Life & Times. In the first episode Dan Cruickshank tells how the films of Sagar Michell and James Kenyon were discovered and look at what they tell us about the lives of ordinary people in Edwardian England.
How fascinating. My grandmother was born in 1899 and my great grandmother in 1879... This could have been a peek into their lives. I'm 74 and remember them well.
@@nickcook7408 he's 74 years old, he could have made a typo, (happens all the time), he could be meaning one thing and typing another. He has nothing to gain if he's telling a lie - except maybe ridicule. Throw him a bone and enjoy the movies.
Hats. Every man in every film from before 1955 -1960 is wearing a hat. It's the same in England or America. There's different kinds of hats, some of them denoting economic status, but nonetheless no man would show his bare head to the heavens. It'd be like forgetting your pants these days. No matter what the occasion and no matter what the season, a hat was always there.
Well spotted. Harry Champion wrote a song "Ginger - you're barmy" about a man thought to be mad because he didn't wear a hat. My forebears were milliners so were much in favour of sustaining the rule!
This is True..I'm 70, remember people saying Kennedy was weird, or arrogant ,because he never wore a hat......A lot of people did not not really like JFK, especially in the South......@@ryankenyon5010
They tell us a lot about OUR lives, as we have evolved from these people.. Look at the kind of mindsets, and see how they have been passed down to us through association..
WONDERFUL!! Although it breaks my heart though, Not ONE person in them would still be alive today. Any form of recording device is amazing to think about now a days. So back in 1901 that would have been just magical
Absolutely priceless find. Much of this film nearly didn't survive. the builders almost threw them on the junk pile. And even when the film was made it probably had commercial value for the person commissioning the film. After the film served it's purpose its commercial value would have dropped even further. It's nothing short of a miracle that it has survived. Another observation. The moving pictures we are seeing have the serrated artifact as a consequence of the telecine process. The film is projected onto a small screen of a semitransparent nature. A modern camera is located on the opposite to the projector and records the moving images on the screen. As a consequence of the scanning method of the modern camera, anything that moves quickly across the screen gets the jagged serrated artefact on the edges. I know this because I have had 8mm film from the 1950's telecined onto VHS and digitally to MiniDV, and they both have these jaggys. If this film is so valuable to the history of England then why is it not digitised frame by frame? It is a lengthier process and more expensive but will remove the jaggies and hence be a more accurate representation of the events in the film. Film finds like this are priceless. They cannot be replaced by anything. They are irreplaceable.
I have all the BBC DVD's of this series, and from the beguinning it states that the BFI use state of the art to repair , clean, and correct the speed, via computer's. Futunately, these films were originals, not copies, so were the best available.
Thanks for taking the time to get this up here. The research identifying the descendants and interviewing them really helped flesh it out. One insight I can add from having shot just a couple of rolls through an old '20s or '30s vintage 16mm Keystone 'Model D' crank-operated camera is how passersby react to being filmed by one. Point most any "regular" camera, whether still or motion, at many people and they often show annoyance. Film them with a crank one, and even now they're often beguiled and curious, as displayed in many of those scenes. There's just something about its "kinematic" display of the process from the subjects' point of view that makes it alluring.
Little did the cameramen of this bygone era be recording daily life for countless people to view in movie theaters, television and the internet. How many of the young boys meet their end in the battlefields of World War I? The world has certainly changed over the past 130 years.
The collection was originally brought by the two workmen who discovered the barrels to a local filmmaker Nigel Gregory, who then alerted Peter Worden. He never received due credit for his quick thinking. No mention of him in this documentary
Quite a few would have lost their lives, many would have come back maimed or damaged for life. I had a friend from Burnley whose father came back but having lost both legs, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The Pals Regiments showed what a homogenous country Britain was at that time.
A fascinating look at a long ago time in history. As a young man, I worked for a textile machinery company in Macclesfield during the 1960/70's. Strangely, from my memories of that time, a lot hadn't changed much since the early 20th century. Of course I suspect things are far different now in this region of long gone cotton mills and factories.
The Edwardian age was a golden age for many. People have time and money for leisure. It is noticeable how well turned out people look. They also look pretty healthy- healthier than the modern population. Not many people smoking and no obesity.
