Americans React to British Public Information Films - So Intense! 

I do charlie and his cat loved it x

@@tanyarobinson2954I think Charlie was the cat, because he meowed and the boy translated 😉 I’m feeling old now lol

The Prodigy 😊

I loved Charlie says. Whilst watching this I said out loud to myself Charlie Says, we need to see a couple of those😂

oh yea i do and what about Joe and Petunia call the coastguard the old ones are the best😁

“If you hit me at 40…” I remember that too, I can even hear her voice, that’s one that stuck with me too!

Yes agree hautung advert. Like the one for the kids at the picnic then the car flys over the hedge and rolls over them

I remember that as well. I also remember the uproar about it being too graphic.

That ad was awesome.

​​​@@benpearce7383yeah. The DOE *love* their crashes. _:And I just can't get over you. It doesn't matter what you do:_

I think the voice of Donald Pleasence in that PIF is the reason why the sight of reservoirs, canals and other man-made water containment gives me the willies even now as a man in his mid 50s . I'm fine with natural lakes, the sea, natural rivers etc. But any constructed waterway or water containment puts the fear of dread in me for some reason. 😱

I know that was a terrifying advert for kids. The black hooded figure was scary enough for kids alone I think.

So brilliant though and it worked! Never went near dark water 😂 Children loved being scared back then, a few chills and frights - spooky fun! Now they're terrified of being terrified 🤨

Just read your post and goose pimples appeared. That’s still powerful after all these years.

I cried laughing at this comment. Hilarious and so true 😂😂

Your comment about “even in city centres” brought back very recent memories of the poor army horses that were spooked in Central London only a few days ago and galloped through London streets. I understand 2 were seriously injured.

Yes, horses are especially common in rural areas, but can be seen in cities as well (Central London being a good example where the police still use horses).

Possibly a more common sight now.

@@johnnyuk3365 but they're super useful on the battllefield :/

​@@apemanhill no, the army horses were spooked by falling rubble thrown by builders. It happened the day AFTER St George's Day, so had nothing with the crowds that day. The horses were parading as they do every morning on Horseguards.

I remember that one. Gave me chills at the time. Seeing it again was weird and slightly unsettling.

I remember the one with the electric flash and smoke with the kid flying through the air. We all thought it was well funny. Thing is, this was almost an advert to go to a place you never thought of and have a laugh.⚡💥💀

Yeah! They showed these to us in primary school! The one with brothers and their football (like the Frisbee one) has haunted me since year 5!!

The one that stuck with me was the 'It's 30 for a reason' ad, with the little girl. ("If you hit me at 40mph there's an 80% chance...")

@@lindagovan7195ooo that one was good

Remember the psa where the ones in the back seats didn't have their seatbelts on, then when the brakes slammed on it crushed the front passenger or driver then it said "you dont want to kill your mother by not wearing a seatbelt" then the person next to them was screaming their head off? That made me make sure any passengers i carried behind me had their bloody seatbelts on! 😮

@@roseanncampbell3168 Yeah, it started off with them climbing in the car and a voiceover saying, "Jane knew the name of her killer." and ended with pizza hitting the windshield while the daughter screamed. Can't remember the actual name used but I can still see that ad in my head more than a decade later.

The Irish and Aussie ones are brutal and on point too. The Aussie ones had a slogan if you drink and drive you're a bloody idiot.

The COI (central office of information) closed on the 30th December 2011. The adverts were called PIFs (Public Information Films) and were made by the COI for 65 years.

Another public service that got effectively privatised.

@@nigelanscombe8658safety’s not a priority if it doesn’t make money 🤦🏻‍♂️

@@Sharpey187 which is where the fines come in …

@@nigelanscombe8658 exactly.. it’s not about educating, just fund raising. Its why you never see a mobile speed camera outside a school, but you’ll see it at the bottom of a steep hill

It is but i do think it should be reworded to Think once think twice BIKER THINK

Its just.. ‘Think BIKE!’ Now, usually get yellow signs on country roads with it on, start going up on sign posts/lampposts more when spring time hits

Pleased to know that...because that really is short but very effective...whoever thought of that particular slogan 👍

Is it not ‘think bike, think biker’ now?

