BBC & Pathe News Archives
Image by brizzle born and bred
BBC Points West Archive & Pathe News Archives
BBC Points West Archive on Demand gives you access to clips from the BBC's regional news archive in Bristol. During November and December 2005, selected video and film clips about Somerset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire were added to these pages.
Archive Film Clips & Sound Files - photographs include -
1953 - Bristol's Coronation Queen
Natalie Gonella was entered for Miss Bristol 1953 by her boss who had seen an advert for the contest in the Western Daily Press.
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/jubilee/memories/missbristo...
Clarks: 60s/70s/80s
The boom-and-bust days of the 1980s were tough for Clarks Shoes as customers opted for cheap foreign imports over Somerset-made footwear. Points West has followed the company's 'uppers' and 'downers' over the years, as this selection of films reveal.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Bath Rugby: 1986
For the third year in a row, Bath won the John Player Cup at Twickenham. They faced the mighty Wasps in a lively match, that included some ugly moments when the teams came to blows. Captain John Palmer told Points West they knew victory was certain.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Bishop Carey: 1990
In a surprise announcement, Dr George Carey, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, was named the next Anglican Primate following the retirement of Dr Robert Runcie - news which was greeted with mixed reaction in the summer of July 1990.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Bath traffic: 1965
Yes, sexism was alive and well in the 1960s but it probably wasn't intentional. In this film from the Points West archives, a reporter attempts to discover why the city's parking planners were targeting businessmen in Bath.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Acker Bilk: 1977
The Somerset man who brought Stranger on the Shore to millions of music lovers around the world talks to Points West's reporter Graham Purches ahead of a live show recorded for TV outside The Duke in Bristol back in 1977.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Wassailing: 1982
Points West travels to the orchards of Somerset to witness the Taunton Cider Company's annual apple tree wassail. Held aloft by three burly blokes, the cider queen performs a ritual that will guarantee a good crop the following year.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Hinkley A: 1965
The nuclear power industry has come a long way since the 50s and 60s when our understanding of the issues was less developed than today. Tom Salmon reports from Hinkley A as the station generates electricity for the first time.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
West's Wintry Weather
Whatever the conditions, Points West has always been ready to capture the region’s more extreme spells of weather. Remember the winter of 1981/2 or the snows of the 1960s? Perhaps this selection of films will bring back some chilling memories.
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Bath Gliding Club: 1965
Points West cameras reached for the skies in 1965 with a visit to an RAF airfield in Wiltshire to meet up with members of the Bath Gliding Club - where, for women members at least, it seemed that whatever the men could do they could do better!
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Bridgwater's bigger, brighter spectacle
At this time of year, it would be criminal to take a look through the Points West film archive without digging out some footage showing Bridgwater's famous carnival - particularly since it is one of the best illuminated processions in the UK!
www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/tv_archive/
Hartcliffe Factory: 1970s
In 1974, WD and HO Wills opened Europe’s largest cigarette manufacturing plant on land at Hartcliffe near Bristol. The factory lasted all of 16 years and closed in 1990 as the tobacco industry felt the squeeze. Points West saw the factory open.
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2005/12/23/pwaod_c...
Forest of Dean: 1965
The Forest of Dean was shaped, in part, by mining. Many of the pits closed in the 1960s, such as the Northern United Colliery and BBC Points West spent time with the miners to gauge their reaction.
www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2005/12/22...
Railway Works: 1960s
This offering – although not strictly a BBC Points West film – is irresistible for all those who have a passion for steam engines. Filmed at the Swindon loco works in 1963, it shows the launch of the last BR steam locomotive to be made in the UK.
www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2005/12/23/pwaod...
Downend crash remembered 50 years on: BBC Points West
Fifty years ago - at just before midday on Wednesday, 6 November 1957 - a patch of woodland alongside Overndale Road, Downend, was torn apart in a terrible air disaster.
Life inside the Fry's factory: 1930s
A fascinating film showing life inside the Fry's chocolate factory at Keynsham in its 1930s hey day is being shown publicly in full here on bbc.co.uk/bristol for the first time.
news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_...
Behind The Front Line: 1980s
In 1981, St Paul's in Bristol hit the headlines when a police raid triggered the first riots, which subsequently spread across the country.
At the heart of the action was Grosvenor Road, otherwise known as "The Front Line".
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/sop/grosvenor_road/frontlin...
Southmead Hospital photographic archives
Southmead Hospital photographic archive is opened. A fascinating collection of pictures charting the history of Southmead Hospital in Bristol.
news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/newsid_...
