.
Noakes had to climb it to the top by ladder. This is brave but he at least was able to use the stairs first
Kinda of like London safety in the mid 1800’s, glad to see they have made such big moves forward
That was insanely risky by any standards.
In true Blue Peter style & in the steps of the great John Noakes (remember Nelson's Column?) ..... well done Mr Duncan👍
I used to use bosun's chair a lot when doing stonemason work, get used to it after a while.
Unbelievable. I remember watching this it petrified me then just as it is now
1980’s Health & Safety was a different beast compared to today.
yes its stupid today
You mean how the bin men would get their hands dirty now they whine about a bin bag outside of the bin.
@@paulhunter123 yes because a family
Having to bury there dad because pits didn’t have supports or these
Sort Of things relied on rope and people tying the correct knots was a fantastic period in history. I just Loved the way there were no guards on stamping machines. What’s a ripped off arm and no income protection between real men.
(As a Gen X'er) esp when the 80s was some 30-40 ago.
@@xr6lad I have to somewhat agree with 'john parlmer'. Health and Safety is stupid today, in the sense that new workers don't get an option to actually think for themselves, they don't get a chance to make a mistake from which to learn, so they don't truly understand the risks, or the consequences of doing something wrong. Everything, their very actions through the working day, are in essence scripted for them.
As a kid watched this and I was petrified for him , always liked PD - he should make a comeback
He’s looking good , still. Must be nearly 70 as around my husband’s age. I didn’t like him at the time but he’s actually fit, in both ways!
Omg! Surely that wasn't safe?! It genuinely turned my stomach seeing him sat on a wooden plank that was tied to a rope!! I can't believe they didn't use a safety harness. 😱🤢
Very brave.
I remember the original showing. Yes, Peter and the cameraman deserve congratulations without question . Seasoned steeplejacks would respect them both for taking on such a daunting task.
2:03 "Its quite safe, Its quite safe.." LOL
Imagine smacking this risk assessment on H&S desk 😂😂
Best way to learn, at the top a couple minutes before dangling off the top hundreds of feet in the air. Its like learning how to work an oxygen bottle on the summit of everest.
Peter - “You kind of forget where you are for a minute”
Reg - “Yeah….well….don’t”
😀
When I watched this as a child, I never noticed how posh he actually was 😂. Brave though!
I agree. I never noticed the posh RP accent when I was young either.
I have just watched this and thought exactly the same. True you never realise as a child about accents, it's just good to watch and that's that.
I watched an old Hammer House of Horror film the other day...filmed in England in 1980, and literally everyone sounded posh 😂 Same with an old news report from the sixties, filmed in Shenfield (Essex). Standards have definitely slipped since then!
@@njm1971nyc Yeah when you watch old time British gangsters, villains and crooks being interviewed from the 50's and 60's they speak like royalty or as if they just stepped out of a Shakespearian play. These days I have no idea what they're talking about with "innits, roadmen" etc etc
Damn i haven’t got a clue who this beautiful handsome lovely man is but here i am 40 years later crushing on him
nerves of steel Peter Duncan had
No way would i be brave enough to do that,this is where health and safety earns its place.
"Can you send me down the bucket Terry?"
Just getting up a ladder six feet of the ground now would be a cause for H&S these days!
He has far more guts than I!
Doubt it's the first time a BBC employee had their hands round a massive clock.
-l in clock😂
Yeah going down six inch at a time ,big Ben xxxxx
It not called BIG Ben for nothing 😉
I have a terrible fear of heights. Watching this I thought, "F that off!!"
They were thin and healthy buggers then. Hardly any processed crap.
Language Timothy
I’m still the same slim self at 46
John Noakes and Peter Duncan both had a head for heights and smiling doing it. Balls of steel.
Watching the kind of stuff makes my stomach feel like it's tying it self in knots and makes my head spin, another notable thing from this era is just how dirty Londons buildings looked back then all blackened by pollution.
This is mental!!! Legends of the long lost Great Brtitain
Reg, Terry and Terry with their personalised T shirts! Nice.
