London Bridge, London (1926)

[betterman80]

What a great clip. Question for everyone - If you had the power to go back and spend 1 day walking london streets in any year/era, when would it be? Personally I would love to go back to the early 1600's before the great fire. All of those church spires and just the way of life would have been fascinating. Would love to hear your thoughts!!

[Slikhedgehog]

Anyone know the title of the song in the video?

[Scrabbler27]

Seeing it in colour, it makes it more real life and easy to understand. Thumbs up if you agree

[arsenaljsutliffuk]

Back when London was British.

[noonsight2010]

The view crossing the bridge has hardly changed! This clip has that tantalising "so near yet so far" feeling that history can bring. Thank you for posting it.

[andysim232]

wow what a Video!!!! Just thinking my Grandad was Still a young guy when this was taken! He died 5 years ago aged 86.

[WillShakespeare2007]

If you lived in 1926 you have a 99% chance of being dead. that is why the present is far better where you have a 99% chance of being alive.

[afertyus1000]

@WillShakespeare2007 my mumand dad are still here

[csno1]

@WillShakespeare2007 Enlighten us as to why this is the fact? I prefer to die in my homeland with my people than live an eternity in the multicult.

[WillShakespeare2007]

@csno1 - Because if you were alive in 1926 you would be born 85 years ago and therefore have a 99% chance of being dead.

Another interesting statistic is that the reason you are too stupid to work that out on your own is inextricably linked to you being a stupid racist arse. My grandfather did not die fighting the Nazis for me to put up with people like you. My homeland made it very clear that people who think like you are the ones that are not welcome in this land of freedom.

[csno1]

@WillShakespeare2007 Land of freedom? Please, leave out the unoriginal liberal platitudes. Your grandfather fought to stop his country being conquered. He did not fight to prevent the holocaust, to usher in a utopian multicultural world or to allow the third world to pour into Britain, he fought, like others, to protect his homeland from being invaded and to secure a future for his progeny, something that didn't paradoxically occur. People like me are English.

[WillShakespeare2007]

@csno1 - Well I'm English and I am not a racist cunt like you and I do not see being as racist cunt as an English value. Whether you like it or not this is a free country and racist scum like you will never have a say in how it is run. As an Englishman I have the right to my views and to choose who I marry from whatever nation I wish and for them to live here. People like you get the beating they deserve whenever they have the balls to take to the streets. You are a pathetic racist coward.

[csno1]

@WillShakespeare2007 Abstract values do not make you English. The English are an ethnic group who share a similar DNA and heritage, which automatically excludes those immigrants whom you love. What does a 'free country' mean Willy?

[superhamzah85]

@csno1

Well since we're 98% chimpanzee, how does this fit into your worldview?

Actually, how does being 30% daffodil fit into your worldview in terms of flora and fauna?

Are you against daffodils being in England?

Those are not serious questions, but don't talk about genetics when you couldn't tell a transcription error from an allele duplication if it hit you in the face.

Yours truly, child of an immigrant.

[SlypherSpoons]

@superhamzah85 Don't talk down on the English people desire to keep England for English. Don't talk down on them for wanting to keep their culture. Don't talk down on them just because you have been conditioned to accept multiculturalism, a flawed idea only introduced for a mere few decades. If you want to talk down on them, talk down on the Japanese, Koreans, and East Europeans for still maintaining their culture. Do it. Or you can just move to Canada.

inb4 lol u racist

[bertyUK]

Goose pimples watching this.

Why is everyone's spelling so bad in the comments?

[anitatime]

busy as ever hmmmm

[blackMark001]

it will falling down

[longlakeshore]

I used to tease my father, asking what it was like to grow up in a black and white world when he was a boy back then. He just laughed...

[akhenaten01]

Nice to see steptoe and son, doing there round.

[Cieplyhot]

beautiful probably 95% peoples is dead its very sadness im in depress and beautiful

[russfern]

no spy cameras to spy on you when you walk these streets.

[Linkage1992]

My grandma was a baby then...

And it's weird knowing that the Queen was a baby too.

[Letspreach]

Great clip.

[NintyGuy999]

wish i had a time machine, i would die to go back there and check it out

[Letspreach]

@NintyGuy999 I would, too. I'd swap it all for simplicity, space, and manners.

