Still the Great North Road
February 1, 2022 8:51 PM Subscribe
A superb amateur home movie in colour from August 1939, recording a trip north from London along the A1. (8:36 run time.)
I'm reposting this as part of our "Doubles Jubilee" as I recently noticed the original video had vanished from youtube, breaking the original post. (The mods were kind enough to update said ye olde poste with the new link, and I'm now sharing it here lest their hard work goes unnoticed).
From that original ten-year-old post, here's a comment from sodium lights the horizon with some modern google map views of locations in the first few minutes of the film:
I'm reposting this as part of our "Doubles Jubilee" as I recently noticed the original video had vanished from youtube, breaking the original post. (The mods were kind enough to update said ye olde poste with the new link, and I'm now sharing it here lest their hard work goes unnoticed).
From that original ten-year-old post, here's a comment from sodium lights the horizon with some modern google map views of locations in the first few minutes of the film:
- Regents Park
- Stevenage Old Town (the only bit I think is wide enough, but I can't make the images match)
- Biggleswade
- A few yards down the road, but they've removed the war memorial?
- The Lion in Buckden
- The George in Buckden (opposite The Lion)
You can have any car, any colour you like, so long as its black.
You can have any London bus, any colour you like, so long as it's . . . orange? Is that a known Kodachrome issue?
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:24 AM on February 2, 2022
You can have any London bus, any colour you like, so long as it's . . . orange? Is that a known Kodachrome issue?
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:24 AM on February 2, 2022
Interesting that the thing which dates the country sections the most (apart from the cars obvs) is those weird-looking old telephone poles.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 12:34 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 12:34 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's probably very sad that the first thing I really notice is how *clean* and litter free the streets, pavements and verges are compared to today.
posted by AFII at 3:03 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by AFII at 3:03 AM on February 2, 2022
So many telephone lines! And, so few markings on the road surface. Just lane dividers.
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:22 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by Bee'sWing at 3:22 AM on February 2, 2022
It knocks me out how familiar this all looks given that I was born thirty years later. I don’t know if it says something about the pace of change or getting older or something but the world here is more recognisable to me than the one I live in now.
posted by opoponax at 3:25 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by opoponax at 3:25 AM on February 2, 2022
opoponax: if you were indeed born 30 years later, in 1969, you are probably 52.
52 years before 1939 takes us back to 1887. No automobiles, probably no (or very few) phone lines, no Tarmacadam (patented 1902). Macadam roads (crushed/compacted stone) existed; no incandescent street lighting (carbon arc lighting was deployed in London from 1878: it was very new and shiny!), lots of cobbled streets, horses everywhere.
52 years before 1969 puts us in a much more recognizable 1917: internal combustion engines, tarmac, telephones, incandescent street lighting. Airships and biplanes overhead! Indeed, 1917 and 1939 probably looked much more similar to one another than to 1887.
The pace of change from 1816 to 1916 was absolutely mind-boggling. (I've been immersed in it lately because: got a book to finish.)
posted by cstross at 3:39 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
52 years before 1939 takes us back to 1887. No automobiles, probably no (or very few) phone lines, no Tarmacadam (patented 1902). Macadam roads (crushed/compacted stone) existed; no incandescent street lighting (carbon arc lighting was deployed in London from 1878: it was very new and shiny!), lots of cobbled streets, horses everywhere.
52 years before 1969 puts us in a much more recognizable 1917: internal combustion engines, tarmac, telephones, incandescent street lighting. Airships and biplanes overhead! Indeed, 1917 and 1939 probably looked much more similar to one another than to 1887.
The pace of change from 1816 to 1916 was absolutely mind-boggling. (I've been immersed in it lately because: got a book to finish.)
posted by cstross at 3:39 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
Interesting video. To me, it looked like the Midwest US nowadays. Telephone poles, grey roads patched with black. Meandering roads over meandering landscapes.
As always, don't read the comments. British racism and (somehow) transphobia on display...
posted by starfishprime at 4:25 AM on February 2, 2022
As always, don't read the comments. British racism and (somehow) transphobia on display...
posted by starfishprime at 4:25 AM on February 2, 2022
I recognise a couple of sections, having driven up/down the A1 several times a year between Cambridge and "THE NORTH" (as the signs call it) for about a decade.
Most of the route now bypasses the villages it used to run through, and they took out the last couple of roundabouts and added flyovers about fifteen years ago, which prevents tailbacks. There's still a few undulating sections where the road remains the A1 rather than the A1(M).
Those interested might like Paul Graham's photobook on the route, shot in the early 1980's: link
posted by lawrencium at 4:47 AM on February 2, 2022
Most of the route now bypasses the villages it used to run through, and they took out the last couple of roundabouts and added flyovers about fifteen years ago, which prevents tailbacks. There's still a few undulating sections where the road remains the A1 rather than the A1(M).
Those interested might like Paul Graham's photobook on the route, shot in the early 1980's: link
posted by lawrencium at 4:47 AM on February 2, 2022
Picturing all the drivers of the cars and lorries yelling at the photographer to move his bloody car out of the way. "Oi, you can't park there, mate!"
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 4:59 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by Hey, Zeus! at 4:59 AM on February 2, 2022
Picturing all the drivers of the cars and lorries yelling at the photographer to move his bloody car out of the way. "Oi, you can't park there, mate!"
There were a number of shots where I thought the photographer really should have parked the car further to the left.
This was really interesting to watch. In the cities, it was mostly cars and bicycles, but I saw at least one horse-drawn cart and several pushcarts being used.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:46 AM on February 2, 2022
There were a number of shots where I thought the photographer really should have parked the car further to the left.
This was really interesting to watch. In the cities, it was mostly cars and bicycles, but I saw at least one horse-drawn cart and several pushcarts being used.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:46 AM on February 2, 2022
The Grantham shot at the end is, I think, here.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:53 PM on February 2, 2022
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:53 PM on February 2, 2022
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posted by Termite at 10:15 PM on February 1, 2022