Ian McNaught-Davis

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.

The first filmed winter ascent of the north face of the Matterhorn. To set the scene, the tragic story of Edward Whymper's first ascent is skillfully pieced together. The modern expedition, a team of three British climbers, is also plagued with epics: Eric Jones is hit by an avalanche and can only come to a dangerous stop at the edge of a 1000 foot drop. Then the worst storm ever recorded in Zermatt hits the Matterhorn. With time and weather against them, the team is forced to climb in the dark as thunderstorms rumble around them. This adventure captures the skill and courage of the climbers, their agony and tension, and the beauty of the assault on this spectacular mountain. Grand Prize at the Les Diablerets festival (Switzerland) in 1976.

Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock. There were only four main presenters of the programme during its long history: David Coleman, Frank Bough, Des Lynam, and Steve Rider. Changes in the structure of the programme during its last few years, however, meant it did not have a regular main presenter during this time. Among the more occasional hosts were Alan Weeks, David Icke, Clare Balding, Hazel Irvine, Bob Wilson, David Vine, Barry Davies, Dougie Donnelly, Harry Carpenter, Harry Gration, John Inverdale, Tony Gubba, Helen Rollason, Ray Stubbs and Sue Barker. The last editions of Grandstand were broadcast over the weekend of 27–28 January 2007.