The Great North Road (1939)

[philbailey2311]

Changed a bit, hasn't it?

[cultofmao]

The quality is superb, this is a treasure, thanks for uploading :)

[thegladdy]

Fantastic record of the fabled English countryside when it was town - countryside - town - countryside etc. Nowdays it's just one huge housing estate with a few beauty spots scattered here and there, how long will they last?

[bistdubeimir228]

Absolutely fantastic video. Even though I was born in 1952, much of the footage seems weirdly familiar. A lot of those cars were still being used 20 years later! Fascinating to see ordinary street scenes (in colour!) at such a poignant time in history - it must have been right at the beginning of World War II, judging from the balloon and ARP signs in London. Totally absorbing.

[bigscolari]

Thank God Britain is now more diverse.

[wulfrunian100]

Brampton hut has changed a little.great film much better than a lot of the rubbish ou you tube

[Strawberry7Lynn]

This is truly excellent, someone ought to re-make it using the same locations. Seems to be lots of traffic on the road even then, but then again there were no motorways, so people travelling from South to North would drive through town centres

Notice how the cinematographer's car appears in several parts of the clip!

[zypp33]

Amazing colour, so much more real. What a beautiful and benign looking land it was and all the more like a different world knowing of the war .

[Lydiard91]

Sigh, such a beautiful Britain

[mistressmeeker]

Fantastic. A great upload. Many thanks.

[4449626]

look how clean and tidy the streets are, fantastic

[Pauluk33]

1939, jesus ;0 that probably the best looking quality colour footage, other that military i have ever seen, thats shocking

[topshed34a]

As some one born in 1953 ,its often easy to think that beofre the war, even people saw in black and white, and in someways black and white leaves much to imagine.

Wow what a fantastic video, its so easy to think they were halycon days but of course 6 years of war wiped way that idea

[jlsmith175]

A roads enthusiast forum has identified a number of the locations in this film:

Google "Sabre Roads" and search the forum board for the following topic: "Old colour film of The Great North road 1939"

Happy viewing

[amarone1956]

I wish it were still like this!

[Rick88888888]

Indeed wonderful footage! I love experimenting with video software and have made an enhanced version of this video. The video has been motion stabilized, stretched to correct proportions, slightly colour and contrast improved and especially upscaled to HD quality and format using excellent video enhancer software. Please see: youtube.com/watch?v=Pm_Q7X_-2C­k

[crustyhead2]

People driving like crazy fools at 1.24! Great upload, thanks for sharing!

[Strawberry7Lynn]

@crustyhead2 Without checking out what's at 1:24, that's got to be where the small vehicle is tailgating the lorry!

[cheshertsacf]

This is YOUTUBE at its very best, was researching stuff for my in-laws 70th wedding anniversary! This is fantastic – thanks so much – (must now dig out my Fathers cine film [bless him]) will defiantly dig out my MG in the summer and retrace the route. You should also look at Pathe and Movitone web sites. Thanks … Steve in Stevenage..

[airscrew1]

This is an incredible piece of history. How I would love to live in these times and not in todays materialistic lifestyle.

[hollpoll]

Lovely colour film from a bygone age, very nostalgic unbelievable quality. Thnaks for sharing it

Hollpoll

[MrTedwise]

what a film ! did any one notice the bsa three wheeler car at about 3 mins 40 ?? i had a 1933 v-twin ,

[LokiV]

My jaw hit the floor watching this outstanding quality thanks for uploading it :)

[crazytribefan]

at the 4:24 mark you can really see and appreciate the old white installators on the electric lines.. very cool to see!

[kafcan]

I used the A1 in the 1950's when much of the road was still the same as pre-war. Someone should make a film using these same locations to see how it has changed over the years. Is that a Buick that the cameraman is using? I was also interested in seeing the BSA trike at Buckden as I have one in my garage. (see my uploads)

[drpoxy]

Interesting to watch this, particularly as we live in Biggleswade. The war memorial has been moved to a more central location (there is a mini-roundabout in its place). Otherwise it looks remarkably similar to what is shown. Stevenage (Old Town) has also changed little (IMHO). Thanks for uploading.

[MADROCKS212]

1.44 near miss damn.

[frankbing1]

When someone comes up with a time machine i definately want one.

[charlieiscool1000]

why did everthing look alot better then even the roads look better

[Unfassbarer]

Phantastic. Very good Movie ! Thank you.

[abelseeman]

At the beginning yiou see Baker Street as a two way street and the open road with it's long gone suicide lane

[acepuma80]

a wonderful film! how nice it looks to have lived back then. A different, much slower pace of life,

[jesuscora]

This is brilliant! Just like time-travelling! Could someone film the same route as it is now? It would be great to be able to compare.

Thanks for the upload.