[Cool2BCeltic]

Amazing

[wla7777]

nothing changed

[Nigel16032009]

Is this really colour film from 1926, or has it been colourized by modern technology? I didn't think colour film was available back then.

[teebee1984]

@Nigel16032009 Colour film was available in the early 1900's, some of the Russian revolution was filmed in colour. However it was very expensive and therefore black and white was easier to produce :)

[OofusTwillip]

@Nigel16032009 - Colour film was available, but was still very much a novelty, due to the expense & complexity of the process. Experiments with colour film were being done as early as 1903.

[stoysville]

When England - was England...

[amarone1956]

It's sad to think that a few years later much of London had been destroyed by bombing.

[chanctonbury63]

@amarone1956 Then the town planners got hold of what was left......Not just London either. And we are still living with their legacy......They should have been lined up against a wall and shot.

[theHatchett1]

i'm stuying the knowledge of london to be a london taxi driver (black cabbie) and let me tell you....from south of the river to the north......it still to this day looks like that! amazing, nearly 100 years on and its the same, I love london so much! thanks for posting this

[amarone1956]

@theHatchett1 I'm from England, but live in the States, and I miss London so much. It's an amazing city.

[theHatchett1]

@amarone1956 yes mate it is, but i want to go to the states aswell, not to live but i've never been and its on my must see list, all the best

[edwards21416]

@amarone1956 was an amazing city i wouldn't go back there now

[glendonovan]

I have lived here since 1986. It's STILL amazing...

[GARRYKINGLIVE]

History makes one wonder in nostalgia and shed a tear for the things lost and those gained, but it sure does make you reminisce

[Quacky64]

this brings tears to my eyes. I walked over that very bridge for many years, seeing those very buildings every day!

[charlieiscool1000]

WRONG! Its Tower bridge even the BFI should know that

[rlugg]

@charlieiscool1000 The camera is crossing London Bridge...

[theHatchett1]

@charlieiscool1000 sorry mate but that is london bridge.

[charlieiscool1000]

NO im talking about the bridge in the distance thats Tower bridge the camera is on london bridge

[theHatchett1]

@charlieiscool1000 ok, that's right then mate.

[LewEngBridewell]

Wow! I go across London Bridge often, and it's amazing to see what things were like all the way back then! Fantastic, and valuable footage. :)

[RUHDready]

thats tower bridge not london bridge :P

[LewEngBridewell]

@RUHDready ----- Yes, but the bridge over which the camera is travelling is London Bridge, and that is the focus of the video

[RUHDready]

@LewEngBridewell oh my mistake then

[katakisLives]

We are literally looking back at another world.

[Twinkle3067]

This is incredible. How wonderful to see how it once looked

[LeShark75]

Unreal footage, and the roads where busy then Lol.

[TannerG1989]

Old movies like these are just wonderful

[tonightwefly]

This bridge here is now in the U.S, moved stone by stone

[RUHDready]

@tonightwefly isnt it strange how things can be in two places at once? dickhead

[MagicMaximo]

Great! Thanks for sharing!

[amarsbarr]

wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww­

[wilhelmschumann]

Wonderful Video!

I love it !

[TootsiePopluver12]

this quality looks amazing. wow.

[psynno1]

incredible footage

[MrSpunkbubble]

Where are the double yellow lines?

[yenavlump]

very informative i did not know london bridge was in london in londinium in the country of londonium

[dpydotsmw]

absolute disgrace

[MrSyrett]

Pointless comment, cheers

[Pateretfilius]

thetres a TROLL undeer there

[shirleyjay]

It is well-worth buying the BFI's DVD The Open Road, from which this is taken - it is superb. There was a disappointing TV programme made about it, but this is the real thing, and far more interesting and watchable. To watch it is like being in a true time machine.

[acerb45666555]

1920's was kind of like the 1960's! everyone went wacky havin fun! absinthe was a big seller!

[acerb45666555]

color film in 1926?! amazing! the Roaring 20's!!

[sallyfieldrequired]

there were experimental color footage as early as 1904 the first film footage ever was in 1886

[patlaws]

its not real colour film.alternate frames were tinted blue/green and red which when run give the illusion of natural colour.the technology was a dead end.try to see the whole film on dvd the rest is just as good!

[TheHPMan88]

@patlaws yh, u can see the red and blue outlines

[SechkiJjang]

wow i feel as if i lived there ..this footage is so awesome

[icerrk]

This is awesome !

