‘Get off my foot!’ Chaos, crashes and Shep
The elephant
Noakes revelled in the chaos when a frightened baby elephant, Lulu, misbehaved in the studio. He cried “Ooh, get off me foot!” as he tried to get hold of Lulu.
The crash
Viewers saw Noakes shoot down the Cresta Run in Switzerland, then crash out at high speed. He lowered his trousers in front of the camera to show the bruises on his thigh.
Nelson’s Column
It would not pass a modern risk assessment, but Noakes scaled a series of ladders to reach the top of Nelson’s Column in 1977. He told viewers he was “literally hanging from ladder with nothing at all
Flying high
Helped by the RAF, Noakes jumped from a plane in 1973 to became the first civilian in Europe to freefall five miles.