[henrytheeigthiam]

Thank you for this, truly excellent. I love the telephone/telegraph poles that I can just remember. Nice bit of history!

[nylonTS]

this is fantastic

[edj66]

Amazing video. Absolutely priceless in terms of its historical value. And lovely to watch too.

[burnleyfan11965]

More traffic than i thought thered be in 1939,lovely film this

[fredlark]

This is truly a gem. Growing up in Stevenage, having moved there in 1952, the High St. shot was pretty much as I remember it. My father-in-law, Stevenage born and bred, would have loved to have seen this. What puzzles me a bit is that single-decker bus at 0:55, it looks like a later design than 1939. Anyone know? Thanks for posting this.

[redsnapper1959]

... then again having seen wordsmith52's comment below, I have to agree with him ... it IS the Hendon Way! Disregard my comment below :o)

[redsnapper1959]

0:40 to 0:47 looks like what is now the A41/A1 Watford Way between Apex Corner and Mill Hill Circus (looking towards MHC).

[Lytton333]

This is wonderful! Is it available commercially?

[miramarmike]

At 6:54mins the Tea House shown at Eaton Socon can be seen on Google StreetView (it's a Tandoori restaurant)

[voxrod]

6.53 mins of pleasure,thankyou so much .for an old car fan this is heaven.

So sad that a few short weeks after this war came to tear apart Europe and a great part of the world,for all our brains we humans are pretty stupid creatures Thanks again DAVE

[oshvision]

WHOW! im stunnded... colour footage of britian pre war!!!! check out those telegraph poles!!!

[vinylseat]

This is UTube at it's best. I thought all vehicles especially lorries were black in those days! Such superb colour. Those inter city phone lines are incredible. A very good film maker taking extended road shots that were unusual in 1939. Colour film was very expensive and so was the camera. Looks like Kodachrome. I think it was available in 1938. Thanks for that upload.

[CinemaMusic55]

Fantastic film footage! This has to be one of the best youtube uploads of all. I would guess that the person who shot this footage might have been in the film industry at the time....the camera work is exceptional with none of the usual "hosepiping" of most amateur home movies. Everything is so well framed and the shots are much longer than the average camera owner would take. This should be in the national archive.

[cameronboy18]

How wonderful. Makes me wish they'd this for the A40 through south Bucks where I live!

[steve273]

thanks for uploading this film-i agree with the othe others who have already said the quality is excellent -i love it because i live in the eaton socon/buckden area and so for nearly 50 yrs i have seen it change-but this allows me to see the road and area 20 yrs before i was born-which is fascinating and anyway-social history is wonderful in its own right-so a very beautiful and very interesting video-far better quality than my dad's old cine films -thanks again for uploading this footage

[EduarquiRJ]

This film is absolutely spectacular, and gave us a very useful source of knowledge about urban and rural space in England just a few days before war [it made me feel strongly too how peace is much better!]. Thank you very very much for sharing with us.

[JollyRodders]

Very interesting footage. I'll see if I can get my mate interested in doing a Then & Now video. It'll give him a chance to show off his new Canon.

[TheDepotCat]

No MOT, no breathalyser and I suspect most drivers in this film never had to take a driving test which only became compulsory for drivers who started to drive on or after 1st April 1934.

[rayp5]

What brilliant footage, really interesting, I am amazed how many people owned cars in 1939, and how busy the roads were, and what good quality reel, ten out of ten!!

[rottenveiller]

where can I get my Davis house for £750 or are we too late

[CaseyJonesNumber1]

This is an absolute gem! Superb AEC buses, STLs and LTs(?) in London. Don't a lot of the cars seem to be travelling surprisingly fast, even through the towns? How the towns have changed, and most have long been bypassed now. In the country, 3-lane 'suicide' roads (now just a memory, thankfully), and lots of dodgy overtaking manoeuvres, plus plenty of what we now call tailgating! Anyone know what car the film-maker's is? American, by the look of the rear-end.

[wordsmith52]

Great! Smoother roads, no potholes! Caner, tidier more pleasant than now!

1st stretch of arterial road shown (not M-way) is A41 Hendon Way at Childs Hill after it leaves Finchley Rd going towards Hendon. Trolley bus crosses junction with Cricklewood Lne in distance. Not much changed visually at that point apart from being turned into dual carriageway in 50/60s, speed limit cut to 40mph & modern lighting. It Was a 3 lane road since opening c1925 - which was dangerous later as traffic grew.

[MrTom1950]

Absolutely mint documentary record!

Captures the age perfectly because it doesn't look that old. Stamford has hardly changed, nor has Grantham.

Mightily disappointed there was no shot of Colsterworth, but this cameraman has done a brilliant job, so glad he was motivated to do it.

I like the way he could just park where he liked in those days. Well done that man!