Let Me Tell You: Swindon 1967
Watch a BBC West programme from 1967, whose presenters went out onto the streets to ask locals what they thought of life in Swindon, and look at the pressing issues of the town.
www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2008/06/05/let_m...
Do you think the Brissle accent is gert lush? Or does it make you sound like a Wurzel?
The dialect words 'casn't' and 'bist', as in, how bist?, (how are you?), appear to be on their way out while 'ideal' and 'where's that to?' are resilient.
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/sop/brizzle/story.shtml
How does Bristol look to somebody without sight?
Malcolm Chappell tells A Sense of Place how he views the city.
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/sop/malcolm_bridge/malcolms...
People and places between two piers
A Sense of Place" takes a journey along the coast of North Somerset from Clevedon Pier to the promenade at Weston.
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/sop/severn/severn.shtml
Red or blue? City or Rovers?
Nothing divides a city like it. Nothing divides families like it. And there's nothing better for turning friends against each other.
www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/sop/football/football.shtml
In pictures: Rocking The Granary
The Granary rock club ran from 1968 until 1988 in a former grain warehouse in Bristol.
news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/history...
Floods of 1968
Archive photographs on file in what was the old News Stills Library
www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/photoblog/2009/11/stock_shots_from_th...
The Links Below British Pathe Archive News Clips -
1949 130-Ton Colossus Takes The Air
Bristol Brabazon on airfield at Filton.
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=27110
1926 - 9000 Bristol School Children
Demonstration of modern methods of physical education
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=25361
1967 - AIR CRASH AT BRISTOL AIRPORT
Various shots of the Aer Lingus Viscount plane which crash landed in fog at Lulsgate Airport, Bristol.
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=72520
1957 - THE BRITANNIA AIR CRASH - 15 DEAD
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=34878
1965 Bristol Zoo
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=70440
1968 baby gorilla called Caroline, a new arrival at Bristol Zoo
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=45482
1949 - Britain's first aluminium prefabricated school is on show in Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=26535
1956 - Petition against closure of Kennet-Avon canal
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=40079
1956 - B.O.A.C. takes delivery of the first of their new fleet of 15 Bristol turboprop airliners
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=39969
1947 - ABC Minors in Bristol Cup Final
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=57871
1967 - Very brief slice of life in Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=84872
1914 - Bristol Cadets reviewed by Lord Mayor of Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=76108
1964 - The Bristol Channel and Docks, views of Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=81932
1965 - Bristol harbour in colour
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=70533
1962 - Jet inventor Sir Frank Whittle lays foundation stone for new Bristol-Siddeley building
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=42118
1952 - Minister of Health Iain McLeod opens new Bristol Health Centre
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=62685
1967 - BRISTOL HOLDS ANTI LITTER WEEK
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=83464
1948 - Students run Carnival rag through City streets in Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=27140
1951 - Bristol civil defence and military jointly stage and fight A-bomb attack
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=33160
1921 - Students from Bristol University parade through the streets
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=18369
1949 - experiments being carried out on different types of cigarettes in Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=46750
1966 - A.B.C. Cinema in Frogmore Street Bristol Opens
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=44427
A demonstration against the nationalisation of transport industry is held in Bristol
www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=57764
Untitled (In Memoriam, Jon Claremont)
Image by jay-chilli
From the photoblog Chillimatic
Posting a photo of a shop called "Party World" here is an odd way to memorialize someone. Bear with me, I'll explain further down the page. Firstly a little on how I came to know about Jon Claremont and his work.
The service provider for my photoblog, Chillimatic, is called Expressions. Expressions won't be rivalling Flickr any time soon and perhaps due to the small number of subscribers, or perhaps due to the good work of the people who run it, Expressions is a genuine ‘online community’ (prior to joining I had thought this phrase an oxymoron) brought together by a shared love of photography.
Some particularly high quality photoblogs are nestled alonside my own (frankly amateurish) site. Chief among these is a blog I discovered during my earliest nose around Expressions called ClaremontPhoto - Jon’s photoblog.
The aesthetic of Jon’s pictures was so different to that which currently prevails in photography that it was a shock when I first chanced upon ClaremontPhoto. My eyes had become too accustomed to the diamond sharp, perfectly colour-balanced images that digital technology has rendered possible to immediately accept photos taken with film cameras and developed at the local One Hour Photo. Jon's snaps were often blurry and overexposed with no apparent colour scheme. His subjects rarely sat nicely in measured compositions.