@@Maggie_1957 I was nearly killed on a motorbike as so idiot who was dropping someone off found out they person wanted to be dropped off a little further down the road and didn't look and pulled out right in front of the motorbike. Only for the fact I grabbed on to my boyfriend at the time I didn't fly off and land on the car. You get bad drivers and riders but the person on the motorbike isn't protected by steel walls.

A familiar voice of children's TV back then he was the narrator of Roobarb and Custard. He was also famous for sitcoms like The Good Life.

I know I kept thinking Rhubard and Custard

Yes I've been driving for 45 years and I've always driven very slowly past horseriders. Also I've never seen another driver go fast past a horserider

But they give cyclists grief and place themin danger

Yes, I usually pass several horses on most days living in a rural area, I drive at a crawl speed until I'm well passed them.

@@Mike-po2gx because most cyclists seem to enjoy being c*nts the amount of cyclists i've seen in the past 5 years who are riding in the centre of a country lane or riding side by side is absured (both of which i believe are still illegal) so if cyclists are happy to break the rules then i have no issue doing it they are the ones putting them selves in danger by doing stupid stuff like that

I've ridden a horse a handful of times. Last time was about 20 years ago (yikes lol) at at a hen do in the Lakes. We were on a lane and naturally I'd ended up on the biggest horse as apparently I seemed the most competent/natural (lol) and I was at the front behind the instructor person. Anyway, a motorbike went past. It was nice and slow until it got about 5m in front of the horses when the rider put his foot down and revved the engine before flying off. My horse got spooked and took off with me half out of the saddle clinging on and trying to persuade the horse to stop. Thankfully it did after about 20m or so but I have no idea how I didn't fall off - I was very lucky. It's made me even more cautious as a driver when it comes to passing horses.

I was once told that you pass a horse far enough away that it can’t reach to kick your car and slow enough that it doesn’t want to kick your car.

There was an advert that finished with the girl proudly saying " when I grow up mummy says I'm going to be a proper little madam!" I can't remember the product but it made me laugh.

@@bobanob1967 Clarks' shoes, apparently

@@frankhooper7871 you are right.. It was Clark's shoes..

No it was maggot

No. It was definitely madam​@@DreadEnder

My husband does this. He used to give the wrapper to his mum. But he now gives it to me.

I taught my son to put wrappers in his pocket and not to drop them, this has stuck with him all his life, pity the part I taught him to empty his pocket rubbish in the bin when he came home never stuck and I have to check before washing! lol

​@@pernellgirly8064 one time i was eating a pack of crisps walking through town with my Mum. She looked at me about 5 mins later realising i wasnt eating crisps anymore. Amd asked me where the empty packet was. She made me walk all the way back and pick it up off the floor 😂 Didnt drop rubbish ever again

😂

Another famous one from that time in the longer format was one called "Robbie". Produced by British Transport Films

Aye and the kite, the train tracks. The fireworks ones, the girl with the sparkler. All hard hitting PIFs like the electrical substation one. No wonder I have anxiety, I was convinced every time I stepped out the door I was in mortal danger. 😆

My wife still hates it when I say I'll be back back back!!

Apache..on the farm...Still harrowing!

@@Cleow33 The boy falling into the slurry tank was banned for being too horrific. Can't think why 😯

Was they also one with a cat

I remember him coming to our school in his Green Cross Code outfit!

And the Green Cross Droid. What is it with Darth Vader and droids.

​@@alanrickett2537Yeh, I think that was 'Charlie says'.... Good times!😉😆

The green cross code adds were also done by Jon Pertwee (Dr Who), Alvin Stardust (singer), Les Gray (from the band Mud).

Growing up in Belfast I was always told "come straight home when you hear gun shots" (not even kidding) 😂

Sounds right to me. Didn't go home until we couldn't see the football, cricket ball, tennis ball etc. Tho only exceptions were on a Thursday nights, to watch Top Of The Pops, and Saturday nights to watch Only Fools And Horses. Ironic really. Considering we all wanted to be in the Top Of The Pops live studio when Jimmy Saville was the main presenter..... We'd have been safer playing on the local railway lines or staying out all night. Less chance of getting hurt or molested.