[Unfassbarer]

It's realy from 1926 ?? It's amazing !

Greetings from Germany

[Georgiahulse]

Amazing!!! Really interesting to watch and see; I suspect the film has been slown down though to accomodate for the fast film speed?

[NightmareCwalk]

watch me vids

[gibbi8]

I love looking at these old clips of London. I walk along this bridge regulary and I'm surprised that most of the buildings were around as early as 1926. London has changed a lot since since 1926 but at the same time it hasn't changed much at all.

[bethnalgreeen]

What a thriving scene the docks were in those days! In fact, right up until the 60s as I remember there was a lot of hustle and bustle on the river. Really added to the atmosphere. I find the Thames empty and lacklustre today......though I suppose the water is cleaner than it used to be.

[GARYMOORE1952no1fan]

Absoluelty brilliant video, my mum was 1 then back in 1926, sorry as i lost my mum this yr on christmas eve and ive always loved history this is great thankyou.

[afertyus1000]

@GARYMOORE1952no1fan yea my mum was 3 and my dad was 5 they are still around today though both housebound but not too bad

[RedHead531]

When Britain was leaving Indian, some Indians didn't want them to leave so they came with them. Now Britain is like the 2nd India ~!

[JohnsonofLondon]

You must also remember all the Indian sailors (Lascars) who arrived on ships and stayed in London.

[1991amerimex]

what the hell?

[RedHead531]

1991merimex[ wat im saying is that they should go back home *india) cause tehre is no room for the english in there own country now.

[soundslike2]

great shot of the beautiful newly built Adelaide House (on the right)and just before the bridge started to topple over after being widened 20 years earlier

[ukmarkh]

ProperStuff... what the hell is wrong with you, seriously why are you so angry. Just leave it for christ sake... and no we don't all have racism in us, so leave it.

[ProperStuff]

There you go again...dictating how and what people need to know.....if you cant handle the truth...then stay in the small hole you arose from..Punk!

[ProperStuff]

Anglo Saxons = Thiefs & Murderers.

[Dancing88Mike]

ProperStuff=Racist

[ProperStuff]

Mike ..you must be right....cos thats what you breed on.

[Dancing88Mike]

"cos thats what you breed on"...first off that makes absolutely no fucking sense. Secondly since your living in England you should learn to speak and write the language. For example "cos" WOW, really, learn English you dumb monkey. Also I wouldn't be talking about Caucasians that way since your living in England.

[ProperStuff]

Tut tut...it makes no sense because YOU were born without any sense....as for speaking english...its not the only language i can speak....which makes me a bit more fluent in languages than u...the word "cos" is a word i speak and about 90% of english white ppl...Monkeys are actually the same complexion as u..its the hair on its pink skin that makes you think it resembles me....i can also live in England and talk any way i wish...PUNK!

[2716219]

Racist moron, what is your problem you brain dead bigot? Get a life or p*ss off.

[ProperStuff]

we all have a tad of racism in us.......but in this page i cant see where your comment as come from....i have not said anything bad against anyone else of color. Certain ppl in ere have made comments and i have just corrected them...simple ...oh yeah by the way....i have got a life....brain dead?...that'll be ya wife.....she must be if she's with a spastic like you!

[2716219]

You really dont get it do you, you must be even more stupid than I originally feared. Dont bother me anymore and grow up sad excuse for a human being.

[ProperStuff]

Stop dictating what i should and shouldnt do....No1 I am not racist...No2 i am not brain dead No3 I know i have more a life than you.

[blacksmithdog1]

"No1 I am not racist"? You wrote anglo-saxons = thiefs & murderers. That is racist. Then you say "we all have a tad of racism in us", so you are admitting you're a racist. Then to be even more offensive you use words like "spastic"!

It's easy to be an arsehole and leave the sort of comments you've left. It takes a bit more effort to try to be a decent human being. Try it some time.

[SOUTHSIDER1985]

grow up

[Sibelius92]

The pace of life seems to have been much slower then; it's a bit busier and faster now. Shame!

[ybot1983]

ah when all the bus drivers were anglo saxons

[twoslices]

First colour wow!

[Ommodawn]

Incredibly valuable footage.

[nawffoh]

Freakin' awesome.