The Notting Hill Race Riots, 1958

55 years ago, from 29th August – early September, the streets of London witnessed what Pathé News at the time rightly labelled a “shameful episode”. More than three hundred people suddenly attacked West Indian immigrants living on Bramley Road in Notting Hill, London.

British Pathé produced a short newsreel on the attacks. The film has a very different tone to the sort of news broadcasts one would see on television today, at least in Britain. It is an angry denunciation of the riots, containing a particularly powerful commentary which is worth repeating in full:

Something new and ugly raises its head in Britain. In Notting Hill Gate, only a mile or two from London’s West End – racial violence. An angry crowd of youths chases a negro into a green grocer shop while police reinforcements are called up to check the riot, one of many that have broken out here in a few days. The injured victim, a Jamaican, is taken to safety. But the police have not been able to reach all the trouble spots so promptly and the quietest street may flare up at any moment. The most disturbing feature of the riots is the suspicion that not all the troublemakers are locals, for some of the gangs who break windows or throw bottles or burning torches have arrived by car. Opinions differ about Britain’s racial problems. But the mentality which tries to solve them with coshes and broken railings has no place in the British way of life. This violence is evil and the law and public opinion must stamp it out.

The 1958 newsreel can be viewed online here.

TV Ads: British Pathé’s Forgotten Work

There’s an interesting film in the archive concerning the production of television commercials by Associated British-Pathé (as the company was known from 1933 to 1958). It is introduced by McDonald Hobley, better known for his work with the BBC, who takes the audience – in this case, prospective clients – on a tour of Pathé’s Wardour Street studio, the newsreel archive, and the history of the company. This presentation, entitled Introducing Ourselves, was intended to show advertisers the good work that Pathé could do on television commercials, a new media they had begun to exploit only eighteen months previously (circa 1954).

As Hobley’s presentation reveals, Pathé produced about two hundred commercials a year and some of them are included in the film as a showreel. Hobley tries to limit expectations of the selection, not terribly convincingly, by describing the choice as “random…Not necessarily the best that we have produced, but we have tried to limit our selection to those which offer the types of production which we feel will appeal to you – the advertisers – in this area.”

Some of the ads are really quite entertaining and worth a watch, if you can stomach twenty-five minutes of what we’re now used to just fast-forwarding through. The showreel begins with Dunlop Tubeless Tyres, then moves on to: Max Factor’s Top Secret hair spray, Dunkies doughnuts, Guards Trousers, Amami Wave Set, Hiltone, Mum antiperspirant, Brylcreem, Disprin, Twinings Teas, Maxwell House coffee, Black & Decker tools, another Maxwell House ad, Burtons trousers, Hi Fi Lipstick from Max Factor, Mac Fisheries, Blackstone Opticians, Electrolux vacuum, Fred Fearnley Ltd.  Scooters and Motorcycles,  Scentinel Quiff air freshener, D.D.D., Dinneford’s, Setlers, Fray Bentos, an ad for bread, Bristow’s Hair Tonic, Tide detergent, Wm Younger’s Beer, another Fray Bentos commercial, Heinz, Brylcreem again, Peter Robinson, another for Dunlop, Huntley and Palmers, M & B Bitter, Tide, and Esso Extra.

What’s somewhat odd is that there appears to be some additional later footage tacked onto the end of the presentation. This dates from the 1970s, and must have been added to the film when the archive was under EMI ownership. These are a trailer for Love Story, starring Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal and a “rather fab” Chrysler Sunbeam ad from 1978.

Introducing Ourselves is valuable for its enticing glimpse behind the scenes of Pathé in the 1950s, the way in which the newsreel archive has by then already been deemed of historical significance worthy of preservation, and for including the only – at least in our collection – examples of Pathé’s commercial work, often forgotten due to the organisation’s usual focus on cinema news and theatrical films.

Watch Hobley’s introduction and behind-the-scenes footage in Part One here.

Watch the various commercials in Part Two of the presentation here.

www.britishpathe.com

British Pathe: A Witness To Terrorism, 1919-1972

Terrorism is nothing new. As early as 1885 the first bomb exploded on the London Underground. Even before then, terrorist groups had made their respective marks – the People’s Retribution in Russia, the Jacobins in France, Guy Fawkes and his Gunpowder Plot, the Scarii Zealots of Judea. The list is endless, the victims countless, the motives diverse.