​@@ltbot78So pretty much like Chicago on a holiday weekend then, except there it's "when you hear gunshots, come home and get YOUR gun, then go back out again". Ahhhh the deep blue of Chicago. Strictest gun laws in the U.S., highest rates of gun crimes. Seems a little strange how criminals don't follow the laws doesn't it (rhetorical) 🤔🤔🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Your correct. But you can still report leaks to the same number, regardless of the supplier. They're serviced by the same contractors I think. At least I'm pretty sure they are in England. My mates a gas service engineer and they contract to all the suppliers. He gets paid an absolute fortune. No college, no university, straight in as an apprentice (even on amazing money back then as an apprentice). Now he's loaded. So teens (especially in the U.S). Don't fall for the university spiel and predatory loans. You'll be a slave to your Government for the rest of your lives. Especially with useless degrees in irrelevant and unnecessary subjects. STEM is a bit different of course. But here in England and Wales it's a little different. You get a student loan, and only pay it off at a percentage of you're earnings above around £32k ($40kish). I know, my son's in a STEM field at university. We checked out all the options. I still wanted him to become an apprentice. I was, in engineering. Paid to learn and now retired at 55. Zero debt, zero credit cards, zero overdrafts, no arrears on any bills. Now I get to spoil my granddaughter and help my son out with his university bills a little.

There's still a national gas emergency number to call if you smell gas rather than your supplier. (I don't know if phonebooks are still a thing but if they are I expect it would be prominent in the gas section.)

When I finally got the keys to my house, got in and smelt gas immediately phoned the national phone line, waited 3 hoursfor the emergency gas engineers to come out, fixed my problem, all sorted and no cost to me. Can’t complain awesome service.

@@enkiofsumer8374 isnt it above 27k? and now dropping to like 25 or something

@@enkiofsumer8374Well things must have changed a lot since the British Gas days as you used to get less than an 18 year old did from unemployment as a wage back then. In my second year I could spend most of my wages on petrol just keeping my rover sd1 topped up and driving around for one night with friends. Iirc my first year wages were around £40 per week in the mid 80s and even if you were good enough to take advantage of the extra free college education you’d still end up making less money than an untrained offshore oil worker. You also did block release to college away from home for a week at a time and the same for their training centre. 30 weeks away from home in the first year iirc and all for £40 per week. Hardly enough to pay for your lunch, bus fares and taxis to and from the train station and leave you any spending money. You got digs paid for you along with breakfast and an evening meal. No choices of course so if it was something you didn’t like you were out of luck and the best you could hope for was to swap items with someone else that liked different vegetables or the main.

These definitely had an effect on those of us who are kids around that time. It wasn’t featured in this one but the chip pan and fire one is the reason why I won’t get a chip pan despite the fact of my kids nagging me for one 😂 absolutely no way they terrify me 😂

It's still in my head when I'm driving - what, forty, fifty years later?

"think twice, think Bike" is still a slogan now!

Oh wow. I was actually in the Tufty Club lol.

Tufty the squirrel was brilliant I had a board game of the tufty club as a child.

@@enkiofsumer8374 Me too, only got close to being hit by a car once. They were reversing across the pavement I was on. That was only last month.

"Charlie says" me too was the sound mostly, still hate the thought.

The initial Green Cross Code adverts predated the Star Wars franchise and starred the actor who was originally in the Darth Vader costume, Mr. Dave Prowse.

But you can walk away they have no powers

@@chucky2316 not strictly true, these are byelaws they can and have been enforced. If you fail to pay a civil fine this can amount to criminal offence. They may not have special power of arrest but that is not the same as saying they have no powers.

It's a criminal offence to fail to provide your name and address when required or to provide a false name and address

little madam shes talking about clearing up after her daughter. To this day my mum hates if a waiter calls her madam because up North it was assiciated with a naughty girl like in this

Never seen one in my town in 60 odd years.

