From the archive

30 January 1982

THIS week’s cover pic by sports legend Tony Duffy was probably intended to draw attention to AP’s test of 3M’s new ‘superfast’ 640-T tungsten balanced, in which amateur Stephen Huntley captured, on his Canon A-1, a world record leap from an 80ft tower onto an 8x6ft sponge surrounded by spears. Performed at Essex County Showground by a daredevil called ‘Daring Dante’ (aka John Crease from Wimborne, Dorset) the only thing more challenging than his stunt was Huntley’s attempt to sell the pictures. ‘My first mistake was waiting till the show ended,’ he discovered. ‘My second mistake was using XP1 film for newspaper work. Most of the nationals were interested till I told them it was XP1. They said they didn’t have the facilities to process it.’ A third outlet rejected them because they weren’t shot in colour. At least AP came to the rescue in the end!