Even when he was photographing the patrons of the shabby café-bars of Montemor-o-Novo, the town in Portugal where he lived - subjects who were in fact seated and immobile - there was always a touch of anarchy, a touch of humanity, his photos were alive. He once remarked in an e-mail to me that he didn’t do “pretty pictures”. He was wrong. His photos were beautiful, and in a way that all those diamond-sharp digital images could never be.
I started leaving comments on Jon’s site, he on mine, and our intermittent e-mail exchanges began. Just as one had to get past the aesthetic shock and look carefully at Jon’s photos to fully appreciate them so he looked carefully at others’. More than once he remarked on something in one of my shots that I hadn’t noticed myself. For this reason his words of encouragement were valuable to me; his appreciation was genuine.
Jon's warmth of character was a further quality as apparent in his photos as his mails. Most of his shots were of the inhabitants of Montemor, a village lost in the countryside 40 miles to the east of Lisbon, a town not pretty enough for tourism and not important enough for global capitalism to assimilate into its homogenous landscape.
Similarly, Montemor’s inhabitants are neither charmingly rustic nor the neat, presentable Gap-clad men and women that the global economy has moulded. They're a scruffy lot, spending their evenings sitting awkwardly on bar furniture, drinking cheap beer straight from the bottle, looking up slack-jawed at the football on the telly. In viewing Jon’s photos I was often reminded of Oscar Wilde’s famous aphorism “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”.
Most photographers, I think, would maintain a certain distance between themselves and such subjects, one that would translate into a mocking tone in their photos or a falsely reverent one: ostensibly honouring such ‘salt of the earth’ characters, covertly pitying them. Jon did none of that; the section at ClaremontPhoto compiling his ‘people’ shots is titled “Friends and Neighbours”. Quite right, they were not his subjects, he was one of them. The warmth and camaraderie so apparent in his photography were equally evident in his words to me.
Soon after I was first in contact with Jon he was appointed as Community Ambassador at Expressions, bringing to the members’ attention the work of other Expressions contributors, and continuing to offer words of encouragement and genuine appreciation to so many of us. He was very much the glue in our online community and I know that I am not alone in saying how greatly missed he will be.
I learnt of Jon’s passing on Friday and that same day Shanolyno, a fellow Expressions user, posted a comment on my photoblog. I mailed him to say thanks and told him the sad news. His words in reply voiced my own thoughts perfectly: “Seems strange to mourn for someone that I feel I know so well, yet I never met.”
I never met Jon Claremont either, I never even spoke to him and yet he touched me in some way, he inspired me, and I will miss him. For those that did know this clearly exceptional man, his family and friends, the loss must be very great indeed and my thoughts are with them.
So, the photo of “Party World”. It was taken in July of last year with a DSLR which I’d just bought, on the day I arrived in Sardinia, my holiday destination. During the preceding months I had spent much time on photography: taking photographs, tending to my website, reading about photography, viewing the work of others and occasionally exchanging e-mails with Jon.
Shortly before I left we had a quick exchange about Martin Parr, whose work we both admired. I wrote: “Regarding Martin Parr, yes the man is a genius, but I also kind of hate him because it's become impossible to take photos in certain areas (supermarkets and seaside towns in the UK particularly) without thinking of his brilliant photos. He kind of owns all that now. If I ever find myself in a run down bar in Portugal and I'm unable to take photos because you've taken all the ideas and own that environment I'll let you know.”
When I arrived in Olbia this throwaway comment had transformed into prophecy. Maybe it was the intensity of the sunlight (in Jon’s outdoor shots the walls and streets of Montemor appeared sun-bleached) or maybe it was the slightly tattered look that much of Olbia still has despite a recent influx of tourists courtesy of EasyJet, but I was unable to take pictures of the place, I saw Jon’s photos everywhere.
Thwarted in my attempts to take my own photos I decided to produce some imitation Claremonts. I turned the exposure up a notch to get the bleached look, switched the focus setting to “auto” to lose some sharpness and took a couple of shots of shop fronts which I imagined wouldn’t be out of place in Montemor. This shot was the most successful. I had intended to send it to him but on my return certain events conspired to divert my attention from photography and photoblogging entirely. It remained that way for several months and regrettably I never sent him this photo, taken in his honour.