I'm English. Ours were bad enough, but my Lord. The Irish ones really show it how it is, and never hold back.

Ooooh, ive never seen any NI ads .... off to look now. Thanks for the info 😅

They are hard hitting! Lived in N/Ireland since the 80s . One of the most prolific one that comes to mind played the song Cats in the Cradle .

​@@enkiofsumer8374 the ads are made by NI but they are shared across the island due to just how bad drivers are and how in the Republic of Ireland, learners drive unaccompanied. Also because the Irish government refuse to help NI prosecute ROI drivers who speed etc. They know they can get away with speeding because the car isn't registered in NI.

@@manamanadododododo wow, that's strange. Always happy to learn something new. Even at my ripe old age. Thank you.

Yes & they had Jimmy Savile warning everybody to buckle up

The 10p coins 🪙 were larger back then than they are now.

@@daveborder7751 Clunk, Click, every trip

​@@daveborder7751 Clunk Click every trip. Pity nobody fixed his seat belt round his neck😉

​@@daveborder7751But back then NONE of the general public knew about Saville's dark side! He was one of the most popular DJs and "Jim'll Fix It" one of the most popular TV Shows as far as most people were concerned.

I remember the fridge one. I seem remember that the BBC used to show PIFs, although I may be remembering wrongly, and I assume that they did not count towards ITV's strict quota (in the 1970's) of seconds of commercials allowed per hour, so would make cheap and useful fillers for them.

Oh jeez. I just remembered that. I'm 55. I was absolutely terrified of escalators. And I do mean literally. I once remember my mum having to get a male stranger to pick me up to carry me on one, because I'd gotten too heavy for my mum to pick me up. Plus she was carrying all the shopping. She had no option. I was screaming the place down, and no other way to go (things weren't very often easy ♿ access etc. back in the 70's)

I remember the boy with the kite and the pylon, it was one of the danger films I think. Danger with electricity. Danger on the farm was the scariest one for me though.

@@Hayley-Bell The doll on the escalator one did me. I was terrified of escalators after that. Seriously phobic. Took me years to go on them alone. Seems silly at 55+, but it was a real phobia for me.

i Actually saw i the 70's a kid have his arm ripped off in an escalator

I literally believed that myself.... For years. I think we all did lol.

Our mothers must have had the same tea towel. :)

The “fine” (Fixed Penalty Notice - FPN) is actually to avoid being prosecuted for littering. The actual offence is “depositing litter AND leaving”. It should be possible to accidentally drop litter and pick it up without receiving an FPN. However, the companies that employee the litter wardens receive a percentage of every fine given out so there have been a lot of stories of people being issued FPN’s after being convinced they have broken the law even if they actually haven’t. The wardens have attempted to give people fines for dropping cigarette butts and the person says “But it’s here in my hand” after stubbing it out, or even weren’t smoking in the first place. That’s a somewhat dodgy practice.

"Have a drink, have a drive, go out and have a good...."

Well, they need to start enforcing it, the streets are a bloody mess!

I hope you stayed away from farms..

I used to say it twice when I was riding a motorcycle, rather than once, because as a vulnerable road user, my safety was my responsibility. I still think about it now, even as a passenger, and am in the habit of checking following distance even though I can't effect change as a passenger, except by remarking "we're closer than two seconds".

@@KidarWolf I seem to remember an extra bit being added later, "...and in a downpour make it four"

You still hear it in your head today, because they still use the same campaign now. Obviously the specific adverts have changed.

They are not the same as PIFs, they stopped making PIFs (Public Information Films) on the 30th December 2011 after the COI (Central Office of Information) who made them closed.

omg, I remember that one, it was very chilling.

Yeah, maybe it's because I don't watch much TV anymore, but that's the only one I can think of for recently.

I remember that one, there was an advert warning us about cesspits next to the manure heaps on farms. That was from the 1970s

@@carolharris8167 there were so many, and the Play It Safe books we got in school just to traumatise us further 😂 At least I have Apaches to thank for my paraquat abstinence 🤷🏼‍♀️

Like the helicopter?

