Some years ago, Tom Sutcliffe was tidying out some boxes, when he came across a video he had forgotten about, and he gave me a call. We discussed the video, and Tom, knowing my penchant for South African flyfishing history, asked if I would like the original.
In due course a parcel arrived from Tom, containing a USB drive and this letter:
And for those interested, here is that link to John’s favourite Rachmaninoff piece: https://youtu.be/RxaUQneu3wg?si=wLq-HhC21O_xohHW
The USB drive lay in a drawer for a while, because I was still learning my video editing software. Then one day I had the forethought to at least copy it onto my PC and a few other places, and then later still I loaded it into the software and re-exported it in a more modern file format, while I waited for my editing skills to improve.
And then I forgot about it. Kinda. I mean I knew I had it, but it was out of my mind for a long time.
Then last week I stumbled upon the above letter, and I set to work.
I hope that in trimming it down, I haven’t lost the essence of John’s story, and his take on things.
But you can be the judge. In the interests of posterity, and with a notion that Tom bestowed on me a responsibility to make this material available and keep it safe, I present here the raw, unedited version of the interview, broken into the two parts:
Part 1
Part 2
It has been an honour to work with this footage, and poignant to consider that I bought John Beam’s book when I was a school kid (and when Tom Sutcliffe happened to be our school doctor).
In those heady days (the eighties) these two names, and some others with them…Neil Hodges, Hugh Huntley, Bill Duckworth and so on, tended to conjure up an air of nobility to a young flyfishing fanatic that I was.
12 Responses
I cannot wait to watch this as I have long lamented the fact that I never met John Beams.
Thanks so much for sharing it.
Thanks PD. It felt to me like that video was too important a record to sit on a hard drive somewhere.
This is gold Andrew, thank you for doing the editing and sharing for us all to enjoy 🙏🏼
Thanks for the encouragement Andrew
What treasure! Two of the giants of SA trout fishing.
I read John Beams’ book so many times it came apart.
Thanks Andrew
Thanks Stuart…Its good to know that there are some out there who remember this stuff. Special indeed!
Thoroughly enjoyed this quirky piece of history – thanks Andrew.
Quirky indeed…he was fiercely competitive in a 1 on 1 situation, happy with fly-tying competitions, but completely rejected fishing competitions. Nuanced, or maybe downright incongruous and idiosyncratic. But a piece of history either way.
Remember seeing the massive brown trout that he had caught at Highmoor Dam on the wall at his place of business in Pmbg . .
Hi Andrew, – Noel
Hi Noel. You probably have some more gems of history from John Beams, the early days of Natal Fly Fisher’s Club and more!
Greetings from Ireland. I came here to thank you for uloading the Tom Sutcliff interview with John Beams and also the tying of the #30 Parachute Adams. Was that a Gamakatsu C12-BM hook? Thanks again.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment. That Adams was tied a very long time ago, if its the one I think you are asking about and to be honest, I no longer have those hooks and cant remember which model they might have been, but I don’t think it was Gamakatsu. Did Mustad ever make a hook that small, because that is my suspicion as to the brand? I currently have some Verivas midge hooks down to that size which I am using.
Cheers for now. Andrew