View source for "The Least Successful Secret Camera" (lost Doncaster Police recordings of squash club changing rooms; 1978)

{{NSFW|crude subject matter|Least Successful Secret Camera}}
{{InfoboxLost 
|title=<center>"The Least Successful Secret Camera"</center> 
|image=Leastsuccessfulsecretcamera1.png
|imagecaption=2nd June 1978 issue of ''Liverpool Daily Post'' reporting on the incident.
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span> 
}}
In May and June of 1978, Doncaster Police were investigating a thief reported to have stolen valuables from a squash club's changing rooms on multiple occasions. To catch the culprit red-handed, a hidden camera was placed in the changing rooms. However, the resulting footage that was acquired triggered newspaper reports, with ''The Book of Heroic Failures'' hailing it as '''"The Least Successful Secret Camera"'''.<ref name="heroic">[https://archive.org/details/bookofheroicfail00pile/page/90/mode/2up? ''The Book of Heroic Failures'' summarising "The Least Successful Hidden Camera" (p.g. 90).] Retrieved 15th May '24</ref>

==Background==
Doncaster Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was called into a local squash club after its members discovered a thief was on the prowl.<ref name="liverdaily">[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005475/19780602/005/0005 2nd June 1978 issue of ''Liverpool Daily Post'' reporting on the incident (found on ''The British Newspaper Archive'', p.g. 5).] Retrieved 15th May '24</ref> On several instances, the thief had purloined money and valuables from clothes left unattended in the changing rooms.<ref name="mirror">[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19780602/060/0011 2nd June 1978 issue of ''The Daily Mirror'' providing a substantial report on the incident, including comments from Burdis and a summary of both tapes (found on ''The British Newspaper Archive'', p.g. 11).] Retrieved 15th May '24</ref><ref name="liverdaily"/><ref name="heroic"/> The CID, led by Detective Inspector Mick Burdis,<ref name="mirror"/> soon realised that their culprit was likely to strike again and hatched a logical plan: Place a hidden camera inside the changing rooms.<ref name="heroic"/> Not only would this provide concrete evidence in a trial, but it would also swiftly allow the police to arrest the thief before they could escape.<ref name="mirror"/> The camera was in action for about a week; as newspaper reports on the matter were published on 2nd June 1978, it can be assumed the investigation began no earlier than late May.<ref name="echo">[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19780602/007/0001 2nd June 1978 issue of ''Liverpool Echo'' reporting on the incident (found on ''The British Newspaper Archive'', p.g. 1).] Retrieved 15th May '24</ref><ref name="mirror"/><ref name="liverdaily"/>

Despite Doncaster Police's best efforts, it appeared the investigation would run cold.<ref name="mirror"/> But during a regular tape review, all the investigators suddenly burst into laughter.<ref name="mirror"/><ref name="liverdaily"/><ref name="echo"/> As it turned out, a fellow off-duty police officer was among the squash club members.<ref name="liverdaily"/><ref name="echo"/> Having hoped to cap off a presumably enjoyable game of squash, he soon discovered to his horror that his underwear had been nicked.<ref name="mirror"/><ref name="liverdaily"/><ref name="echo"/><ref name="heroic"/> According to Burdis in an interview with ''The Daily Mirror'', the stark-naked officer was absolutely furious and made a number of frustrated gestures while searching for his pants, all to no avail.<ref name="mirror"/> Since the incident was recorded on silent film, the policeman's dialogue was indecipherable.<ref name="mirror"/> Naturally, newspapers like ''The Daily Mirror'', ''Liverpool Daily Post'' and ''Liverpool Echo'' swiftly reported on this faux pas.<ref name="mirror"/><ref name="liverdaily"/><ref name="echo"/> The incident was subsequently listed in ''The Book of Heroic Failures'' as "The Least Successful Secret Camera" when considering the investigation's ironic and unfortunate outcome.<ref name="heroic"/> 

Despite this, ''The Daily Mirror'' reported that police decided to review a live feed one last time before they finally gave up on the investigation. It was there that managed to identify a man rummaging around and clearly committing acts of theft. With this, the police immediately arrested the culprit and ended the case on a successful note.<ref name="mirror"/> The identities of the policeman and thief were not documented in any available source.<ref name="mirror"/><ref name="heroic"/><ref name="liverdaily"/><ref name="echo"/> Additionally, the investigation concluded just months before British police were accused of unethical nationwide surveillance, including via hidden cameras and phone tapping.<ref>[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19780929/001/0001 29th September 1978 issue of ''The Daily Mirror'' reporting on the police surveillance controversy (found on ''The British Newspaper Archive'', p.g. 1).] Retrieved 15th May '24</ref> 

==Availability==
Likely because its crude nature - as well as to avoid further embarrassing the red-faced policeman - the least successful secret camera recording is not believed to have ever publicly surfaced. It is unclear whether the thief's recording was ever released beyond his day in court. Ultimately, this case likely would have remained a footnote in British police history were it not for ''The Book of Heroic Failure'''s brief summary of the incident.<ref name="heroic"/>

==See Also==
*[[Desert Island Discs (lost unaired BBC Radio 4 interview with Alistair MacLean; 1972)]]
*[[Unidentified Pat Coombs commercial (lost unfinished advertisement for muesli product; 1973)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Lost recordings of real incidents|Least Successful Secret Camera]]
[[Category:Completely lost media|Least Successful Secret Camera]]