- Title: CAMEL RIDING - OFF BEAT HOLIDAY IN LIBYA
- Date: 1st January 1963
- Summary: Roll No 1 1. Before the members of the party set off on their camels they look round a house built in the side of a hill - a Troglodyte dwelling-at the village of Sidi Sharaf, Libya. 2. The camels are assembled by the local Arab farmers, who have collected them from many miles around, and the party of British Army, RAF and American servicemen, plus RAF and USAF wives, have their first lesson in camel riding. 3. Close up of Driver Maurice Crookes, aged 23 of 135 Honeysuckle Road, Sheffield, mounted on a camel for the first time in his life. Driver Crookes is serving with 38 Company Royal Army Service Corps in Tripoli. 4. Close up of Driver D.K.Walker, RASC who lives at 26 Fergus on Street, Londondarry, Northern Ireland. 5. Close up of 2nd Lieutenant Philip Petersen, RASC, officer in charge of the British Army group of 17. 2/Lt Petersen, who has been in Libya about six weeks, lives at 34 Chatsworth Road, Ainsdale, Southport. 6. It's easy enough to start, but how does one stop a camel? Driver Walker disappears into the distance as the camel fails to comply with his "Whoas" and "Stops". 7. Close up of camel. "Oos! Oos!" (pronounced Uzz) is the Arabic command for Stop. 8. Mrs. L. Schwartz, wife of an American serviceman, dressed in Arab attire, is a keen horsewoman and found herself quite at home on a camel. 9. Each member of the party has been allotted a camel and they move in a caravan towards the village of Sidi Sharaf. Roll No 2 1. Close up of L/Cpt. Colin Ferguson RASC of 42 Blacklaw Road, Dunfermline, Fife. 2. L/Cpt. Kenneth Swinnerton, aged 21 of 2 Elliott Crescent, Bedford, seems to be getting the idea of camel riding, as the caravan enters the village of Sidi Sharaf. 3. When Mum goes out in the desert carrying the Englishmen, baby camel follows. Close up of young camel feeding. 4. The camel has knelt down for its rider to mount and amid shouts of "Barra", "Barra" (Go! Go!), the animal rises with Driver James Reynolds, RASC of 10 Little Grosvenor Street, Belfast, in the saddle, or rather, on the hump. 5. The caravan has passed through the village and in time honoured fashion spreads out in a line across the desert as the party sets off to visit the village of Sugh El Guma ("Friday Market", en route to see the petrified remains of the "Dead Man of Tarhuna" - a 400 year old body petrified in stone in an old Roman farmhouse. 6,7,8,9, etc. Shots of the British "Camel Corps" in full stride as they plod across the Libyan desert shrub and with each member of the party, apparently, having his or her own idea on how camel rider ought to be dressed. Roll No 3. 1. Shots of the Camel Corps taking a rest. Until one becomes proficient in the art of guiding a Desert Traveller, a hump is not always a comfortable seat. Several members of the party had navigation troubles and the "breakaways" had to be rounded up and brought back to the main body before the party set off again. Final shot. Close up of Flying Officer L. Littler of 118 Southmoor Road, Oxford, the leader of the party, who is stationed at RAF Idris, Libya, and also 2nd Lt P. Petersen, officer in charge of the Army personnel in the party. Flying Officer Littler, dressed in the pukke Arab dress, is a veteran camel rider having owned six camels during his stay in Libya. Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 15th January 1963 12:00
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- Location: Tarhuna, Libya
- Country: Libya
- Reuters ID: LVA2Z9Y7J6JKI8R8EUCT7JL8S7OL
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