Marilyn Monroe’s Last Night

Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bedroom on August 5th 1962 by her psychiatrist doctor Ralph Greenson. She was just 36 years old. The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office ruled Continue reading →

BRAND NEW OLYMPICS ARCHIVE! 300 UNSEEN REELS!

In the grand run-up to the London Olympics we have processed and uploaded 300 archive reels showing Olympics events and behind-the-scenes Olympics footage from across the 20th century. We’ll be 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 →

Diamond Jubilee: Galleries and Collections by British Pathé

Here in the British Pathé film archive we’ve prepared some exciting themed galleries for you to celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee. Of course we’re thrilled to be selected by Clarence Continue reading →

Best Footage Library of the Year!

We were delighted to win Best Footage Library of the Year at the 2012 Focal International Awards! The ceremony took place last night at the Lancaster Hotel in London and was Continue reading →

Cutty Sark: Historical British Pathe Newsreels of the Famous Ship Afloat Unveiled

Tomorrow the Cutty Sark will be opened (again!) by Her Majesty The Queen, and so we thought we’d have a rummage in the archive for the old boat, she’s never Continue reading →

The History of Beatboxing: Rahzel Talks to British Pathe

We recently uploaded the video below onto our YouTube channel, titled “World’s First Beatboxing Champion in 1938“, in which an impeccably dressed man gives us some good spit on the Continue reading →

The Secret Story of the CIA’s Francis Gary Powers

February 10th 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union handing over Francis Gary Powers in exchange for Colonel Vilyam Fisher. One of the highest profile cases in the 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 →

Today we heard news of… Miss France 1949!

Last week a lady got in touch with us via the archive’s Facebook page saying that she had discovered a film in our archive of her mother winning the Miss France Continue reading →

Britain’s Hidden Archictectural Gems

  We enjoyed Shortlist’s feature this week on “Britain’s Hidden Architectural Gems” by Simeon de la Torre and were thrilled to see Maunsell Sea Forts in the top slot. Built Continue reading →

Stranded On Snowdon: Cars That Go Too Far

Some of you may have seen this news story today on outdoor news website Grough (as well as other bigger news sites like the BBC) about a 4×4 vehicle that Continue reading →

Bomber Crashes into the Empire State Building

On the 28th July 1945 a B-25 Bomber plane crashed into the Empire State Building, the first airplane to ever crash into a New York skyscraper. The incredible occurrence was Continue reading →

Extreme Bodies – Gigantism!

Most of us are lucky enough to go about our daily lives fairly inconspicuously but there are some men and women who literally stand out from the crowd. Super sized humans have always Continue reading →

Chelsea Flower Show Enjoyed by George VI (The real one, not Colin Firth)

Our archive footage of the Chelsea Flower Show is very popular, last year we looked at some wild and wacky 1960s newsreels, but this year we’ve focused on earlier reels, Continue reading →

Rudolf Hess: 70 Years Since the Nazis Crashed into Scotland

Today is the 70 year anniversary of Rudolf Hess parachuting into Scotland. Hitler’s deputy Hess allegedly wanted to negotiate a peace settlement with the UK and so he flew solo Continue reading →

1906 San Francisco Earthquake Video: Rare 1906 newsreel in the British Pathe archive shows footage of San Fran in ruins.

EARLY EARTHQUAKES ON FILM Today is the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and remarkably, despite the earthquake being over 100 years ago, we have found video footage of Continue reading →

Marilyn Monroe: A Queen in her Own Realm

Author Tara Hanks writes on British Pathé’s footage of Marilyn Monroe and the story behind it… Marilyn Monroe was one of the most-photographed women of the last century. Beyond her acting Continue reading →

LOOKING FOR BRITISH PATHÉ BLOGGERS!

We’re looking for guest bloggers to write pieces for this British Pathé archive blog! Over the last year this blog has dipped its toe into all sorts of areas – Continue reading →

The Queen’s First Visit To Ireland? What About Queen Victoria…

In May, just days after the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, The Queen will be paying a visit to Ireland, astonishingly the first reigning monarch to do so Continue reading →

Girls Night Out: Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Party Like It’s 1945.

We read this morning that 16-year-old Dakota Fanning might be playing a young Princess Margaret in an upcoming project Girls’ Night Out, a film that will focus on the two Continue reading →

The Victoria and Albert Museum find secretly recorded footage in the British Pathé archive of the beautiful and famously unfilmed Ballets Russes

We’re so excited here in the British Pathé archive to hear that Jane Pritchard, curator of the V&A’s recent Ballets Russes exhibition, has made such an intriguing discovery in the Continue reading →

Paul Cezanne: British-owned works

Today’s Google’s ‘doodle’ commemorates the French artist Cezanne. We found this wonderfully conservative newsreel from 1965 when The National Gallery in London purchased a Cezanne painting ‘Les Grandes Baigneuses’ for Continue reading →

Susannah York Dies

British actress Susannah York died on Saturday. A great performer and an emblem of 1960s chic, we suspected the British Pathé archive might have some archive films of Susannah York, Continue reading →

King George VI: Video Collection

  Thanks to the recent film ‘The King’s Speech’ (which we really enjoyed) there has been a spate of interest in our footage of the Royal Family, especially the reign Continue reading →

Ladies Who Lunge: Women Fighting Through History

SHORTCUT TO CLIPS We’re delighted to have been featured on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Making History’ and are thrilled that the subject was archive footage of ladies fighting! The feature ‘Lady Continue reading →