No they werent healthier ,chock full of diseases and smoking was more prevalent than today hence the UK life expectancy of 47yrs for men and 50 for women compared to 80 -83 . 25% of children died before the age of 5 so you can keep that era don't think you'll enjoy it as much as you think .
I have great grandmothers named Mary Moran from Chorley,Lancashire and Ann Kenyon also from Chorley,Lancashire.I’m Australian but my mother’s family came from Lancashire and I’m guessing I’m related to the people in this film.
The section of the film taken on the top deck of a tram at 18.15 / 58.54 is Halifax, West Yorkshire. The tram is travelling down Lee Bank overlooking the Crossley's Carpet site towards the town centre. Much of this hillside scene still exists, but sadly missing the trams and Northern Railway line to Queensbury. Most of the mill chimneys have now gone. Halifax was mainly known as a Woollen Mill town, cotton being the preserve of the Lancashire Mills. My own Grandfathers were born in this area in the middle 1890's.
To think every single person in these pictures are now dead - makes you think - and also old aunts or neighbours you used to speak to when you were a child - to think a few of them were born in the 1870s
Thank you for uploading this. The link my university provided unfortunately led to an upload that had been deleted, so a helpful classmate found and linked this upload for us instead. :) (And the same thing applies to part 3)
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment?
I remember this when it was first broadcast. I so much prefer the old grainy b&w we see rather than the restored colourised stuff with unnecessary added sound you see on here quite often.
I laugh, this is true, I once asked my Gran did people walk that fast. And she replied of course it was known as the fast walking days. Since learnt I wasn't the first naive child that was told that.
When you watch this with your mind and eyes wide open and witness the truth is very harrowing indeed. The manipulation of society at the hands of the controllers 😔😪😒
@@andrewnelson3681 It wasn't multi racial anywhere. The so-called history spouted today, telling the gullible what a large number of black people were living in the country, and the wonderful contribution they made to society, is all egregious lies.
@@andrewnelson3681where I was brought up it was. Dockland south London. My best friend was from Guyana. My cousin Indian. Grandfathers family Jewish. Ex wife half Russian. Friends of the family Polish ex RAF. Grand mother Welsh. Other Grand mothers mother Irish. Wonderful to see film of my grandfathers times. Belgian refugees from WWl, Canadians, Indians. My ancestors served in the peninsula campaign. Where only 56% of Wellingtons army where there first language was English. Amazing. Happy days.Greetings from Yorkshire. Have a nice day.
I think Dan Cruickshank has the most please voice for documentaries, every program is made more interesting because of his voice. We are so lucky to have these glimpses into to OUR past, let us hope that the blm woke tosspots never get their way in defiling our history.
@@ghost-ez2zn Seems some trolards fail to see the real relevance of these archives or how relevant the need is to preserve them for what they represent, shame they feel entitled to dribble their lack of wisdom on others thoughts on the relevance of our recorded history, don't folk like you spend all your time out vandalising statues of your betters.
Yes. The BBC wouldn't consider showing these films now, because they show the population as it actually was, not as they would like people to believe it was. Everyone depicted, without exception, is white. Hear that - WHITE!
I believe the difference between people now and then is everyone had great optimism for the future, everything was getting better. Now we seem to be looking at the decline of our culture unfortunately.
I don't know why you think 'everyone had great optimism for the future' in 1900. You were very lucky to live to 60 and there was no retirement pension. If you couldn't work, didn't have relatives to look after you in old age the only alternative was being condemned to live in the workhouse. Life is lightyears better in 2022 than 1900 (and life expectancy is some 30+ years more.)
