Colin Milburn Takes Part In Piano Smashing Team At Royal Pioneer Corps Open Day

Footage of a piano smashing competition at the 1971 Royal Pioneer Corps Open Day, featuring cricketer Colin Milburn.

As a large crowd seated on a grassy bank watches on, cricketer Colin Milburn swings a sledgehammer over his shoulder to strike the shattered remnants of a piano on the ground. Another man is doing the same in the background as a photographer documents the scene. The camera shows a group of young boys seated at the front of the crowd. A number of people in the crowd are cheering on the participants. Milburn is once again shown swinging the hammer, as a man in the foreground struggles to wrestle free a length of splintered wood from the wreckage. In the background, a man in a yellow jumper can be seen indicating to an offscreen participant which part of the piano he should strike next with his hammer. As Milburn continues to break up the piano with his sledgehammer, a military-style truck can be seen parked in the background. A wooden board with two holes cut out is mounted on top of the tailgate. Two competitors can be seen posting pieces of broken piano through these holes. A number of boys sat at the front of the crowd are shown laughing and cheering. Having handed over his sledgehammer to a teammate, Milburn is shown collecting some larger pieces of debris from the ground. He then walks over to the parked truck and feeds the end of a long piece of wood through one of the holes. Through the hole and inside the truck, a hand can be seen grabbing the wood and beginning to pull it inside.

Keywords

Cricket; Stunts; Royal Pioneer Corps; Sport; Piano Smashing

Background Information

"Colin Milburn (nicknamed Ollie; 23 October 1941 – 28 February 1990 was an English cricketer, who played in nine Test matches for England, before an accident led to the loss of much of his sight and prompted his retirement." "Returning to Northampton for the 1969 season, Milburn started out with 158 against Leicestershire. On 23 May, he was returning home when he was involved in a motor accident. This cost him the sight of his left eye, the lead eye for a right-handed batsman. His right eye was also damaged. Taking as an example the Nawab of Pataudi, who had resumed his career after suffering eye damage, Milburn harboured thoughts of a comeback. On 8 January 1971, The Times reported his retirement, but Milburn did return in 1973 and 1974. However, he was a shadow of his former self, and these games did little beyond reducing his career batting average. Milburn continued in league cricket, and went into the world of after dinner speaking, public appearances and radio commentary." Wikipedia The Royal Pioneer Corps were based at Simpson Barracks in Wootton, Northamptonshire from 1960 until 1993 when they were amalgamated into the Royal Logistics Corps. The site closed at the same time and was redeveloped for housing in the late 1990s. (Wikipedia entry for "Simpson Barracks, Northamptonshire") "Piano smashing" was popularised in the 1960s by British game show "It's A Knockout" where teams raced against the clock to demolish a piano and post the parts through a letterbox-type hole in the quickest amount of time.