British Pathé back on The One Show

British Pathé are back on The One Show! Thanks to followers of the Pathé archive on Twitter who gave us their comments and feedback last Friday, it really is super Continue reading →

Bunny Girls: British Pathé Go Inside The Playboy Paradise (Never To Return)

Playboy Magazine and the notorious Bunny Girls charmed their way into Metro yesterday with the announcement of a new Mayfair Playboy club opening in London. We were surprised to learn that it Continue reading →

The Human Fish: Pescetarian Perversity washed up in Pathé’s archive

  This surreal and borderline cult-horror clip ‘Human Fish’ is one of the strangest archive finds from British Pathe to date! The video doesn’t containt any sci-fi amphibian hybrid creatures, Continue reading →

Cougar O’Clock: A Secret Archive History of Women Who Liked Their Men Young

  This morning METRO have been exciting themselves about Courtney Cox and her recent 600k offer to be the face of “Cougar Life”, a dating website for older ladies looking for younger guys. Continue reading →

Travelators: Are You Ready?

A couple of weeks ago the BBC article used some British Pathé footage in their article ‘Why Travelators Still Trundle On’ In the piece Jon Kelly wrote “They belong to Continue reading →

Miss Great Britain: Long Legs, Lots of Laughter, Luscious Lips and a Lost Legacy

We would love to track down one of the beauty queens or bonnie babies from our archive footage of 1960s Miss Great Britain competitions, or Blackpool’s ‘Baby of The Year’. Continue reading →

Jason Donovan: Who Do You Think You Are?

We were thrilled to receive our copy of Who Do You Think You Are this morning, the BBC’s family history magazine. Not only are British Pathé featured on page 11, but Continue reading →

Tony Curtis dies Aged 85

Oscar-nominated actor Tony Curtis has died aged 85 at his home in Nevada. One of the greatest actors of his day, famous for his roles in Spartacus, The Defiant Ones Continue reading →

Buried Alive: British Pathé Unearth the 1949 Stunt that went wrong.

  A few of you have been talking about Rodrigo Cortés’ latest film Buried, an “indie-thriller-horror” film starring Ryan Reynolds*. From glancing at the plot to Buried it seems to be a Continue reading →

What’s she gonna look like with no chimney on her?

 Today we’re fascinated by these great clips of chimney felling. Vast, towering brick chimneys, often designed by celebrated architects, and built with the blood and tears of hundreds, indeed some men Continue reading →

Kitchen Hats: Where No Gaga Has Gone Before

Why? The latest evidence of our long-term suspicion that Lady Gaga is inspired almost exclusively by the British Pathé film archive comes in the form of Kitchen Hats, a 1959 Continue reading →

Who made Pathé News?

Are you related to anyone who once worked for Pathé News? If so, BBC4 want to hear from you and may be interested in interviewing you for their upcoming TV Continue reading →

Time to Remember: Tuesdays 8.30pm BBC4

An exciting documentary series Time to Remember begins on BBC4 tomorrow at 8pm, drawing exclusively from the British Pathé film archive. The series was originally produced in the 1950s by Continue reading →

Made In Dagenham uses British Pathé footage

Nigel Cole’s new movie Made In Dagenham uses some footage from the British Pathé film archive. From the photo above you can see how the archive was relevant. (I’m pretty Continue reading →

The Benefit of Heinz-Sight

We love this fabulous Heinz film “The World in a Can” from 1962 that shows and explains what goes into a can of Heinz. From jolly men in the Caribbean bashing spices Continue reading →

An Archive With Soul: Gabriella Cilmi picks some soulful clips from British Pathé to celebrate new single Magic Carpet Ride

To celebrate the release of Shimmy Marcus’ latest film SoulBoy, British Pathé caught up with the gorgeous singer Gabriella Cilmi, whose new single Magic Carpet Ride features on the movie’s soundtrack. We’ll Continue reading →

“Vrooooom” Malcolm Campbell: Life in the Past Lane

Today is the 75th anniversary of Malcolm Campbell’s famous smashing of the land speed record in 1935. So off we plod into the archive to dig out some mad Malcolm Continue reading →

Before BAFTA (Part 2): David Lean talks / Tessie O’Shea tucks into some cake

Who famously had 6 wives? You guessed it – David Lean, one of the founding members of BAFTA! Continuing our mini-series celebrating the history of BAFTA, we’ve dug out footage Continue reading →

Dancing with the sound off

Some of the mute clips are often overlooked by visitors to the archive, possibly because Pathé News were so widely known and admired for their narrations, or possibly because we’re Continue reading →

HELLO BERYL: Was Lady Gaga’s Telephone Obsession Inspired by British actress Beryl Reid?

The name Beryl Reid is barely known amongst today’s hipster crowd but having seen this video ‘Beryl Reid At Home’, I think her legacy deserves some street cred for her Continue reading →

British Pathe’s BAFTA Scrap Book: Part 1: “Get The Laughton Look”

  In this miniseries of BAFTA themed blog posts we plan to explore some of British Pathé’s brilliant archive footage of the BAFTAs, formerly known as the British Film Academy Awards. Continue reading →

Happy Elvis Week – Love British Pathe

We’ve put on our blue suede shoes and had a little rummage in the British Pathe archive for Elvis footage. Here are three great clips that any Elvis fan must Continue reading →