Old films of British life...

SPLINE · 29 Jan 2026

Not an old film now, but one showing some remote parts of England that haven't changed, haven't been touched by the hand of Blair.. Some truly great people in this....

securespark · 6 Feb 2026

noseall · 6 Feb 2026

securespark said:

Nice use of the old lath axe in a couple of clips, there.

Odds · 11 Feb 2026

Born in 1858, Michael Fitzpatrick talks about the many changes that have taken place in farming during his lifetime and recalls an eviction at Bodyke.Mr. Fitzpatrick moved from Clare to a farm near Maynooth as part of the Land Commission scheme in 1940 where he has lived ever since. [then] aged 107 Mr. Fitzpatrick has experienced many changes in the world of farming. The biggest change that has taken place is the introduction of machinery and specifically the combine harvester.Mr. Fitzpatrick also remembers seeing an eviction taking place in Bodyke, County Clare in June 1887. He recalls the event as being “very cruel” with women and children thrown out of their homes. This episode of ‘Newsbeat’ was broadcast on 7 January 1965.

securespark · 11 Feb 2026

Bless him. He died in 1967.

blup · 11 Feb 2026

fillyboy said:
We left our 'rooms' in London when I was a year old to live on a new council estate built by the GLC on the outskirts of Slough, one of three estates built in that area. It was a modern home with all the facilities you could want. I'm not sure how many houses made up that estate, several thousand, it was roughly a square mile in area and adjoined the original village. As well as the houses, there were 2 Churches, 2 doctors surgeries, a parade of shops, 4 schools and a library, not something you'll come across in todays developments.
I always felt sorry visiting a cousin who still lived in London, it was a flat opposite Chelsea Barracks, a stones throw from Chelsea Bridge, they had a toilet but no bathroom so my cousin would have a weekly trip to the public baths, although occasionally he'd go to his Grans new council flat to use her bath. She had a 4 bedroom flat with a balcony on the Embankment, directly opposite the decaying factories that made up Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station. As a kid I thought it was a hideous view but I can still picture it as clearly as I did over 60 years ago.
My bucket list includes a trip to those old haunts, the buildings are still there but the view will be very different, then a trip across Chelsea Bridge to Battersea where we and many other relatives lived, then lastly the house where I was born, the one the Germans were always bombing because of it's proximity to the railway, *******s.

Council houses, built under post war Labor, sold off cheap by Thstcher

SPLINE · Friday at 6:27 AM

Can't get enough of these documentaries from when the BBC actually covered British matters.

Ever since I can remember I've been fascinated by the Thirlmere aqueduct; a pipeline which takes water from the Lake District slowly downhill into Manchester. This 1973 film follows its course and the people involved. Note that there are no demographics, this was pre-Tony Blair and therefore everybody was far-right. Even the water was far-right, whereas now we have loony-left water.

noseall · Friday at 7:46 AM

SPLINE said:
This 1973 film

Miners looking for work, because they were 'running the pits down' back then.

Ivor Windybottom · Friday at 11:03 AM

noseall said:
Miners looking for work, because they were 'running the pits down' back then.

Indeed. There was nothing unusual about the rate of decline of mining under Thatcher. She just happened to be the one in power at the point when it headed towards nothing.

The 1970s were a bit of an anomaly, it looks like the decay was slowed artificially for a time. But still downhill.

SPLINE · Friday at 11:09 AM

Ivor Windybottom said:
Indeed. There was nothing unusual about the rate of decline of mining under Thatcher. She just happened to be the one in power at the point when it headed towards nothing.

The 1970s were a bit of an anomaly, it looks like the decay was slowed artificially for a time. But still downhill.

The mines employed over a million people at their peak. Reopen them.

Ivor Windybottom · Friday at 11:53 AM

Do you want a job as a miner? Nobody would do it these days.

They can't even get care staff. That's just unpleasant, you're not at risk of death every day from it.

I remember all the news banging on about miners suing for "vibration white finger" in the 1980s. This was the overlap between the old days of working until you die and today's age of human rights.

Mining is incompatible with modern life.

SPLINE · Friday at 11:56 AM

Ivor Windybottom said:
Do you want a job as a miner? Nobody would do it these days.

They can't even get care staff.

Blame the welfare state for that.

Ivor Windybottom · Friday at 12:32 PM

SPLINE said:
Blame the welfare state for that.

...and immigration, providing a limitless supply of people who haven't yet discovered the joys of our benefits system.

Many care jobs are now directly advertised overseas, they don't even bother advertising here. They'll help them move here as part of the application process.

blup · Friday at 12:35 PM

SPLINE said:
Not an old film now, but one showing some remote parts of England that haven't changed, haven't been touched by the hand of Blair.. Some truly great people in this....

Watched a bit but was confused by the suggestion that villages now have casinos and charity shops.

blup · Friday at 12:35 PM

Ivor Windybottom said:
Do you want a job as a miner? Nobody would do it these days.

The last one closed several years ago but good luck with the job hunting.

Old films of British life...

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