A rookie reporter just a month into his first journalism job proved he had a head for heights by attempting to climb up an 80ft pole.

Rob Warlow, from Newbury Weekly News, had a stab at the sport of log climbing at the annual Royal County of Berkshire Show.

The 21-year-old was one of several members of the public allowed to test their ascending skills before the professionals showed them how it’s done.

Rob took three minutes to reach halfway up the pole before giving up whereas the winning time of 14.5 seconds was set by a gentleman in his 60s.

Rob, who graduated from Southampton Solent University this summer, said: “I didn’t get trained for this at college but I suppose I knew, as a new reporter, I would be doing this sort of thing.

“I was working at the show on Sunday and it was one of my jobs to do while I was there.

“It’s a lot more tiring that you think it would be. When you stand at the bottom it looks quite a way up.”

The sport started in the logging industry, in Canada, where lumberjacks developed quick ways of ascending trees and the annual show, in Newbury, attracts professional climbers from across the UK.