I only fully understood the reason for not sticking your head out of train windows, after watching the episode of the young ones when Vivian got his his head knocked off by a train and he was kicking it down the track trying to pick it up.

Yes, the unused football boots hanging on his bedroom door, also stuck with me. I also remember a kite/ pylon one too.

@TheJaxxT ... They were called PIFs (Public Information Films). Most popular in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. But they were also made in the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s, they finally stopped making them on 30th December 2011.

Being a bit older I saw The Finishing Line which was a more dramatic rail safety film. It was pulled and replaced by the one you probably saw. There's a wikipedia page with the full story: "The Finishing Line is a short film produced in 1977 by British Transport Films, warning about the dangers children face on railway lines. Although it is not strictly a public information film, it is often considered to be so by fans of the genre. It was broadcast in its entirety several times on television, but was so controversial that it was replaced less than two years later by the slightly less graphic Robbie."

I was born in 81 aswell we all played on the railrracks because of the buildings and gun emplacements, alot of kids played on railway tracks back in the 80s and early 90s things changed after the bulger murder I guess. I remember finding a shed full of detonators lol 😂. You could hear the trains comming before you saw them through the rail tracks so you just laid low away from the tracks until the train had gone 😂.I even had a mate who's dad and mum would say go and play on the railway track I'm 40 something now and think what little mad heads we were 😂😂

Well said

"If you see Sid, tell him". I think was the ad to buy shares in Britain Gas when it went private, wasn't it?

Only made throwing our Frisbee in the park more exciting for us-you never knew if there would be some magical electrical charge in it when you caught it.

@@daveborder7751 🤣

Yep. Some people really know how the brain works, it's mostly subliminal, which you've actually just proven to me, because you've just made me 'think' about the Freddy Kruger jumper. Good catch, I'm usually up on all the subliminal stuff, like product placement in soaps, and especially now I watch toddler's TV with my granddaughter.... The amount of rainbows and hidden messaging on the things they put out to kids now is a little, if not, highly disturbing to me. I see where it's heading. Think Cocomelon, Bebefinn and similar shows. They should be investigated. They're so highly suggestive it's like being hypnotised. I know first hand. I've literally found myself still watching them, in a daze, way after my daughter or son in law has picked my granddaughter up and taken her home. Weird.

@@enkiofsumer8374 The Rainbow isn't dangerous, it was meant to be a spectrum. The stark Red and Green confuses. My brother in law is colour blind, so he can't see red and green like the sweater, it unnerves him most because they're so starkly different, a bit like a Wasp or Hornet.

@@adrianboardman162 ahhh, got it. Always good to learn something new, even at my age. I'm surprised I didn't know this though, because my son was refused to serve in the forces, when he was found out to be colourblind at his initial medical assessment. Weird that. Probably not as severe as your in-law's. It certainly wasn't picked up at the red/green/blue routine colour blindness checks that were standard procedure in our schools. They may still be. I'm not sure. Cheers for the information. That's really interesting.

@@enkiofsumer8374 Honestly, the psychology behind Wes Cravens writing is fascinating. Freddy had the horizontal lines like a wasp, but also the colours that most confuse us. A LOT of subtle things about his costume.

@@adrianboardman162 yes. Wes Craven was quite subtle with things like that. A bit similar to Stanley Kubrick with his iconography, and Michael Mann with his eerie gelling of colours and haunting background music. The Shining (obviously) springs to mind (Kubrick) and Manhunter by Michael Mann and the Spinotti's. Probably the best film of Thomas Harris's 'Red Dragon'. Well worth a watch if you've never seen it. The film 'Red Dragon' starring Ed Norton took the film 'Manhunter' and copied it almost word for word. I believe one of the Spinotti's was involved in 'Red Dragon' too, or Dante Spinotti's daughter or someone. May even have been the other Italian that was involved, who's name escapes me. That's got me thinking now. I'll not settle until I check. As soon as I press 'send' I'll remember. I'm sure you know what I mean 😂.... Got it. It was Dino and Marta DiLaurentiis.... Phew.

