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never mind Ray Mears, who remembers Jack Hargreaves?

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Jack Hargreaves had me glued to the screen when i was younger. He was one of those people who had the knack of keeping you watching the screen no matter what he was doing. I found his voice very easy to listen to as well. (if you know what I mean)

I remember watching him make a garden broom and making the finshed item seem like a work of art. Fascinating bloke. :)
 
Jack Hargreaves was a bit of a fraud in that he was a showman rather than an expert. He used to frequent the Forest Heath Hotel in Sway, New Forest, and trade titbits of knowledge off the locals in exchange for beer. You could call it knowledge elicitation and bringing it to a wider audience but he certainly never practised what he preached. A major beneficiary of Jacks beer fund was an old gent called Morry Cooper, a forester now sadly departed. Go to the pub now and ask any local/landlord about Hargreaves and Cooper.
 
oilyrag said:
He used to frequent the Forest Heath Hotel in Sway, New Forest, and trade titbit's of knowledge off the locals in exchange for beer. .
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Those were the days :)

Go into a Pub and buy a real expert a couple of pints, none of this go on a weekend course stuff to learn about the outdoors.

I had a good friend like that ,we used to sit and talk for hours, but its only now I realise how much I learned from him.

I still sit by the river and imagine he is sat beside me.

And Yes, I used to be sit glued to the TV when Jack Hargreaves was on.

No offence to Ray Mears but in my eyes he has a long way to go before he is as good as Jack Hargreaves, maybe its a my favourite granddad thing.

MickT
 
oilyrag said:
Jack Hargreaves was a bit of a fraud in that he was a showman rather than an expert. He used to frequent the Forest Heath Hotel in Sway, New Forest, and trade titbits of knowledge off the locals in exchange for beer. You could call it knowledge elicitation and bringing it to a wider audience but he certainly never practised what he preached. A major beneficiary of Jacks beer fund was an old gent called Morry Cooper, a forester now sadly departed. Go to the pub now and ask any local/landlord about Hargreaves and Cooper.
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I wouldn't want to over-react but your comment is somewhat less than generous. When you use words like "fraud", "showman" and "never practised what he preached"....well, I think it's worth asking if you would be good enough to tell us how and what you know....
 
I lived in the NF for 34 years, it is common knowledge that JH would do his research by asking woodsmen, poachers and commoners, mostly in the many Inns. Some locals took umbridge to this Director of Southern TV. Thinking they should be the ones on the box, taking the credit, recognition and have the money that came with it as being made with their knowledge etc, others didn't such as Mr Cooper and were happy to tell all as long as the beer was flowing. I can't knock his memory too much as he was an avid fisherman and without him the UK wouldn't have an ITV as he was a senior corporate figure in the channels launch. JH would learn something and show it for the cameras, and it made good TV. It just rubbed some people up the wrong way, but what could poor Forest dwellers do against a corporate giant like JH? Next time I'm back in the UK I'll ask about as I faintly remember something about someone pranking JH, but not in enough clarity to recall. I was told the above by people there at the time and from both sides of the fence.
 
I remember him every time I use the garden strimmer. I remember watching the program where he designed the first one after knocking tops off plants with his stick.
 
Jack Hargreaves? What a legend! He was to wood craft what Fred Dineage is to local reporting! :)

Oilyrag, I'll think of Jack next time I'm down in Sway - my daughter rides out in the New Forest there with a friend
 
Now your talking, I cut my teeth on JH, I actually met him in a pub in the New Forest many years ago. Great man.
 
oilyrag said:
I lived in the NF for 34 years, it is common knowledge that JH would do his research by asking woodsmen, poachers and commoners, mostly in the many Inns. Some locals took umbridge to this Director of Southern TV. Thinking they should be the ones on the box, taking the credit, recognition and have the money that came with it as being made with their knowledge etc, others didn't such as Mr Cooper and were happy to tell all as long as the beer was flowing. I can't knock his memory too much as he was an avid fisherman and without him the UK wouldn't have an ITV as he was a senior corporate figure in the channels launch. JH would learn something and show it for the cameras, and it made good TV. It just rubbed some people up the wrong way, but what could poor Forest dwellers do against a corporate giant like JH? Next time I'm back in the UK I'll ask about as I faintly remember something about someone pranking JH, but not in enough clarity to recall. I was told the above by people there at the time and from both sides of the fence.
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I'm afraid that's a pretty typical socialist whinge: someone's making some money and producing successful TV. S'not fair! S'not me! Poor forest dwellers, my a**se! They drank his beer, didn't they?

