London to Birmingham M1 motorway opens on 03/11/1959

Footage from 3 November 1959 of the opening of the motorway that came to be known as the M1.

Half an hour after the motorway [M1] opened another piece of history was made. The driver of a shining, stream-lined bus accelerated and for the first time a passenger-carrying motor-coach travelled legally in Britain at more than 30 miles an hour.

The intended A6(M) that actually got numbered M6, at just over 8 miles road length near Preston was the actual first motorway opened in the UK in 1958.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• london
• birmingham
• opening
• of
• motorway
• m1
• new
• old
• m6
• preston
• bypass
• UK's
• first
• Inside
• out
• 50
• years
• the
• M11
• Watford
• Gap
• Services
• Birthday
• people
• travel
• cars
• road
• bridge
• village
• London
• midlands
• lived
• path
• slow
• traffic
• built
• film
• TV
• footage
• Luton
• transport
• minister
• houses
• gardens
• junction
• speeds
• save
• accidents
• AA
• service
• patrols
• noise
• Camera
• record
• change
• construction
• workers
• JCB
• land
• owners
• river
• fight
• canal
• protest
• government
• cottages
• Spagehetti
• junction.
• M6
• Gravelly
• Hill
• interchange

[shakin2009]

@shmuli9 they must be rolling the film backwards as the signage only shows on one side :)

[shmuli9]

@zypp33 That must be it. ('ve seen contractors do things like that before.)

[zypp33]

@shmuli9 Strange! But the driver is on the left.....perhaps it was a contractor pre opening?

[shmuli9]

At 0:18, is that car going BACKWARDS? This film is obviously quite old, but somehow I can just see an old lady named "Maisie" driving her model T backwards on the motorway "because she saw it in a film, so it must be all right to do"... :-)