1969: The PLEASURE of PORTMEIRION | Bird's Eye View | Weird and Wonderful

1969: The PLEASURE of PORTMEIRION | Bird's Eye View | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

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3 ай бұрын

Clough Williams-Ellis tells the story of the Italianate village he created on the Welsh coast - Portmeirion. He describes the creation of his vision as "the architecture of pleasure".
Clip taken from Bird's Eye View: Of Portmeirion, originally broadcast on BBC Two, Saturday 28 June, 1969.
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Пікірлер: 104

@hilaryepstein6013 3 ай бұрын

Lovely to see Portmerion through the eyes of its visionary creator. In my opinion the ultimate example of imagination and romance in architecture.

@asa1973100 Ай бұрын

And money

@nigden1 3 ай бұрын

I went there in 1969, mainly because of the surreal, brilliantly quirky ''The Prisoner,'' a TV series starring Patrick McGoohan made there. A beautiful Italianate village well worth a visit.

@whiteonggoy7009 3 ай бұрын

thanks i thought i reconised it

@JJONNYREPP 3 ай бұрын

1969: The PLEASURE of PORTMEIRION | Bird's Eye View | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive 0934am 15.3.24 i was looking for the prisoner comment. bouncing balls and transported back to base without rhyme or reason to argue the toss with faceless plutocracy. seems like someone has had a hard time with the civil service.

@jackfriend4u 3 ай бұрын

@@JJONNYREPP though i wouldn't be surprised to hear that the locals of Portmeirion are sick of the indelible association with "The Prisoner" part of me always hoped that they'd lean into it and once a year dedicate a week to that aesthetic; having guests and the like dress up as they did in the series, the voice overs on the Tannoy, the golf cart vehicles, and even get everyone to stop as a giant white ball chases down some unfortunate person.

@JJONNYREPP 3 ай бұрын

@@jackfriend4u 1969: The PLEASURE of PORTMEIRION | Bird's Eye View | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive 1631pm 15.3.24 hmm.. wasn't the bouncing ball out to sea...? ahaha... maybe they have a tedious dress up[ once a year? maybe a week long ffs carnival might be a tad too much for the locals to bear. nice place, though. and slap bang in the middle of the gulf stream. it has palm trees, doesn't it?? i like these old archival clips. proper telly. i know for sure a plummy accent doesn't denote erudition, but we can all tell what the blighter is saying... which accounts for a great deal. i am surprised he didnt add a little outdoor theater in the greek manner... so he could have those locals act out an episode or ten of the prisoner... much to their dismay.

@caterhamgraeme 3 ай бұрын

@@jackfriend4uthere's a Prisoner society weekend every year

@edwardmirzoeff735 3 ай бұрын

This little film was made from the “trims and outtakes” of material we shot for the first of the BBC2 Bird’s-Eye View series. It was shot in 1968, first shown in 1969.

@ModernHingeSociety 2 ай бұрын

I would be interested to hear more about this film and other films you made at this time

@edwardmirzoeff735 2 ай бұрын

@@ModernHingeSociety Bird’s-Eye View was a series of 13 50-minute pioneering documentaries filmed entirely from a helicopter. Each film had a theme, or a geographical area, or both. Writers included John Betjeman, Correlli Barnett, William Carrocher, James Plunkett, Rene Cutforth , Stuart Hood and John Terraine. These films were shot all over England, and in Wales, in Ireland, and The Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Some are usually to be found on iPlayer.

@ModernHingeSociety 2 ай бұрын

@@edwardmirzoeff735 Thankyou, I'll be sure to have a look for them. Glad some of them aren't gathering dust in the archive.

@mirkomeyerhoff2700 2 ай бұрын

@@ModernHingeSociety That episode is at: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gZ-XZLRk3dC6nY0.html The segment with Portmeirion starts at 00:27:25, it's about three minutes.

