The First Mobile Phone

You may have seen in the news today that it is the 40th anniversary of the first mobile phone call. However, there may be competition for the title. Only a few Continue reading →

HMS Belfast: 75 Years

This weekend, HMS Belfast, the famous ship which has inhabited the Thames since 1971 as a museum, will celebrate the 75th anniversary of her launch. The Royal Navy cruiser was launched on 17th March Continue reading →

On this day… This week round-up

70 years ago, the submarine HMS Thunderbolt sank for the second time, with the loss of everyone aboard. It had sunk four years previously, raised, and renamed. British Pathé has Continue reading →

60 years since the death of Stalin

Today marks two notable anniversaries for which the British Pathé archive has some relevant footage. Most importantly, Joseph Stalin died 60 years ago, on 5th March 1953. Stalin, the former leader Continue reading →

HMV Goes Into Administration

It has been reported in the papers today that high street retailer HMV has gone the way of Woolworths, Jessops, Comet, Zavvi (until rescued by HMV), and Fopp (until rescued by HMV) – Continue reading →

150 Years of the Tube

British Pathé celebrates 150 years of the Tube. London Underground, known colloquially as “the Tube”, is the oldest subway system in the world. Since the first service was launched 150 years Continue reading →

90,000 Historical Newsreels For Use in Your History Lessons

The British Pathé Education service has been nominated for a 2013 BETT Award for its digital resource available to British schools and academies. For any of you who are interested, here’s a Continue reading →

British Pathé Picks: Early Jan 2013

Twice a month we blog about footage in the archive relevant to upcoming events or important anniversaries. There are always plenty, so we can only present a selection and you can search the Continue reading →

The Launch of the QE2

There’s been some sad news that the famous liner Queen Elizabeth 2 (or “QE2″) has been sold as scrap. [UPDATE: It appears that these headlines have been exaggerated. Although the QE2 Continue reading →

Review of the Year 2012 – A Pathé Tradition

From 1922 to 1969, British Pathé produced lengthy round-ups of the year’s news stories that collected together the most dramatic images and covered the most important events. Not confined to Continue reading →

From the Dark Ages

King Arthur and his legendary Knights of the Round Table; the heroic King of Wessex, Alfred the Great; hordes of Viking invaders – there’s nothing like a good early-medieval tale. Nostalgia for Continue reading →

A History of British Invention

2012 has been an ego-boosting year for the British. With the success of the Diamond Jubilee, the Summer Olympics and the Paralympics, it wouldn’t be a bad year to go Continue reading →

British Pathé Spreads Its Wings

This quick message is to tell you about our brand new Social Media pages. Don’t worry, we’re not neglecting the old ones. In fact, we’ve recently updated our WordPress blog Continue reading →

Pathé’s Undersea Antics

Continuing our series on “Alternative Pathé“… There’s plenty in the British Pathé archive for those not so interested in history and British politics. For those more intrigued by science and Continue reading →

Out of this World: The Pathé Space Archive

British Pathé has an extensive Space Exploration collection which often goes unmined. In this post, as part of our promotion of “Alternative Pathé“, we briefly summarise the contents of the collection and provide Continue reading →

Days That Shook The World – 21st Century Pathé

A few years ago, what was then called “British Pathé News” began a production with the BBC called A Day That Shook The World. Two series were eventually made, the Continue reading →

Pathé’s Hidden Treasures

“That’s all very well, but what has the Pathé archive got for ME?” It can be tempting to think of the British Pathé archive as being only of interest to those with a passion Continue reading →

The Hunt for Amelia Earhart

An expedition has got under way [July 2012] to test the theory that the distinguished American aviatrix, Amelia Earhart actually survived her plane crash in 1937 and spent her last Continue reading →

Franz Reichelt Day! February 4th – 100th Anniversary of Eiffel Tower “Death Jump”

Today is the 100th anniversary of Franz Reichelt’s attempt to fly in Paris on the 4th February 1912. His choice of venue to demonstrate his solo flying contraption? The Eiffel Continue reading →

New British Pathé Website! – Find Out What’s New and Start Enjoying our New Archive!

Due to the increasing popularity of British Pathé we thought it was time to build a better website for you, and so we are thrilled to announce today the launch Continue reading →

The History of the Helicopter: Early Helicopter Footage

We recently posted a compilation video of early helicopter footage onto our YouTube channel. The video uses eight different reels from the British Pathé film archive, and there are some Continue reading →

On This Day: Donald Campbell Killed in 297mph Lake District Crash

Today is the 45th anniversary of daredevil speed engineer Donald Campbell’s tragic death on Coniston Water in the Lake District, Great Britain. Campbell was only 45 years olds, he was Continue reading →

British Pathé’s Robot George enjoys his 15 minutes of Fame

The British Pathé archive acts as a resting place to several robots of yesteryear, some scarier than others, but today it was our beloved Robot George (born in 1950, Saffron Walden, Continue reading →

Amy Johnson – 1930s Queen of the Air

Amy Johnson was a much- fêted and courageous English aviatrix. Back in the 1930s she set many ground breaking records, including being the first woman to fly solo from Britain Continue reading →

Eve’s Wireless becomes an Internet Phenomena

Thousands and thousands of new visitors have been rumagging through British Pathé’s 90,000 digitised newsreels after Tuesday’s brilliant discovery of a mobile phone from 1922. Eve’s Wireless became an online sensation, racking up hits for technology bloggers Continue reading →

Video of First Mobile Phone – 1922

The Telegraph were the first national newspaper to write about British Pathé’s archive discovery of a newsreel called ‘Eve’s Wireless’ in which a prototype mobile phone is designed and seems Continue reading →

Archive Androids: The History of Robots

We’ve taken a science fiction theme today and have been watching old videos in the British Pathe archive of robots and early computer technology. From roboticised shop mannequins to lipstick Continue reading →

Blast Off: The First American Sent Into Space

The first American was sent into space on this day May 5th, back in 1961. Guess what? Yep – British Pathé have the video of it. We wouldn’t have missed Continue reading →

The Bazooka Archive

Today we’re blogging about military footage from the British Pathé archive, after we came across some soldiers linking to our videos from forums on the ‘Army Rumour Service’ site – Continue reading →