Tales of a Roving Reporter -Alan Jones

Alan Jones gave a very entertaining talk on his experiences as a local BBC reporter. Initially as a Radio Reporter and then as a TV reporter. His patch of counties around Hampshire was hard to cover due to the demands of the BBC requiring a reporter on site to get the story instantly. His most memorable and important story was a drama at Eastleigh Airport where an emergency landing was necessary. The cockpit had shattered and the pilot was sucked out of the plane. The co pilot caught his feet and held on to him while trying to keep the plane under control. The chaos that followed required the crew to hang on to the pilot while the co pilot brought the plane down to a height the pilot could breathe and then organise a slot to land at Eastleigh the closest airport. The plane landed safely, the pilot spent a long time in hospital but fully recovered and the co pilot was awarded for his quick actions. When Alan got to the airport he described how difficult it was to get his story. The police had sealed off the site and he had to improvise to get to question the witnesses.

Funnier stories involved a drummer trying to break the Guiness Record for playing drums at altitude. The noise in the plane was so loud the co pilot, after giving several warnings about the noise and the inability to hear ground control, came out of the cockpitand snapped the drummers drum sticks in half, so the only thing broken were the drumsticks and the record remained intact.

Another story involved Alan using props and Richard Burt to demonstrate the drama. Alan had been invited to cover a story where venom was being extracted from a most dangerous snake. This was done by putting on some study gloves and putting ones hand into a container containg the snakes. The demonstration involved Richard having to thrust his gloved hand into a container having been convinced there was a live snake in thare. The pictures below show the drama unfolding.