Though the British Pathé archive is limited to the years 1895-1979, there is an overwhelming collection of material related to terrorist attacks. This post, along with our new gallery, presents just a few examples from that period, using images taken from contemporary newsreel footage.

Click the stills to view the original film.

New York, USA (1919)

Probably the earliest film in the archive concerning an act of terrorism, the footage from which this image is taken features just one of a series of bombings during 1919 carried out in many American cities by anarchists aiming to bring down the “tyrannical institutions” of the State.

It is not clear from British Pathé’s records exactly what this image shows, but it is possibly the ruined home of Judge Charles C. Nott, Jr. on 151 East 66 Street, which was a target of the terrorists. Although Nott was unhurt, one night watchman, who had seen a suspicious package left on Nott’s doorstep and had gone over to investigate, was killed when it went off in his hands.

As well as in New York, bombs were detonated in seven other cities and thirty-six letter bombs were posted, though many were intercepted before they could explode.

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New York, USA (1920)

The same anarchists were allegedly behind this 1920 attack on Wall Street, the financial heart of the United States of America, though no group actually claimed responsibility and the perpetrators were never caught. In this case, explosives were hidden in a wagon which exploded at lunchtime on 16th September, killing 38 people along with the horse that was pulling the deadly vehicle. A further 143 were injured.

Footage shows the confused aftermath of the bombing, the police presence, and some of the bodies of the victims laid out on the pavement. Evidence of the blast can still be seen on some of the buildings today.

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Liverpool, UK (1920)

Later that same year, England was also targeted, this time by Irish republicans, in the midst of the Irish War of Independence.

This image is taken from a newsreel announcing “Sinn Fein outrages” in which “agents” of the group set warehouses alight across Liverpool and the suburb of Bootle – 27 fires in all. Police officers were shot during the incident, along with a young passer-by named Daniel Ward. Five men were arrested.

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New York, USA (1927)

On 6th August 1927, two bombs detonated in the New York City subway. This image reveals some of the damage done, along with workmen hurriedly repairing a station.

The attack was again the work of anarchists. It was carried out in retaliation for the trial of the Italian anarchists Ferdinando Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti who were executed later that month in Boston.

At least one person died in the bombing, with others wounded.

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Germany (1931)

Political agitators blew up this train travelling from Berlin to Frankfurt in early August 1931. Newsreel footage shows the derailed carriages and the damage done to the tracks by the bomb blast.

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London, UK (1939)

This image is from just one of many terrorist attacks in London during 1939 carried out by the Irish Republican Army, or IRA. Investigators comb through the rubble looking for evidence after an explosion at the Central Electricity Board building in Southwark. A pedestrian was killed.

Leicester Square and Tottenham Court tube stations, shops in Piccadilly, an aqueduct, and Hammersmith bridge were also subsequently targeted. All were documented by Pathé News and relevant films can be found in this collection. Not covered by British Pathé were additional incidents at various banks, King’s Cross and Victoria station. Seamus O’Donovan, who had drawn up the attack plans, later noted that the bombing campaign “brought nothing but harm to Ireland and the IRA.”

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Rehovot, Palestine (1947)

Another railway bomb, this time in Palestine – one of numerous attacks by Jewish militants during 1947. The aims of the “Irgun”, the group responsible for the attacks, were to force the British to withdraw from Palestine (where they had been stationed since defeating the Ottoman Empire during the First World War) and to bring about the creation of an independent Jewish state. On 14th May 1948, David Ben-Gurion would declare the establishment of the state of Israel. Britain officially recognised the new nation on 28th April 1950.

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Simpang Tiga, Malaysia (1947)

A devastated rubber factory caused by terrorist occupation in the small town of Simpang Tiga. Footage shows locals walking through the debris.Throughout the 1940s, Malaysia was troubled by violence as communist groups sought to expel the British from the Malayan peninsular.

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Jaffa, Palestine (1948)

Another attack by the “Irgun”, this time in the town of Jaffa, on 4th January 1948. The headquarters of the Arab National Committee and several surrounding buildings were destroyed.

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New York Nabs the “Mad Bomber”, USA (1957)

In this image, George Metesky stands smiling behind bars after his arrest by New York police. Metesky had been responsible for twenty-two explosions in the early 1940s and throughout the 1950s at public places in New York City, such as libraries and cinemas. He planted a further eleven which never went off. His motive was anger. After an industrial accident left him injured and without a job, he sought revenge on both the company he had worked for (Consolidated Edison) and the public at large.