Yes, but now if you smell gas call Cadent and they will sort it

Apaches is 15 min and The Finishing Line is 25 min so would be a bit difficult to slip them into a compilation! I’ve sent them a link that has clips of them though.

Really? ITV used to show them every day before, during & after the cartoons/kids shows & I remember laughing my head off at them when I was 4/5 years old-this would have been 1980-1982.

Apache. The poison part for me was the worst.

Oh god yeah. I remember that!!

That was 'Apaches' - the kid drowning in a slurry pit was the one that stuck with me as we lived right by a cattle farm and I respected slurry pits after seeing that.

@@chrisperyagh oh my god yes. The slurry pit. Terrifying.

And not just on your test, as most drivers seen to forget.

@@Thenogomogo-zo3un Particularly with my car. The A-pillars and mirrors block a lot of vision.

@@dcarbs2979 Well you are aware. I was referring to the people who forget the highway code as soon as they pass. They also wouldn't know the difference between an' A' pillar and their 'A' hole

Yeah that was our favorite!

I lived near a major 5 way railway line. 2 freight, 3 passenger. We used to go on to the tracks and put 2p pieces on them when a train was coming. So that it would flatten them. God only knows how we survived the 70's and 80's. The railway lines weren't even fenced off. Now there's metal railings, full metal sheets about 10ft tall beyond that, and all topped off with spiked rods or barbed (razor) wire. And we had a railway repair yard next to it as well. I remember getting hold of the warning detonators too. Weird why I'd do all that. Especially considering my Great Uncle worked at those railway repair and engineering shops and got both legs took off when he got run over by a train on those very tracks that we used to play on.

​@@enkiofsumer8374looking back it seems madness now but we weren't so much interested in the railway lines more the abandoned buildings. And gun emplacements along the railway lines even like a signal man's cottage intact but complete we were pretty safe as you could feel the vibration and hear the train through the rail tracks long before the trains appeared dive into the hedge and hide 😂😂 brings back loads of memory's

@@chucky2316 yep. We'd put our ears to the track to find out if there was a train coming. Sounds daft, but it worked lol

We got ourselves a number of the detonators and decided to chuck a brick at one next to some shops. Bloody hell, what an explosion! The brick went about 20ft in the air and everyone stopped to look. We legged it.

@@marcdorman2592 hahhahhahaa the memories

*scalded

is that the one where the kid went through the windscreen?

It must have been aired for years because I remember it from the 80s.

Riding on the roads now is terrifying. Especially with the speed and size of the vehicles. Most people avoid it or give up their horses.

Ew boo hiss to the person in the advert but yes. Quick, bring in the Doctor with SPLINK!

Every passenger in JS car

Or me I just learnt to swim naturally comming from the english riveria the beach and sea were are playground

I remember the Rolf Harris ones but not this

We had to learn how to swim, 2 hour lessons were all part of the PE training once a week in secondary school.

Another gas one husband and wife.comes homes smells gas husband opens window wife about to switch light on but husband shouts Nooooooo!!! As any flicker could ignite the gas

@@scottwebb1978 Oh crikey, yes. Thanks for reminding me of this one.

I remember they always had about a half a dozen of these scenarios shown to kids in schools just before the half term holidays, but mostly just before the summer holidays. Things like playing near ponds, canals, train tracks, old mine shafts, level crossings, building sites (as you mentioned) and many more. One that got me the most was the freight train bottom opening dump carriages that would open and close, and could easily chop you in half. I always remembered that one because I lived a few hundred yards from a railway sidings at a coking plant. (Gone now, the most toxic ground site in the EU. The villages near to it also had the highest percentage of kids born with asthma in the UK. And I even worked there for a couple of years. Definitely reduced my life expectancy).

Yeah they missed the worst ( best) ones

PIFs (Public Information Films) were made by the COI (Central Office of Information) for 65 years. Finally ending on 30th December 2011.

"In some countries, they'll give you life. In others, they'll take your life."?

@@timg5011 no,look up hard hitting uk adverts,then you will get my point in what I was saying