I saw Robert Vaughn (sic) in Twelve Angry Men in the West End in 2013. Also in the cast was Martin Shaw, of The Professionals fame, who dined with me at the Ivy Club afterwards. We were guests of LAMDA, where he trained.
Vaughn and his side-kick David McAllum were childhood idols as the men from UNCLE: Napoleon Solo and Illya Yesterday I went to see a documentary – Free Solo. It was not about UNCLE.
Free solo climbing, also known as soloing, is a form of free climbing and solo climbing where the climber (or free soloist) performs alone and without using any ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, relying entirely on his or her ability instead. Unlike in bouldering, soloists typically climb above safe heights, where a fall would always result in serious injury or death. In ordinary free climbing, safety gear is used to protect from falls, although not to assist the ascent. (Wikipedia)
As a sport it ranks alongside Russian roulette. The film is about Alex Honnold’s free solo ascent of Il Capitan, a vertical 2,750 foot granite cliff face in the Yosemite National Park. Honnold prepared by getting to know the ascent on multiple climbs using ropes. In June 2017 he was ready to go up free solo with only a film crew dangling on ropes alongside him for company. It took him just under four hours and I remember the feat being reported on the BBC news at the time. It is not a feat any normal person would contemplate and the film shows Honnold as being withdrawn and finding it difficult to communicate with his girlfriend and even the film crew. The photography and suspense ensure that it wins multiple Best Documentary prizes. The last such film I saw was Man on Wire, released in 2008. It’s about Frenchman Philippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in New York.