Known as the “Mad Bomber”, Metesky was never tried for his crimes and was committed to a mental hospital. Eventually released in 1973, he died in 1994 at the age of 90.

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Algiers, Algeria (1962)

On 20th April 1962, three plastic explosives were detonated in the capital of Algeria. Luckily, no one was killed. The attack was the work of Organisation de l’armée secrète (or OAS). This French terrorist organisation hoped to stop Algeria from becoming an independent nation, free from French colonial rule, which the Algerian National Movement had been fighting for since 1954. The OAS failed, and that same year the Algerian War came to an end with a new People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria entering the international arena.This silent, unedited and unused footage features devastated buildings and burnt out cars, probably in front of the Algiers Rectorate of the University.

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Zarka, Kingdom of Jordan (1971)

This image is from the Dawson’s Field hijackings by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in September 1971. In the incident, five planes were hijacked and forced to Dawson’s Field, an airstrip in Zarka, Jordan. Amazingly, not one of the 310 hostages were killed. They were released in exchange for four PFLP members – three serving sentences in Switzerland and one in British custody.

The plane featured in this still is British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Flight 775. It is taken from raw, unedited and silent footage in the British Pathé archive. In the film, Swissair and BOAC planes land in Beirut before being forced to take off again for Dawson’s Field by the hijackers while police and security officials watch helplessly nearby.

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Belfast, UK (1972)

This telling still of a burning bus derives from a film in the British Pathé archive entitled “IRA Outrages In Northern Ireland”. Although there is no paperwork accompanying the film that can accurately date and identify the three seemingly separate events depicted in it, one of our Facebook followers provided some helpful information. This image specifically is probably from the Bloody Friday attack on the Ulsterbus depot on Oxford Street during the afternoon of 21st July 1972. A total of twenty-two explosions across Belfast caused carnage that day. Nine people were killed.

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After 1972

The British Pathé archive ends in 1979. However, the series A Day That Shook The World, co-produced with the BBC, covers important world events up to the year 2006. It therefore includes additional acts of terror not originally filmed by the Pathé cameramen. The relevant episodes can be viewed by clicking on the links below:

British SAS storm Iranian Embassy in London (1980)

IRA attack on British Government (1984)

Lockerbie Pan-Am jet explosion (1988)

Oklahoma terrorist attack (1995)

World Trade Center (2001)

Beslan School Siege (2004)

London bombings (2005)

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View the Twenty Acts of Terror Gallery on the British Pathé website. Additional films can be found by searching the archive database.

www.britishpathe.com

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 1938 at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland. British Pathé has footage of the occasion in its archive, which can be viewed here. The launch can be found mid-way through the clip, which begins as an item about Mrs Chamberlain opening a new airport (though due to the fact that some footage has gone missing, the clip doesn’t feature Mrs Chamberlain at all!)

As well as the launch, there are some additional films in which HMS Belfast makes an appearance. The most substantial is an item about Royal Navy cadets taking the ship to Gibraltar. The 1963 newsreel, “Cadets Try Sea Life“, features some nice shots of HMS Belfast and the cadets lined up on her deck for her departure from Portsmouth.

There are two other films of note: “Tanganyika Independent“, about the celebrations for the independence of Tanganyika (later Tanzania) in 1961, shows HMS Belfast lit up at night in the harbour. “Royal Navy Ships“, filmed some time in the 1940s, shows some crew members messing around with an HMS Belfast lifebuoy.

There are also four items from the 1970s which show HMS Belfast on the Thames. You can find the films in this collection. British Pathé stopped releasing newsreels in February 1970 (see our History of British Pathé), and so much of the material in the archive from that decade is silent, unedited, and never released. This HMS Belfast footage is a good example, but the films are an enjoyable watch due to some beautiful aerial views of London and the River Thames.

HMS Belfast saw action in the Second World War, beginning with the arctic convoys. She also took part in the Battle of North Cape and the Normandy landings. Later, she was used in the Korean War. In the 1970s she became a museum ship and has been visited by scores of tourists and history-lovers ever since. It’s worth a visit if you’ve never been.

View British Pathé’s HMS Belfast collection here.

View additional HMS Belfast stills on our Pinterest page.

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 footage of HMS Thunderbolt, its launch at Birkenhead, and the original sinking off North Wales. Click here to view the collection.

HMS Thunderbolt.

Cheltenham Gold Cup  (15 March)

Tomorrow, the 2013 Cheltenham Gold Cup will take place. British Pathé has footage of the very first Gold Cup jump race, in 1924. Watch the film here.