@Chris-xx2dg 3 ай бұрын

The town is like a poem to old architecture. It is beautiful and intricate.

@effess8698 3 ай бұрын

Williams-Ellis died in 1978 and apparently some of his ashes were launched in a rocket over the estuary. So there will always be a part of him close to his creation. Well done Sir Clough ... *Be seeing you*

@Daracdor 3 ай бұрын

I am No 2 .. Who is No 1 ? .... You are No 6 !

@thomasbell7033 3 ай бұрын

@@DaracdorI'm no even a fan of The Prisoner and I got that (just learned that this is the set from the show).

@stonehengeminstrel 3 ай бұрын

@@Daracdor"I am not a number, I am a free man!"

@barsommanashian975 3 ай бұрын

And you!

@Mishima505 3 ай бұрын

But was the rocket disguised as a lighthouse?

@malcolmherbert6483 3 ай бұрын

have been a fan of The Prisoner for some time and went to Portmeirion in 2007 and loved it - vaguely knew the backstory for the project, but it was nice to hear from Clough Williams-Ellis himself ...

@cyclingdad6152 3 ай бұрын

Visited in 2019, 50 years after this video. It’s not changed a bit, despite the tourists. National Trust could learn a thing or two.

@MichaelBosley 3 ай бұрын

"I'm afraid I was very, very drunk"

@edwardalexander9486 3 ай бұрын

That made me laugh!

@mainstay. 3 ай бұрын

Brilliant!

@Knappa22 3 ай бұрын

Hahaha 😁

@Londonechoes 2 ай бұрын

😂

@simeon2851 2 ай бұрын

Utterly British.😊

@rubenskiii 3 ай бұрын

He created a wonderful and peaceful place, glad it exists and will exist as long as the trust stays true to the vision he bad for the place.

@rubenskiii Ай бұрын

He had for the place*!

@alank2296 10 күн бұрын

What an absolutely absorbing gentleman, a visionary of the highest order...

@rensha8635 3 ай бұрын

These were the days when the BBC were great. I loved watching this and this wonderful old gent.

@RoadcraftNottingham 2 ай бұрын

One of the most beautiful places I've ever visited and certainly the most magical.

@thecaveofthedead 3 ай бұрын

Imagine getting to realise a fantasy like this. Now I can see why this setting was so conducive to the kinds of angles and frames that give The Prisoner its look.

@AshleyPomeroy 3 ай бұрын

It's great, isn't it? The producers must have thought "this place is going to save us a fortune".

@LoftisforTreasurer 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for posting. It as if it were from another world and another time.

@jackfriend4u 3 ай бұрын

"Acute Dome Deficiency" is a wonderful phrase you're not likely to hear very often! Though I can imagine the makers of "Logans Run" at some point saying to their production designers, "This isn't Futuristic enough! What we have here is an Acute Dome Deficiency!" I really hope, some 50 years plus later, C. Willaims-Ellis village had been maintained and that the surrounding area has retained its foliage and natural beauty.

@ravenstrobe 2 ай бұрын

Listen again, and I think you'll find he said "domed efficiency" - no doubt a reference to the structural efficiency of a domed building ...

@jackfriend4u 2 ай бұрын

@@ravenstrobe that makes a lot more sense!

@ghughesarch 2 ай бұрын

It's definitely "acute dome deficiency", he wrote the same in his guidebook to Portmeirion. Like an acute vitamin deficiency

@buxycat 3 ай бұрын

2006, I arrived for my visit to Portmeirion on a rainy afternoon and had a terrible cup of tea in the teashop, I was on a real downer. But the rain made all the visitors leave. Then the rain stopped. There was literally only four or five of us left, I basically had Portmeirion to myself for an hour or so before closing time. It was magical. I was into photography back then and had recently bought a digital SLR. I have so many wonderful photographs of an empty Portmeirion, I'm so grateful every time I remember the experience.

