Sid Perou

Sid Perou
Born
Sidney Allen Bruce Perou

(1937-04-19)19 April 1937
Died14 July 2024(2024-07-14) (aged 87)
Chiang Mai, Thailand
OccupationsCinematographer, Film director
Known forCave documentaries
Notable workSunday at Sunset Pot, The Lost River of Gaping Gill, Mysteries Underground
SpouseAlison Wellock (m. 1971; died 1996)
Children2
AwardsEmmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Informational Programming (1993)

Sidney Allen Bruce Perou (19 April 1937 – 14 July 2024) was a British cinematographer and film director, notable for his work filming cave exploration. It has been said that he was "renowned throughout the caving and broadcasting world", "possibly the greatest cave film maker of all time", and "the man who brought caving to the masses". His work has received international acclaim.

Early life

Perou was born as Sidney Allen Bruce Perou in April 1937 to father Sid and mother Harriet (who went by the name of "Kit"). Sid was a serviceman in the Royal Air Force.

Career

In the mid 1960s Perou worked for the BBC as a sound recordist, based at Ealing Studios. In 1967, because of his recreational caving experience, he was assigned to work on the documentary Sunday at Sunset Pot. This documentary detailed the attempted rescue of caver Eric Luckhurst from Sunset Hole. Perou was initially working on the documentary as sound recordist. However, due to the original cameraman being unfamiliar with working in the cave environment, Perou was asked to take over on camera. This was his first experience filming underground. After Sunday at Sunset Pot, he left his job at the BBC to move to Yorkshire, as he had decided that he wanted to be a filmmaker. In Yorkshire, his first commission was for The World About Us to film The Lost River of Gaping Gill in 1970.

As a cinematographer and director, Perou was involved in the creation of over a dozen caving documentaries, and over 50 films in total. He was considered especially talented at lighting caves so that it appeared as though the only sources of illumination were the cavers' headlamps.

Later life

In 2010 Perou retired from filmmaking and emigrated from the United Kingdom to Thailand.

Perou died on 14 July 2024, in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Awards and honors

Together with Lionel Friedberg, Perou won an Emmy in 1993 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Informational Programming for his work in Lechuguilla Cave which appeared as part of a 1992 National Geographic special, Mysteries Underground. While Mysteries Underground won the most prestigious award of any of Perou's projects, several other documentaries won regional awards or prizes at cave-related film festivals. The documentary The Lost River of Gaping Gill won Best TV Reportage prize at the 7th Festival International du Film de Spéléologie in 1984, Silver Gentian Prize at the 1985 International Film Festival in Trento, the Pye Colour Television Award for Best Regional Production in 1985, and shared "best story or adventure film" with Hollow Mountains of Mulu at the International Festival Internacional de Cinema Espeleològic in 1984. The series Beneath the Pennines won the Grand Prix at the International Caving Film Festival in 1978, as well as the Royal Television Society's Regional Programme of the Year Award.

In 1999, Perou won the Giles Barker award. The award was refurbished on an episode of The Repair Shop after it became damaged returning the award back to the uk. Broadcast on BBC 2 on 15th July 2026

Life in media

Perou authored a book on his experiences titled 30 Years as an Adventure Cameraman. In 2010, Martin (Basher) Baines released a documentary on Perou's life titled The Sid Perou Story.

Personal life

Perou's first marriage was to Alison Wellock, a woman whom he met during the planning of the filming of The Lost River of Gaping Gill. They married on 27 March 1971 and had two children: Martin and Tom. Alison died in 1996 at age 47 after an illness.

Filmography

Perou worked on many films related to outdoor activities such as caving, rock climbing, hot air ballooning, and hang gliding.

References

  1. 1 2 Toksvig, Sandi (9 October 2004). "Caves". BBC. BBC. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Eavis, Andy (13 October 2017). "The golden age of cave exploration". Geographical. Syon Geographical Ltd. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Sid Perou Story". Wild Places Publishing and Descent Magazine. Wild Places Publishing. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 Gunn, J. (2004). Encyclopedia of caves and karst science. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1135455082.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Taylor, M. R. (1999). Dark life: Martian nanobacteria, rock-eating cave bugs, and other extreme organisms of inner earth and outer space. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0684841916.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Martin Baines (director) (27 February 2018). The Sid Perou Story (Motion picture).
  7. 1 2 Fawcett, Ron (2011). Ron Fawcett - Rock Athlete: The Story of a Climbing Legend. Vertebrate Publishing. ISBN 1906148392.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "The Sid Perou Video Collection". British Caving Library. British Cave Research Association. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "Obituaries- Sid Perou". UK Caving. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  10. ↑ "Sid Perou--Awards". IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 7 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "Sid Perou: The Lost River of Gaping Gill - Breakthrough". British Caving Library. British Cave Research Association. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "Beneath the Pennines". BBC. BBC. 30 November 1978. Archived from the original on 9 July 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Sid Perou: Beneath the Pennines - Dow Cave". British Caving Library. British Cave Research Association. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  14. ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002hpzf
  15. ↑ "Sidney Perou". MyHeritage. MyHeritage Ltd. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Sid Perou". BFI. British Film Institute. Retrieved 7 July 2018.[dead link]