Six Nations: England v Wales  (16 March)

On Saturday, England will play Wales in a deciding game. England’s 1924 Grand Slam can be viewed here.

Marshal Tito visits London  (16 March)

60 years ago, the leader of Yugoslavia came to Britain and met the Prime Minister in London and toured Cambridge. British Pathé newsreels covered the state visit. You can view them here.

50 years since the death of Sir William Beveridge  (16 March)

British Pathé conducted interviews with Sir William on his welfare report and covered his wedding in 1942. Click here to view the films. He died on 16th March 1963.

In other news…

Nick Compton

Nick Compton recently made his England Test cricket debut (November 2012) and is currently touring with the team in New Zealand. Nick is the grandson of cricketer and footballer Denis Compton, who features heavily in the British Pathé archive. A selection can be found here.

Past Popes

The British Pathé archive has a great deal of footage for the Twentieth Century popes from 1922 until 1972. A selection for each can be found via these links:

Benedict XV – died 1922

Pius XI – British Pathé filmed the election of Benedict XV’s successor, who served from 1922 until his own death in 1939.

Pius XII – Pope from 1939 until 1958.

John XXIII – Pope from 1958 until 1963.

Paul VI – Pope from 1963 until 1978.

www.britishpathe.com

Dressed for the occasion? London Fashion Week Arrives!

The most exciting 5 days in fashion begins today as London welcomes designers, press and fashion icons from all over the world for London Fashion Week.

The first fashion week was held in 1984 in a West London car park and the event continued to have great success until the recession in the 90’s with only a few designers would showcasing their new lines at the Ritz Hotel. In 1993, Fashion Week bounced back when Naomi Campbell walked down the catwalk topless for the Philip Treacy.

There will be a major focus on trade. It is estimated that over 100 million pounds worth of orders are placed each Fashion Week and 5,000 photographers, journalists and buyers all flock to London to see what next season’s fashion will hold.

Fashion Week is not without its controversy. In the mid 90’s many fashion houses were criticised for using dangerously-thin models to showcase their work. The Model Health Enquiry was launched to investigate these claims and now designers are being encouraged to promote a healthy body image.

An exciting weekend of fashion fever lies ahead for London. For some inspiration for your own look, these clips from the British Pathé fashion archive might provide some interesting tips!

Female pioneers of trouser-wearing! Click the still to view our gallery.

We love this outlandish Nina Ricci fashion show from 1966. Click the still to view the film.

Fab story from 1939 predicts what women and one unfortunate man will be wearing in the year 2000. Click the still to view the film.

For more vintage fashion and beauty films, search the archive at www.britishpathe.com

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 ago, on 10th January 1863, it has carried an unbelievable number of passengers (now over 1 billion a year!) beneath the streets of The Big Smoke. By the time British Pathé was producing newsreels in the 1910s, there were already a number of different lines, which probably explains why so little footage of the Underground features in the archive until the Second World War, when its use as air raid shelters presumably made it newsworthy again. Indeed, prior to 1939, British Pathé often seemed more interested in the subways of other countries than in its own.

Eros is dismantled during the construction of the Piccadilly tube stations in 1925. Click the still to view the film.

Tube travel in 1946. Click the still to view “new” carriages contrasted with the old ones.

British Pathé was mainly concerned with new construction. As early as 1925 the company released a newsreel on the removal of the statue of Eros necessitated by the building of a new Piccadilly station and the next year the creation of the world’s largest tube line – from Edgware to Hendon – also earned newsreel coverage (view it here). Following the war, Transport Minister Alfred Barnes could be seen in a newsreel from 1946 opening a 4-mile extension of the Underground to Stratford (which would prove vital for the 2012 Summer Olympics). The work cost £3.5 million, employing 2000 – “sizeable figures for 9 minutes travel”. In the film, we get glimpses of tube journeys in the 1940s, including some nice interior shots of the carriages. The next year, Barnes opened another extension in Essex on the Central Line and in the film documenting it, the cameras travel through the new stations from Wanstead to Gants Hill.

In the 1950s and 60s, there were interesting innovations in tube travel, with new trains, “travolators” and automatic ticket barriers. But the development which caught British Pathé’s attention the most was the building of the Victoria Line. The “first pictures” of this were released in 1964, construction reached the half-way mark in 1965, and new tube trains were given a test run in 1968. The first stage was opened later that year, before work on stage 2 commenced.