@RoadcraftNottingham 2 ай бұрын

I have a summer evening video pan of the village from last year as I was staying on their motorhome park. So quiet and beautiful.

@theenglishman3368 3 ай бұрын

I stayed in the hotel there last year - it really is a magical place - they have a lovely walk as well

@freemenofengland2880 3 ай бұрын

What an absolutely awesome upload! I was a child at the time but loved all of these superb BBC documentary series. This IMO is one of the very best! ❤

@Santiago_Scruzzi_Diefenthaler 3 ай бұрын

7:14 "Las personas me preguntan cuál es mi edificio favorito: los amo a todos, como los niños."

@leechilds3725 2 ай бұрын

The tv series Prisoner brings me here ! id love to visit some day.

@dawnyWestScotland 3 ай бұрын

Absolutely beautiful 💙

@aeiouxs 3 ай бұрын

Wonderful. Wonderfully British. And Italian!

@davidcarrol110 3 ай бұрын

Great Gent and the title "Architect of Pleasure" will raise a smile.

@brianbrino4310 3 ай бұрын

An excellent visionary Architect so visionary and creative!❤

@jkmac625 3 ай бұрын

The BBC sitcom 2 Point 4 Children filmed a sequence here where Ben Porter is abducted and ends up in "The Village" and gets chased by the big while balloon. Not sure if links work here but if you search BBC iPlayer for 2 Point 4 Children then it's Series 5 Episode 5 "Seven Dials". The Prisoner section starts around 12min 20sec.

@SirDigbyMinge-or8md 3 ай бұрын

Pure Gold.

@RaceDayReplay 3 ай бұрын

when I pressed play the view counter went up by one but I am not a number

@sz5876 2 ай бұрын

They gave it a fresh coat of paint for The Prisoner. What an amazing place.

@petergivenbless900 3 ай бұрын

Such a surreal cut-and-paste of architectural styles, it should be renamed 'Portmanteau'!

@bennyd345 2 ай бұрын

I am not a number, I am a FREE MAN !

@kumachan9311 3 ай бұрын

Be seeing you

@2Tricky 3 ай бұрын

How did they film the shots from the air that today would be done from a drone?

@ghughesarch 2 ай бұрын

From a helicopter

@andyf750 2 ай бұрын

You are number six!

@BeesWaxMinder 3 ай бұрын

🤭I'd be surprised if he isn't an Aquarian! ♒️

@margin606 3 ай бұрын

Antiquarian (but born under the sign of Gemini 😯)

@BeesWaxMinder 3 ай бұрын

@@margin606 well there goes proof of the supernatural BUT incoming is proof of genius😉

@user-ub1dz8js7s 3 ай бұрын

And these days it's just houses that are like Barratt homes.

@Ravendarkwytch 3 ай бұрын

What are you talking about? I visited the place in the early 2000s and it was still as seen in the video, and last I checked they were still selling entry tickets on their website.

@user-ub1dz8js7s 3 ай бұрын

@@Ravendarkwytch I was referring to the typical new housing developments across the UK

@johnpage-tb6re 3 ай бұрын

Now this chap speaks English the way a gentleman speaks English. He had to be loaded in order to do all this. I love his Tin tin style plus fours.

@NatalieSmith-dz3ee 3 ай бұрын

I apologise for my Nomad's dyslexia 😂 AND is it criticiSe or criticiZe🤔😂😂 🤔 did you say Mr Clough wasn't rich? That's where you're right, I had an amazing friend who was the Father of a very famous band. He said to me at 83 years old ( I was 33), that I was the first person he'd met that he could truly be himself infront of 😢 you wouldn't believe who his son was And I ent telling 😂❤

@FrithonaHrududu02127 3 ай бұрын

Ive said it before and ill probably say it again. No country on easrth does genuinely interesting oddballs like England. Im American and our oddballs tend to be at best unhygienic and at worst lethal. Ive always suspeced that Monty Python's Flying Circus was actually a documentary series.

