Friday 24 August 2018

The "Legend of the Loch" BBC Documentary





I wrote a while back on the various productions made by the BBC over the years that referenced the Loch Ness Monster. Without a doubt the one I would most like to see is their 1958 documentary, "The Legend of the Loch" which was hosted by that famous BBC presenter Raymond Baxter of "Tomorrow's World" fame. I believe they still have it in their vast warehouse, but the BBC Archive is not exactly like Netflix or any other modern VOD service.

As it turns out a copy of the Radio Times dated the 9th May 1958 came up on eBay with a picture of one page promoting that documentary. I certainly recall Lachlan Stuart was interviewed on it, but who else I do not know, though I imagine Nessie expert of the time, Maurice Burton would have appeared. This was in the days before Tim Dinsdale's film and everything was pretty quiet. What prompted the BBC to make this programme may well have been inspired by the photographs taken by Lachlan Stuart, Peter Macnab and Herman Cockrell in that decade. The page and text are reprodcued below.






In Search of the Loch Ness Monster
BBC Television will pay a visit to the Loch on Thursday for a Scientific Investigation
 

TWENTY-FIVE years ago, on May 22, 1933, the Loch Ness Monster hit the headlines. Before then its existence had been an accepted fact in the area for many years, and legends of a "water horse " had been handed down for centuries. Since then many reputable people from Britain, and tourists from America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere have claimed to have seen a strange creature on the surface of this loch. Some of these sightings can probably be accounted for by unusual wave formations, water-fowl chicks learning to fly, otters playing and other ordinary events. Some can not. If the people have seen and heard what they have claimed, then some large creature (or creatures) of a species or size at present unknown to science lives in this extremely deep loch.

Many theories about its identity have been advanced. Some people think that from the descriptions it is a plesiosaurus, but this beast is thought to have become extinct about seventy million years ago. Some think it is a giant eel or form of oar-fish. Some think the whole thing a hoax or a hallucination. What is the truth? Recently people in Inverness have been pressing for a thorough scientific investigation into the subject and the matter has been raised in the House of Commons. They argue that it is no use relying on chance photographs or film of the beast on the rare occasions when the loch is still enough for these to be taken. They point out that the photographic evidence which already exists is looked upon with great suspicion anyway. They claim that underwater television and echo-sounding equipment are the keys to the problem.

The aim of Thursday evening's programme, The Legend of the Loch, is not to "Hunt the Monster" but to find out how far modem equipment can, in fact, penetrate the secrets of a loch some twenty-three miles long, the maximum depth of which is 754 feet, the water of which, stained brown by peat, is only penetrated by the sun's rays to a depth of forty feet, and the banks of which are reported by divers to contain great caves. On Thursday, after a review of the facts concerning the mystery and an air survey of the loch and surrounding countryside, viewers can come under water with BBC television, hear from a frogman, and see what it like to go down into these black depths.
 



The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com

14 comments:

  1. I may have seen this documentary a few years back on YouTube. The reason I say this is that I distinctly remember Lachlan Stuart been interviewed and the documentary appeared to be from that era. Can't remember if it was a half hour or full hour.

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  2. Yes, Like John I’m sure that I watched this on YouTube quite a while back.

    Unfortunately things get removed quite quickly due to copyright infringement (until a different person re-uploads it!)

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    1. So true. The were also other good LNM documentaries, which I can't find anymore. Either disappearing due to copy right issues or uploaders closing their account. Damned copyright meanies. There was also a LNM docudrama style film from the late 30s I remember, which was reference in one of GBs articles awhile back. He may know which one I'm talking about. It's probably gone too by now. Oh well.

      Love your alias. At least you didn't call yourself The Dirty “Soiled” Pants Cowboy! LOL

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    2. “Soiled them? Why, I only just boight them!” (To be said in strong Bronx accent)

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  3. Love the monster/question mark design. As I've lamented before - there is no complete archive of everything relating to the mystery. As I have many issues with some of the characters involved as far as veracity is concerned (Lachlan Stuart and Alex Campbell particularly) I'm extremely keen to listen to their film/audio testimonies. Given that 90% of the evidence is eye witness it's tragic that there isn't a bank of recorded testimony dedicated to this aspect.

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    1. Alex Campbell and others speak in the Monsters of the Lake episode of Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World.

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    2. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1v2cj5

      Peter McNab's in there too.

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    3. Kyle, you may have missed an earlier post I made. Alex Campbell also gives a first hand account of his most notable sighting in this YouTube “In Search Of” episode. Starts at 7:52

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-8uwjmldFg

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    4. Fantastic video thank you! I just watched it with my hilariously cynical producer and she said that Alex Campbell was very convincing which I didn't expect from her.

      He is compelling. Really wish he wasn't dead so I could interview him myself but these videos are very important to me in making my mind up on certain issues.

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    5. Yeah, I'm big on eyewitness testimony. That's the best evidence we have, in my opinion. Not everybody is seeing anomalous things, hallucinating, misidentifying or drunk Those two constables are also trustworthy, they are trained observers, aren't they.

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  4. I just "saw" it and made the connection on the ? mark. I wonder if it was intentional. Very creative if it was. Good observation Kyle!

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  5. Like the hump too. It looks like several eyewitness' sketches over the years. For anyone interested, there are various ways to transfer a video from a streaming service (Youtube, Dailymotion etc) to your PC. The one I use is an app called 'atube catcher'. Just my preference. As usual with copyright issues, you must own the video first.

    On a related point, I think it's very important that such archive material be saved and passed on to another generation. One never knows when these items will effectively be lost.

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    1. Indeed, the BBC was once notorious for wiping tapes for reuse thus losing many episodes of Doctor Who, Dad's Army, etc.

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    2. There's also YouTube Downloader HD exclusively for YouTube. I think I may have downloaded the video in question and is somewhere in the multitude of Flash Drives I have or slave drive in an operating system corrupted computer which I never bothered to rehabilitate, although I'm not 100% sure. If so I may try to retrieve it. I would like to see it again. I wonder if it's still on YouTube and findable by doing a “deep” search. If not hopefully someone will upload it again...someday :)

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