The Victoria Line under construction during the 1960s. Click the still to view a film celebrating the work reaching the half-way point.

The Queen at the controls of the new automated tube trains that travel on the Victoria Line. Click the still to view the film.

The opening ceremony for Stage 3 of the Victoria Line involved the Queen not only operating the vehicle from the driver’s cabin but taking her second-ever journey in a tube carriage. The newsreel, “Queen Opens New Victoria Line (1969)”, can be viewed here.

The Queen rides in a tube carriage during the opening ceremony of the Victoria Line’s stage 3 in 1969. Click the still to view the film.

A look at “Fluffies” who clean the Tube at night (1944). Click the still to view the film.

Aside from construction work, British Pathé was preoccupied with the work of cleaning and maintaining the tunnels and stations. In 1944, we took an “exclusive” look at women war workers, known as “fluffies” or “fluffers”, who cleaned the Underground every night. An interesting reveal is the extraordinary amount of fluff created by people’s clothing during just one day. Other features on tube cleaners followed, such as on the “Rubber Man” Leonard Ware, who was responsible for erasing graffiti (the cinemagazine names “the moustache” as the most common form of it). We don’t know what was cut from this clip, but the graffiti certainly seems rather mild – and it’s all in pencil! If only Tube staff today were so lucky. You can see the light-hearted 1947 film here. There are also films from 1949 and 1950 documenting cleaning work after hours.

British Pathé always liked to show things it believed to be unknown or unusual, so as well as “fluffies”, the company had a look at less mundane uses for the Tube. These included the Post Office’s own underground railway, the telephone exchange within an unused Tube tunnel and, of course, as air raid shelters during the Blitz.

Aldwych Station is used as an air raid shelter during the Blitz. Click the still to view the film.

“From now on that man can do his worst. London’s tube railways are safe.” Watertight doors are added to tube tunnels to protect them from air raids in 1939. Click the still to view the film.

British Pathé also documented some of the tragedies which occurred on London Underground during its long history. In 1939, a terrorist attack forced two damaged stations, Leicester Square and Tottenham Court Road, to be shut temporarily. Only two days after the maiden service on the Stratford extension discussed above, two people were killed when a train collided with a second, thankfully empty, carriage. Any footage of the aftermath is currently missing, but the newsreel announcing the incident is here. 1953 saw another tube crash near Stratford in which 8 adults and 1 child were killed, with 49 others injured. The newsreel shows the damaged interiors of the carriages, as well as rescue workers bringing out the dead. Luckily, the fire on the unfinished Victoria Line in 1966 claimed no lives. And while the British Pathé footage ends with the Victoria Line in 1969, apart from a few silent clips from the 1970s, an episode of A Day That Shook The World documents the horrific events of the July 2005 London bombings. An interesting look at safety on the Underground is provided by a film from 1955 showing new recruits in training, which involved miniature railways and mock-ups of various safety devices.

Finally, British Pathé’s extensive collection of strike footage also includes the 1962 Tube Strike, which made people realise “how London depends on the Underground”.

And indeed it does. This 150th anniversary is one worth celebrating.

For British Pathé’s collection of clips on London Underground, click here.

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 British politics, these reviews act as a whirlwind tour of the world at the time in which they were made, chronicling everything from war to royal christenings, technological innovations to key sports matches as they go. You can view the entire “Review of the Year” collection here or choose from the list at the bottom of this page.

Now, in that tradition, we take a look at the last 12 months in a review of 2012. Here are some highlights (one for each month) of this tremendous year for which the British Pathé archive holds some relevant footage:

January

Our review of 2012 begins with something that happened many years before, for January marked an important anniversary. 90 years ago, on 3rd January 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Egyptian pharoah Tutankhamun. British Pathé has footage of Carter outside his discovery, as well as coverage of the treasures found within. Click here to explore the collection.

Howard Carter at the tomb of Tutankhamun. Click the still to view the collection.

February

It feels just like yesterday but it was in fact back in February that we all came out in celebration for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. There was a royal river pageant (a gallery of previous royal barges can be found here), a concert, a Royal Tour of the country, and street parties across the nation.

British Pathé’s celebration of the life of Elizabeth II can be found here. Beginning with the Queen as a young girl with her grandmother, it features her marriage, her coronation, the royal tours, select royal visits within Britain, and the home life of the Royal Family. The collection concludes with footage of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. Click the still to view the film.