@museonfilm8919 3 ай бұрын

Brit here - thanks, and yes, there are still SOME oddballs around England. However - it's slowly being winkled out by woke. Apparently, it's just not cricket, to have a proper English accent, there seems to be some weird colonial guilt attached to it! Oh well....................

@FrithonaHrududu02127 3 ай бұрын

@@museonfilm8919 The world is a lesser place for it. As a lifelong liberal even I feel betrayed. This current absurd, non sustainable bullshit*t is a slap in the face

@FrithonaHrududu02127 3 ай бұрын

I'm from South Boston Massachusetts and Ive always always been an anglophile mainly because all of the music I've loved is English the Smiths joy division eco and the Bunnymen etc. it's funny watching the BBC archive videos I get this odd false nostalgia. I yearn for jellied eels. But I was born and raised here. I can't figure it out

@effess8698 3 ай бұрын

@@FrithonaHrududu02127 you might be interested to search on here for "blue monday male voice choir". 80s music? Check. Oddball? Check 😁It was filmed in Portmeirion, basically as a promo for a festival that took place there.

@ivannewman1266 3 ай бұрын

69?.. it shows the pond in green..it was painted blue between 66/67... Ask any prisoner fan

@ghughesarch 3 ай бұрын

There are other changes visible that place it after 1967 though

@chris39527 3 ай бұрын

Probably couldnt make this with todays planning constraints

@ghughesarch 3 ай бұрын

Planning constraints that, ironically, Clough campaigned for

@iLGiNCBiLGiLERT 3 ай бұрын

Enthusiastic water 63

@Summer_Dream3r 3 ай бұрын

This dude sounds posh AF.

@michelez715 3 ай бұрын

What did you expect him to sound like? Lol!

@alexandradane3672 2 ай бұрын

And what is wrong with speaking properly ?

@Summer_Dream3r 2 ай бұрын

@@alexandradane3672 "properly" is subjective. In Shakespeare's time, when people pronounced the R in words and sounded like pirates, this style of speaking would've sounded odd.

@user-bj9eq7co3w 3 ай бұрын

Kind test 66

@NatalieSmith-dz3ee 3 ай бұрын

Why does it have to be so commercial? Commerial = Spoilt 😢

@rensha8635 3 ай бұрын

Upkeep.

@robbflynn4325 3 ай бұрын

Are we expected to believe this fairy tale story?

@RuthvenMurgatroyd 3 ай бұрын

What do you believe?

@robbflynn4325 3 ай бұрын

@RuthvenMurgatroyd look at the clip again, and as you do ask yourself, does it make sense? Some of the buildings are so obviously Old World and would take years to build. Getting men and materials to a remote area as this would be a logistical nightmare. The same applies with thousands of other things we are told through a lying, elite owned MSM. You need to start waking up and questioning everything we are spoon-fed from our education system to our lying, elite owned MSM, and the BBC is the pits. Remember, they employed and protected characters like Jimmy Savile for decades.

@jackfriend4u 3 ай бұрын

what's so hard to believe?

@robbflynn4325 3 ай бұрын

@@jackfriend4u like so many other times I put in a response and it never gets published. Happens on Facebook also. They obviously don't like my answer. Censorship only happens in places like N Korea. Think again.

@jackfriend4u 3 ай бұрын

@@robbflynn4325 what could you've possibly said that was worth censoring here? honestly want to know, as you've intrigued me. I've seen some pretty extremist thoughts on KZfaq so i'm not sure what you could say about architecture thats offended them.

@NatalieSmith-dz3ee 3 ай бұрын

Look at how rich me and my family are! Bet you wish your family was as rich as mine? And then they have the ordasity to charge you to look how rich they are! There is a public footpath at the bottom, though 😅

@ghughesarch 3 ай бұрын

Audacity, dear. Do learn to spell if you're going to criticise. Clough wasn't all *that* rich either.