Gone in 240 seconds

So I admit it! After more than fifty daily posts in a row, today time got away with me. I was going to therefore simply post an ‘interlude‘ placeholder from yesteryear; perhaps the potter’s wheel or the kitten playing with the ball of string. But then a flash of inspiration and serendipity again!

In the 1950’s in the UK much Television was live/unrecorded and therefore ‘technical’ difficulties were more than likely to occur from time to time [also due to the television valve technology]. Those clever TV boffins therefore came up with little entertaining time-fillers to keep the audience glued to their sets. As the interruptions were usually quite short the little ‘skits’ were also kept brief. I remember even as a child in the 1970’s that these short films would occasionally still be aired [hard to believe that as little as 30 years ago in the UK there were still only three TV channels and they only broadcast from lunchtime {programs for schools in the mornings} till midnight; whence the National Anthem and close down. Oh that little white dot of the TV signal going off …]

One interlude that always fascinated me was the London to Brighton in 4 minutes film.

Given the Brighton Rock post yesterday this seemed quite appropriate a ‘regular transmissions resume tomorrow’ offering. Though this has of course now turned into a regular post about interludes.

Some things to note from this 60 years ago film. There are still steam engines [1.29][3.18][4.45] in 1952 [post WWII]. Tickets are inspected by hand. Guards still signal by whistle and flag. Men still wear hats. Smoking is allowed in the station/on the platform/train. Battersea power station [1.12] is still operating. The plummy voice of the BBC announcer [no regional accents back then]. The fact that ‘trick photography’ is explained.