March

In March, the economic situation in the UK looked no better. Unemployment reached its highest figure (2.67 million) since 1995, though it was still not as high as in 1984. The ups and downs of unemployment can be traced via newsreels in the British Pathé archive. Click here to explore.

10,000 workers demonstrate in Trafalgar Square – 2,500 similar demonstrations were held in other parts of country – on Unemployment Sunday in 1923. Click the still to see our archive of unemployment-related clips.

April

The Cutty Sark re-opened to visitors after a dreadful fire. But in April we also commemorated the 100th anniversary of the loss of Titanic. The British Pathé archive contains not only footage of the legendary liner herself, but also of her great sister ships Olympic and Britannic, both of which had accidents of their own. You can explore our centenary collection or read about the footage in the blog post, Titanic and the Other Two.

Click the still to visit our Titanic Centenary Collection.

May

Yet another important anniversary, this time of Amelia Earhart’s crossing of the Atlantic 80 years prior. Interestingly, an expedition was launched in 2012 in an attempt to discover her remains. We wrote a blog post about it that included links to various clips featuring that amazing personality.

Click the still to read about The Hunt for Amelia Earhart.

June

On 14th June 1982, the Falkland’s War came to an end, with Britain having reclaimed sovereignty over the islands following an Argentine invasion. June 2012, therefore, marked 30 years since the conclusion of the conflict. We wrote about it in our blog post When the Falklands Were Forgotten, and you can view relevant footage in this collection.

Click the still to view footage of the Falkland Islands and the 1982 war.

July

One cannot think of 2012 without thinking of the Olympics. British Pathé has footage of many Olympic Games, including the two other London years, 1908 and 1948. We also digitised 300 Olympics clips, making them available on the website for the very first time. You can read about them here.

Click to view 15 still images from what is now considered to be the first of the modern Olympic Games.

August

One of the highlights of 2012 was the Paralympic Games, which began at the end of August and were also held in London. The Paralympics started life in the British village of Stoke Mandeville and the Ninth Annual International Stoke Mandeville Games (1960) are now known as the first Summer Paralympics. British Pathé’s collection of material on the Stoke Mandeville Games can be viewed here.

Click this still to visit our gallery, “Paralympics: Pictorial History”.

September

Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democrats to run for re-election. He went on to win the 2012 Presidential Election and became the only Democrat to have won the popular vote twice since Franklin Roosevelt. You can see some clips from Roosevelt’s three presidential election wins here.

President Roosevelt takes the oath for his second term. Click the still to view films covering his three presidential election wins.

October

A YouTube sensation! Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier, leaping from a balloon 24 miles above the ground.

In 1960, balloonist Captain Joseph W Kittinger made the then-highest ascent and longest jump. Click the still to view the film.

November

It was the Queen and Prince Philip’s 65th (blue sapphire) Wedding Anniversary in November, as well as the 20th anniversary of the Windsor Castle fire in what was the Queen’s “annus horribilis“. You can watch footage of the fire and A Day That Shook The World episodes on the British Royal Family in Crisis and the separation of Charles and Diana, or view the the announcement of the Queen’s engagement and the coverage of her wedding.

The Wedding Day in 1947. Click the still to view the film.

December

In the final month of 2012, the world received the news that Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William were expecting their first child. We took a guess at possible baby names in this gallery. You can also vote in our poll here.

This still shows the Queen holding baby Prince Andrew. Click to visit our Royal Baby Names gallery.

Have we missed something important for which the British Pathé archive has relevant material? Leave us a comment. You can also search our Ten Most Popular Clips of 2012 and visit our tumblr and Pinterest pages which were launched this year.

We hope you enjoyed 2012 as much as we did. Here’s to 2013!

Watch a previous “Review of the Year” by selecting from the list below:

Episode	Title	Date
1	Look Back On 1922	1922
2	Section From Review Of 1923	1923
3	1925 Reviewed ( Reel 1 Of 3)	1926
4	1925 Reviewed (Reel 2 Of 3)	1926
5	1925 Reviewed (Reel 3 Of 3)	1926
6	Review Of 1934	1934
7	Review Of The Year 1935	1935
8	Review Of The Year 1936	1936
9	Review Of The Year	1938
10	Review Of The Year – 1939	1939
11	Review Of The Year 1940	1940
12	Review Of The Year 1941	1941
13	Review Of The Year – 1943	1943
14	Review Of The Year 1946	1946
15	Looking Back – On 1947	1947
16	1948 A Year Of Great Decision (Aka Review Of The Year )	1948
17	Akc Review Of 1949	1949
18	Review Of The Year 1950 Record A	1950
19	Review Of The Year 1950 Record B	1950
20	Pathe News Reviews 1951	1951
21	The Crowning Year	1953
22	Pathe News Reviews 1954 – A Year Of Endeavour	1954
23	Review Of The Year	1955
24	Pathe News Reviews 1956 – Year Of Turmoil	1956
25	Reviews 1957 (Aka Review Of The Year – 1957)	1957
26	Review Of 1958	1958
27	Review Of The Year 1959	1959
28	Review Of 1960	1960
29	Review Of 1961	1961
30	Review Of 1962	1962
31	Review Of 1963	1963
32	Review Of 1964	1964
33	A Year Of Achievements – Technicolor	1966
34	Review Of The Year	1967
35	Review Of The Sixties	1970

London: A Tribute

2012, if we do indeed survive the predicted apocalypse, will be remembered for many things, but without a doubt it will be considered London’s year. The Diamond Jubilee, the Summer Olympics and the Paralympics all centred on the great city and were enormously successful. (Click the links on those events to see related footage in the British Pathé archive, including the 1908 and 1948 London Olympics.) As a tribute to 2012 and to London, we’re sharing with you themed collections of clips from the city’s past, whether heart-warming or chilling. Explore London as a political, musical, theatrical, busy, fun, popular and tragic place. Click the links below to take a look.

The seat of power

A collection of material from big political and ceremonial events that took place in the capital. These include coronations, funerals, cabinet meetings and historic speeches.

The funeral of George VI, London (1952)

London in Wartime

Not only WW2 footage, but also from other 20th century wars – including the Boer War.

Firefighters battle flames during the Blitz, London (1941)

London tragedies

Freak events, disasters and terrorist attacks in the capital. Also includes clips about London’s amazing emergency services.

Rail crash in London (1957)

The world of London women

Here we see the changing role of women living in London over time. Footage includes the suffragettes, women’s wartime roles and advice on homemaking.

Suffragettes on the march, London (1910s)

London at work

Employment in the capital.

Heading off to work in the morning, London (1960)

London at leisure

How Londoners spent their free time.

Dancing the night away, London (1925)

Musical London

Celebrating the great acts who have played in the capital, from the Rolling Stones and the Beatles to the choir of Westminster Cathedral.

The Dave Clark Five play some of their hits, London (1964)

Theatrical London

London’s theatres, television studios and film premieres.

Bertram Mills’ circus thrills crowds, London (1962)

Fashionable London

Get vintage fashion tips from Londoners of the past.

Models show off some fabulous nylon swimming caps, London (1963)

Visitors to London

A collection of clips showing famous guests and state visits as well as immigration. Includes THIS IS LONDON, a piece made to advertise London as a tourist destination.

Marilyn Monroe arrives at the airport, London (1956)

www.britishpathe.com

British Pathé Picks: Early Dec 2012

Earlier in November we blogged about four upcoming anniversaries which may have been of interest (see here). From now on, we’ll be doing this on a regular basis, pointing out events coming up in the calendar that we have some relevant footage for. So here’s our picks for the next two weeks…

England Win Cricket Test v Australia  (2 December)

80^th Anniversary: In 1932 England went to Australia to compete in cricket Test matches which would be known as the “Bodyline Tour”. 2^nd December marks the opening day of the first Test, which England won.  Watch the match here.

It has also been announced that a statue of Basil D’Oliveira will be erected at Worcestershire County Cricket Club. See some footage of D’Oliveira in the archive.

Bombing of Naples  (4 December)

70^th Anniversary: Days after Winston Churchill announced that Italy would continue to be bombed until they surrendered, the United States Air Force launched its first air raid on Naples. British Pathé has footage of USAF attacks on Naples, released in cinemas in January of 1943, as well as footage of the RAF missions. See the collection here.

The Great London Smog  (5 December)

60^th Anniversary: The Great London Smog of 1952. British Pathé holds some excellent footage from back when London was plagued with smog throughout the 1950s. Click here to see the clips.

Irish Free State  (6 December)

90^th Anniversary: The Irish Free State was established under the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Click here to see British Pathé’s footage of the Irish Free State in 1922.

Visit www.britishpathe.com for more films.

The Opium It-Girl: Who Was Madame D’Herlys?