But "Party World", though? Surely not the best way to memorialize someone? Like I say - bear with me. This shop, despite its apparent banality, despite the cheap plastic knick-knacks it displays in the window, proudly proclaims itself “Party World” and this is in keeping with the meaning I read behind many of Jon’s photos. Despite the tawdriness of their surroundings; despite their shabby clothes; despite the cheap beer they’re given to drink every night; despite the fact that they live in a forgotten hinterland, held there just above the breadline; despite the fact that they’re old and working class (both characteristics that were once a source of pride but not so much these days); despite all this and much more, the people in Jon’s photos are mostly smiling. They’re happy.
My favourite of Jon’s photos is of a frail old man who sells lottery tickets from in front of a bar. According to the text accompanying the photo he’s there every week with the same patter, every week he has “the big one”. There he is - leaning against a rubbish bin, an expression of rapt wonder on his face as he eyes the little scraps of paper in his hand which, despite the 10-million-to-one odds, are going to bring in the jackpot. The Don Quixote of Montemor, he is both a fool and a hero.
As summations of the human condition go, it's hard to beat. We are born into a world without objective purpose or meaning and there is but one truth: that one day, soon, we will cease to exist entirely. We have no chance. We are playing a machine we will never beat, which metes out suffering so much more than joy and yet we still believe, holy fools that we are, that we're going to land "the big one", that “A vida é uma festa!” Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Party World.
So rest in peace, Jon Claremont, and thank you for showing me all this.
If you've read this far I hope you'll click on the link for ClaremontPhoto. Many of his older photos (including the lottery ticket seller) have disappeared but there remain many photos of exceptional quality.
A Younger Me
Image by Craig A Rodway
I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Alistair for tagging me and volunteering me to divulge 16 random things about myself. Above is a picture taken of me with the tech team from Challenge Anneka when they visited a village near where I lived. I'm holding a signed picture of Anneka Rice, which I still have. Somewhere ....
* * * * *
1. I have a middle name - Andrew. It was my dad's first name, although he preferred to be called by his middle name.
2. I have never been abroad and do not possess a passport. That will change when I gather enough funds to travel to New Zealand - the only other country I wish to visit. I love New Zealand.
3. I have never been admitted to hospital for operations, surgery or illness.
4. I have worn contact lenses since 2004 - Specsavers' finest monthly disposable.
5. I've had my current bank account, with NatWest, since I was 11. I am now 21.
6. Notable semi-famous personalities I have met include David Bellamy, Anneka Rice, Pam Royal and Paul Ross.
7. When I was a kid I used to take things apart. I loved to find out how things worked. Putting them back together, however, was not my strong point at the time.
8. I don't drink alcohol and I don't smoke.
9. Like a lot of geeks, I don't care for sports. I hate football.
10. Until recently I only had two pairs of shoes. They were comfortable and served a purpose!
11. I saw Gladiators (TV series) live at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham during the 90s. I even had one of those blue foam hands.
12. I've been to the filming locations of Emmerdale, Coronation Street and Heartbeat.
13. When I was younger I wanted to be a DJ, lorry driver, or an electrician.
14. At 10 I started to learn how to play the trumpet. Shortly after I moved on to cornet. Several years later I switched to tenor horn. I still play tenor horn in a brass band. I wish I'd also learnt how to play the piano.
15. In my life I have lived in a total of three houses.
16. I'm currently studying for a foundation degree in computing and Cisco CCNA. It's hard work.
Lyman Raiders, 1979; Karmen King Lays It Up
Image by Welfl
November 13, 1979, Presho, SD - The Lyman Raiders battle the White River Tigers in the District Championship game on the Raiders' home court. Lyman won by a score of 37 to 26. With this victory, Lyman's record was 19 wins and 1 loss.
In this particular picture, Karmen King (32), a sophomore starter -- and one of the many stars on the team -- drives in for a layup (possibly after the ball was stolen). I had known Karmen since she was a 4th grader (her brother Kevin and I had been friends since 1974).
In the background, White River's famous boy cheerleaders watch the action. They were all members of the perennial powerhouse White River football team and, as boy cheerleaders, were quite an novelty in central South Dakota.
P.S. I was a freshman in college at this time and had convinced a college friend to accompany me on the six-hour drive from Scottsbluff, NE, to Presho, SD, so I could watch the girls play this game. In order to convince him that the trip would be worth it, I kept telling him that he would get to see some spectacular high-school basketball, as South Dakota's girls (in those days), and the Lyman Raiders in particular, were probably better than anyting he had seen (IMHO). I don't think he believed me, and he probably wasn't even all that interested in basketball, but he agreed to go. After the game, I asked him what he thought about the Raiders.
He exclaimed, "You weren't kidding! They could probably even beat half the boys' teams in western Nebraska!"
I replied, ";-)."
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