Yes - and there must be so many old photographs out there somewhere - some even with names on that people would like to see if they are related - i would love to see photographs of my ancestors - but where did the photographs go - who got them - does someone somewhere still have the lying in an old box they got when their Grandma died
The refrain "On Ilkley-moor bar t'at" I still can hear my forebears (well there were only two of them, lol) singing, was as far as I can tell a nonsensical silly song that people sang - at the football (soccer) - or when so moved to idle away the minutes spent waiting for no apparent reason. It made for comic relief and people bonded over such moments. It was indeed a different time - where notions of time could be personal and whimsical and where people often resisted the new obsession with 'punctuality' and 'time and motion studies' that sought to regulate the natural idiosyncratic foibles of individualism to deliver on 'production' forecasts and contractual deadlines. Some started way earlier than others and perhaps if we studied closely we might imagine we can spot who were already 'racing the clock' and who still lived in the innocent bliss of serendipitous mayhem 🤣😇🤔 Oh! Ilkleymoor a no doubt windswept natural and vegetated hillside & bar t'at meant without hat - what a silly Billy! I'm in Australia now, and at 65 and quickly balding like my 'dar' (father) before me I am just as quickly learning that more than 30% of heat is lost thru the head so this winter I'll be donning not a cap or a hat but a covering nonetheless- the humble beanie! Aaah time! the recorder of memories 🥰😊
My Grandmother, who was born in 1910, used to sing "On Ilkley-moor bar t'at", I never knew what it meant and you're the only other person I've ever heard repeat it. I was beginning to think it was a false memory of mine.
The footage from so long ago is a marvel,but for technical excellence,we must not forget the camera.The construction and workings had to be technical enough that as each frame passed the lens,it had to be stationary for a millisecond before moving on.Otherwise the film would be blurred.
In 1954 my father bought his first car (an Austin Ruby). He squeezed into it and drove home. In those days all men wore hats, and he was 6 feet tall. When he got home he threw away his hat and never wore one again. Cars were the main reason why men stopped wearing hats.
With reference to bowler hats - I went to work in London in 1970. Like the gentleman said, all the men in the city wore bowlers, were suited (very often stripped) had brief cases and carried rolled umbrellas. It sounds cliched but, it was true! I remember seeing the tallest man I'd ever seen dressed in a similar way. Coming from the country it was quite bizarre. However, my own grandfather would go to his work as a gardener in coat, trousers and waistcoat with flat cap and homburg style headwear on Sundays. My uncle from Bournemouth would visit and always be smartly dressed wearing a dark fedora or homburg hat (I don't know the difference, I've even looked it up and I'm still stumped! It was one or the other though). Ladies were always beautifully dressed and wore either hats or scarves. Regarding the clogs in the mills, my hubby is from Manchester and he remembers seeing people wearing them, he's only 60 now! An 'old lady' was considered so from about 50 years. Mum would tell me she recalled seeing her granny smoking a pipe - she was an irish immigrant living in Newcastle. How times have changed!
Only a British production would have Dan Cruikshank and profile with his nose hair clearly hanging out. It seems as if somebody could have seen that and said hold on let's snip this and then shoot it again. Definitely a different vibe with BBC or BBC style productions.
Every man in Europe and North America wore hats in society for centuries. The person who broke the mould was President John F. Kennedy. The only time he was pictured wearing a hat was at his inauguration in 1961. By the mid 1960s the vast majority of men were no longer wearing hats, no doubt due to this handsome and charismatic world figure unconsciously providing a new trend in fashion.
...my granda was doon the pit by 12 ...they were worked like pit ponies, he had his thumb end cut off and received only the afternoon off andno comp,they musta been hard as fuk. He is right even though a miner was not rich he and everyone wore a suit , silk scarf and hanker chief etc
The rugby match is total chaos, totally different from today! And that would now be a completely illegal tackle - 05:52 just grabs him round the neck and pull him backwards!! 😄
I like it, but I just know, the films were restored and some are crystal clear images. so why does RU-vid make them look like bad TV from the 60’s? There are scan lines on motion like CRT analog TV…. Yes We pay for high quality 1080p… RU-vid is degading somehow?
It appears that some of the video is transferred from videotape. Those "scan lines" seem to be when the videotape somehow got mangled in a previous playback.
AI uspcaling changes and add stuff that wasn't there in the first place. You're not seeing what was there originally. You're seeing stuff added on by the AI. It's pointless.
@@filipstamate1564 technically true, but the additions (extra interpolated frames and apparent detail) are not deceptive or harmful, and the automated removal of distracting particles and film damage is also good. Anything to get the footage seen by more people is okay with me. Except AI colouring, it's not ready for prime time yet.