"La Belle D'Herlys with Tod Sloan" Anyone smell a false name?

This very intriguing 1915 clip depicts a glamourous lady La Belle D’Herlys and a smartly dressed gentleman Tod Sloan sharing a cigarette and a gossip. Labelled as ‘undesirable aliens’, whoever wrote the original canister notes beside this clip was evidently excited and listed words such as “mysterious”, “underworld”, “opium den habitué” and “ schemer Playboy outlaw”!

We did a little research via the University of Google to decipher who exactly this distinguished and fashionably dressed pair were. We found these two articles:

Article One

Article Two

Very interesting. So they were deported to France and America for unspecified reasons, although gambling is given as a casual speculation. It’s amazing how embittered and enraged the writer of the first article seems to be. Whatever this pair’s crimes, they’ve been immortalised by the British Pathé film archive, and so for all her sins the wonderful Madame D’Herlys (probably a dockyard worker’s daughter from Blackpool) will forever sit gracefully bitching and puffing away in her designer attire. Fabulous. Nothing beats a British Pathé It-Girl.

‘Undesirable Aliens Deported’ – WATCH NOW!

Charles Dickens and British Pathé

Dickensian ghosts haunt J.K.Rowling's London home

From National Mourning to 60s Tourism: Great Charles Dickens Footage in the British Pathé Archive

The Pathé brothers started filming forty years after Dickens’ death, yet the great author’s legacy is dotted throughout the British Pathé film archive. From Dickensian themed parties to arguments over the sale of Bleak House, here’s what archivists have found so far:

Next Wednesday (June 9^th) will be the anniversary of Charles Dickens’ death in 1870, indeed his magnus opus Great Expectations is 150 years old this year. To some this might seem relatively recent considering just how archaic and dust-smothered some of his immortal characters like Miss Havisham and Ebenezer Scrooge look when they pop up on our screens at Christmas. But long before Dickens’ characters were televised, they were acted out as part of regular celebrations hosted by fans worldwide. Perhaps only J.K.Rowling has exceeded the level of sensation and stardom that Dickens secured in the hearts of working Britain, and in turn, America and the world.

Charles Dickens is one of the most celebrated British authors of all time and yet the fame his name bears today is miniscule compared to the popularity he enjoyed as an author during his lifetime.

Take a look at some of these brilliant clips in the British Pathe film archive related to the life and legacy of Charles Dickens:

(1918) The 106th Anniversary of Charles Dickens birth birth

(1920) Mr Edwin. Drew, the last survivor of the Dickens Society, places a large wreath on Charles Dickens’ tomb.

(1930) A dramatic open-air re-enactment of the Pickwick Papers by fans! Dickens Fellowship conference members re-enact a scene from the Pickwick Papers.

(1938 – sound footage) Actors dressed in Victorian costume pose in the historic places of Dickens novels. They represent the author and some of his characters including Pickwick, Mrs Bardell, Mrs Raddle, Mrs Cluppins, Sam Weller, Nancy, Oliver Twist, Bill Sykes, Fagin and Ruth Pinch.

(1949) Charles Dickens’ house comes under the hammer but is withdrawn at £14,000 by the then owner Mr Albert Batchelor and his niece, Miss Anne Carmody whom he promises to leave the property to if it fails to find a fitting owner.

More scenes from the 1949 auction of Bleak House

(1960s) A crazy Dickens themed restaurant in Paddington! A must-watch clip for any Dickens fan. We wonder if it’s still there today, we assume not.

Further shots of Dickens pilgrims between 1914-1918

And finally, this splendid little video of a Charles Dickens festival with couples dancing the afternoon away under the theme of their favourite author.

This blog post by British Pathé has been promoted on the Malton and Norton website, take a look here.

Channel 4 Blitz British Pathé

Looting the wreckages of shattered London homes

The archive footage in Tony Robinson’s latest high-profile history series Blitz Street was taken from the British Pathé archive. The series didn’t receive glowing reviews, with many TV critics doubtful as to whether the program’s makers even achieved their goal. Tony Robinson himself was criticised for being too gleeful about a sensitive subject that still haunts many Britons today. Still, the archive clips of the Blitz are a brilliant slice of history and offer priceless insight into this terrifying war at home. Watch all of the Blitz videos here in the British Pathé archive.

Reviews:

Read Stewart Turner’s review on the Orange TV blog here

Read Brian Viner’s review in the Independent here

Read Nancy Banks-Smith’s review on Guardian.co.uk here