What the...did I just watch? Incredible! Wow!
This is just so utterly insane! Training him how to do it on the job, no harness, literally one slip away from death. The fact he asked about a harness, when there wasn't one, suggests there was no prep. Did we just not value life very much, even 40 years ago? 😂 It's just odd!!!😂
Unreal!!!
Men were just tougher and more adventurous back then. It's really as simple as that.
They had to make do back in the day with limited tech, and there were very few laws and regulations around health and safety
Steeplejacks were cheaper and quicker than erecting scaffolding. I suppose if one has no fear of heights at all it’s pretty easy for them? Very brave of Peter Duncan though
@@jlg395 hmmm I think that might be a bit simplistic. I can imagine it's an attractive idea for many people but I couldn't disagree more.
Peter Duncan is operating at Keith Moon levels of insanity here. Absolute legend.
Larkin’s steeplejacks are still in business…🇬🇧
Did they have those ''puffa'' jackets in 1980? I'm 46, and I remember them becoming popular at school around the very end of the 80s. Also his haircut and even that set at the start looks 1990-ish... Anyway, he's certainly a much braver young man than I ever was. Respect.
As someone who watched this at the time (on TV!), I can say that one thing that has changed since then is the attitude to dangerous activities - from “it’s dangerous. Be careful.” to “it’s dangerous and we must make sure everyone is safe.” One thing that hasn’t changed is what it’s like to face this danger. Kudos to Peter Duncan and Butch the cameraman.
got to give major kudos to these blue peter presenters.. no way would you get me in a bosuns chair..
'do i need any safety gear?' 'nah you're quite safe' .. lolol er..really?
No kudos for unnecessary risk taking from me, someone running in a burning building to safe someone, that can get my appreciation (aside from what that would really mean). At least they should have put a smaller rope around his chest under his arm, and hold it, or attach it to something, he would still be dangling up there, after one small slip, doing this for the first time.
@@Geert365 this was 1980, he probably had a few pints before he went up there too..
@@bazza5699 this is Peter Duncan, not Fred dibnah
@@Keithbarber yeah i think that was my point..
Balls of steel on that lad
what a time to be alive, the saftey we all wish we still had... deep down
Makes you understand why so many people died falling from skyscrapers when they were being constructed. One small slip and you're gone
Manila ropes and a clove hitch as the only braking device, plus the guy has no clue how to get back up when he’s headed down- balls of steel
2:15 camera man is sitting on the edge of Big Ben like it’s a bench in the park 😟
Duncan you absolute legend for doing this, mental strength om full display. Crazy to think he done this (was allowed to do this!) considering the H&S climate we live in now.
Watching that while buzzed.....man that anxiety came on hard!
my friggin knees were weak watching that!!!
Health and safety would be all over this now just goes to show once upon a day you could do stuff like this well done to you 👏
Butch and Peter awesome individuals
He was so brave😁
I love hearing the traffic from down below.
Wow. Peter Duncan was beautiful.
Fit, articulate and brave, an example of what a male kids tv presenter should be, to inspire the kids as they look up to them as role models. You look at todays absolute jokes of kids presenters, you know the modern man is cucked. It's important to let your kids watch these old classics.
Life before health and safety... I remember this episode being aired.
I want a Reg t-shirt
I remember watching this was nuts
I would like to see PM Johnson do that “cripes,golly”
No no no no no
Not for me. I'm so glad I never auditioned to be a BP presenter. Watching that was like experiencing a stress dream. I'm sweating and shaking, even though I'm not the worst with heights.
I used to skydive from 13,000ft any weekend that I could, and loved every minute of it. However there is *NO FRIGGING WAY* I'd want to do this!
lol That looks like some primitive caveman contraption, he was brave to do that!
And insane 😂
Very brave a presenter and he achieved ,it today health and safetyWould go nuts . I really admire. Simon and the cameraman well done.
Good clean it's lovely😃
When health and safety meant common sense and skill. Awesome.
Woke free Blue Peter❤Great times🎉
I watched it the other week, absolutely shocking!