You call him a fraud? When did he ever claim that he was a cooper, wheelwright or blacksmith? He was a countryman at heart, researching and producing wonderful (unscripted, BTW) insights into country life for the viewing public at large. Considering how long ago those programmes were made, I think the scope, range and production values of Out of Town were nothing short of outstanding. Those programmes would, of course, have been 'brilliant' had they been presented by some tongue-tied bucolic clod?

Already mentioned in this thread is one of my personal heroes, Colin Willock, whose Come Fishing with Me lit the fires in me that were kindled in others by Mr Crabree (Bernard Venables). Willock produced nearly 500 programmes of Anglia Television's Survival series, at one time the biggest foreign revenue earner of any UK television company. There were his many books and some 40 years as the regular columnist, 'Town Gun', in Shooting Times. Does anyone remember Oliver Kite and Frank Sawyer?

Burnt Ash
 
Yes I do, I have a couple of Frank Sawyer books, I too like Collin Willock, his book The Punt Gun Adventure with Jack Hargreaves is a classic, so to is his book Kenzie, Wild Goose Man, who also featured on a programme in the 70's called Look Stranger.
 
I was just talking about Jack Hargreaves the other day. It was about a way of cutting leather straps by tapping a nail and a knife into a plank and using the nail as the width guide. One of my friends was talking about buying a strap cutter for a one off job. loved his programme and he's one of the reasons I got into traditional crafts.
 
What on earth is wrong with someone researching material and people with a view to making a tv programme :confused: Its only like nowadays when a producer or researcher posts on varius forium's or put's ad's in the papaer for certain specific thing's that they want to make a new programme (only nowadays most of what they produce is s###e) I bet the time team crew, or kirsty and phil :rolleyes: buy a few pints when there out and about to oil the wheels as it were.
I remember out of town (and "How") because me and my Dad would sit watching it together and I remember it as being plain intersting. It seems Jack Hargreaves was more than just a bimbo faced tv presenter like what we get nowadys (bluddy BORING food, diy, property, garden's, antiques with endless permutations and angles :o :rolleyes: more is less IMHO), he knew the ins and outs of the TV industry as well, do we blame Jack for coronation street :lmao: . If it wasnt for his skill and dedication maybe OOT would never of been produced at all? Any way no one's perfect.
I ordered the full set of OOT dvd's a whle back but the supplier didnt have them in stock (despite offering them on ebay) the second attemt still hasnt been sucessful. Those films must be more like historical evidence now, rather than attention grabbing fodder to satisfy advertiser's.
I'll get me hat and coat......
 
Burnt Ash said:
I'm afraid that's a pretty typical socialist whinge:
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Its a long time since I've heard the word Socialist used as a term of abuse :)

Regardless of how he researched his material - and I'm prepared to believe that he extracted his info from locals using whatever methods worked the best - I for one found his programmes informative.

I still use one piece of information regularly; he was talking about old poaching tricks and mentioned that if you enter a wood and you don't disturb a wood pigeon you know somebody else has been there recently. Very true.
 
Jack Hargreaves, with his tweed and deerstalker was, I should think, probably one of "Sir"
Ray Mears inspirations. If not, he was certainly one of mine, especially when up in the highland bothy, he asked the "hooch" maker how he knew his "brew" was up to standard..
"Well, when ye tak a teaspoon, and throw it in the fire, if the flames hit the ceilin', ye know
its jist right,,,,,"
 
yep he was an inspiration to the young me.

Still remeber him talking about oils...vegetable on vegetable, mineral on mineral and animal on animal so linseed for your cricket bat, 3 in 1 for your bike and neetsfoot for your boots.

He kept my attention without the need to change camera angle every 2 seconds, perring up his nose from ground level or waving a hand held camera about...I get dizzy if I watch tv these days (why we don't have one)
 
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