Tim Dinsdale: The First Loch Ness Monster Huner | Loch Ness: They Created A Monster | BBC Scotland

In 1960, a monster hunter by the name of Tim Dinsdale packed up his belongings, kissed his wife and children goodbye, and left his home in the south of England to come here, to the bonnie banks of Loch Ness, to go monster hunting. Tim Dinsdale, a former aeronautical engineer, now a full-time resident monster hunter. He literally lives on the loch, in his boat, the Water Horse. It's a very difficult job, no doubt about that. The photographer's difficult, the conditions are difficult, the odds are difficult, people get disappointed and put off. But we'll get a lot of film and we'll get some very dramatic stuff. People will be very surprised, I think. The first expedition that my father did was in April 1960. Well, I was acutely aware that Dad was going off monster hunting. He had acquired a camera and he was setting it up and tinkering with it. All was loaded into the 1950s Austin Anglier that he had. And I can remember that he'd removed the passenger seat and that would be where the tripod would go and he'd be able to drive along and, like an air gunner, would be able to fire through the window. What was needed was a movie film, and in April 1960, Tim Dinsdale got it. Tim, how close are we to the exact spot where you had your famous film shot? Well, pretty close. It was down there about 20, 30 yards I would think. Inside the car I had the camera on a tripod on my left and I stopped the car, had a fairly quiet look at it through binoculars and while I was watching it through binoculars I could see it very clearly. It came to life and it started to move off and then I turned and started to shoot the film. While I was watching it, it started to move. That most electrifying moment. It looked like a back of a huge animal, reddish-brown. It stood two or three feet out of the water, four or five feet across and then it approached the far shore and then under the surface, throwing up a wave which has since been measured on the film at a height of about two feet. I can remember watching this for the first time in the front room of my parents' home through a projector. I remember watching and being so disappointed because it was so indistinct. He was quite disappointed with the way that this had turned out because, like most photography, it doesn't actually come out in the way that you recall seeing it with your naked eye. The film couldn't possibly be the same when you see it on a screen as it was, you know, seeing it from here with your own eyes. I know, well, you know, but it did capture what I saw. What's on the film is what I saw. And he was completely convinced, which is why he spent so much time and virtually the rest of his life trying to get a better piece of film. Well, I'm going to go on, if necessary, for 20 years because I think that's a fair research period for anybody and I shall then be 55. The film may have been in black and white but Tim Dinsdale talked in Technicolour. His enthusiasm, his conviction, his integrity inspired others to come hunting for the monster.