1964: CHANGING Times in SOUTH LONDON | South of the River | Voice of the People | BBC Archive

Therese Denny's documentary looks at the changes which have taken place in Bermondsey, Camberwell, Deptford and Southwark - areas that were extensively damaged in World War II.
A variety of South Londoners, from old age pensioners to young bikers, talk about their daily lives and consider how South London - and by extension society as a whole - is changing. Are all of these changes for the better, or is something being lost?
Clip taken from South of the River, originally broadcast on BBC Television, Tuesday 4 February, 1964.
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[@RamblesBrambles]

At last!! A full documentary on the channel...please please please, for prosperities sake, and for the curious minds who love the rich History of this wonderful Country , please upload more like this. 👍

[@dean6816]

Instead of having to rely on people's VHS tapes..

[@scuzzy983]

I agree, more full-length documentaries would be very welcome. Personally I’d love to see What the Hell ever Happens in Marlborough (first broadcast 19 October 1969) 👌

[@themadplotter]

There’s a couple of 40min docus uploaded 👍

[@ashcross]

Yes, the clips are fascinating but we need a bigger archive of full length documentaries and programmes.

[@samhailess]

posterity

[@norman7527]

I was 6 years old when this was made. I was born in Lambeth Hospital, which no longer exists. Lived in Nine Elms.Bloody hard times for my mum and dad and pretty much everybody. Thank you to the person that uploaded this.

[@lambethlongshanks7990]

@@norman7527 Hi neighbour! I'm from next to Vauxhall Park. Criminal what they've done to 9 Elms recently in terms of sticking up tacky-looking high rises. Hope you're keeping well.

[@norman7527]

@lambethlongshanks7990 Hello friend! I went for a walk down memory lane earlier this year, but I couldn't hardly recognise the area, to be honest. I was brought up in a block of flats (not longer exists) in what is now Bramley Crescent and went to the nearby Springfield School, which has also disappeared. Hard but great and mischievous times All the best.

[@kathdevi481]

I was 11. Also lived in Nine Elms. Hard times but lovely caring people. Happy and sad to see this❤

[@kathdevi481]

​@@lambethlongshanks7990I went to Wyvil just up the road.

[@norman7527]

Does anybody remember the nearby Wilcox Road and Lambeth Walk markets? and if they still exist. I remember going with my mum to do shopping.

[@1958RBS]

What a find! I was a small child, growing up in SW London when this was made, yet the London shown here brings back so many memories. What strikes me most is how decent and well-behaved people were and how articulate those who left school at 14 were. We have lost a great deal in so many ways.

[@thomaspolice9400]

Yup, lost Rickets, Polio, T.B. the Krays, Smogs, Razor Gangs, Misogyny, ignorance, poor Health and Safety, low wages and snobbery.

[@robertandrews5640]

​@@thomaspolice9400what a negative misery

[@integrito3323]

​​​@@thomaspolice9400 and intolerance! Agree! I grew up there then, too!

[@Splozy]

@@thomaspolice9400 We lost low wages? what?

[@gaycha6589]

@@thomaspolice9400 Innit

[@hilaryepstein6013]

A full documentary! Thank you for this beautiful treasure of a film of London 60 years ago. The lives of these people had not been easy but it gave them a chance to share their thoughts and impart their wisdom.

[@BinnyBongBaron_AoE]

Surprised the BBC would share this these days. I do enjoy these archives.

[@lambethlongshanks7990]

Why are you surprised?

[@wilhelmtauber836]

@@lambethlongshanks7990 They normally hide this kind of history, and tell us how to remember things with modern BBC lies, don't they!

[@LAMF24]

@@lambethlongshanks7990 Because it's not diverse enough.

[@jamieroach5755]

@@lambethlongshanks7990 because they are showing how much better london was, wakey wakey...

[@cityzens634]

We must have got to the stage where it doesnt matter anymore if people know as we are so far gone to do anything about it.

[@ChavJag]

This is fab! My nan and grandad on my dads side brought up 10 kids in a 3 bedroom flat in tulse hill. I was born in Croydon and lived here all my life. I love learning about how things were round here way before i was even thought about and me dad was just a kid. My nan and grandad were called Ernie and Mabel. This vid is my history and heritage. 😎😎😎

[@marilynsmith8054]

I grew up in Camberwell. I absolutely loved my childhood there. We could play in the streets. Hardly any cars. We weren’t poor and never went without the necessities of life. We moved away. My parents’ house which they owned is up for £1,100,000 now my father would turn in his grave if he knew.

[@joemorgan636]

Well it was still money back then my father paid £9,000 for 1 off his houses in North London now worth 1.2 million it all levels out

[@Shining-Star-]

@@joemorgan636 in actual fact someone now would need to ear £300,000.00 a year in comparison to afford it. So it’s not comparable. That’s supply and demand now for you.

[@MsWonderlicious]

Did you know Marion and her mum Beatty? They were there through the war and probably up to early 60’s. They have some stories to tell.

[@beachgirl1947]

What an excellent documentary; please show more ! I was 17 when this was made; part of the changing generation of teenagers. The best was yet to come. I cannot believe how our country has changed now on so many levels…and not for the better. We have so much and yet we are the most unhappy country in Europe, apparently. We’ve lost our way. It’s heartbreakingly sad to see it unfold.

[@thomaspolice9400]

Too many years of Tory crap.

[@gaycha6589]

Yes. 40% population growth changes things irrevocabley. Especially when sucessive Govts have also failed to serve the wider population

[@55ablebof]

An absolute gem. What comes across is the optimism for the future and appreciation of the gains made. what a contrast to today.

[@Traveller69]

Absolutely facinating. All those stories, all those lives. They were all so realistic with their views and despite often admitting they lacked much education, they all vocalised their feelings with such clarity and honesty. To even think that fiesty lady who was 87, was therefore born in 1877! 🤯 Filmed 60 years ago, seems like 600.

[@kaysmith8992]

It's really striking how well they spoke back then - I don't mean posh or grammatically correct, but just with firmness and a sort of storytelling tone.

[@DaraM73]

That’s a great long form doc. So glad you didn’t butcher it into a series of YT clips. More please!

[@barrowboy61]

Fascinating. I was born and grew up in Bermondsey. My family were dockers. I went to Snowsfields and St Olave's Grammar School. What a lost world, it's hard to believe now that it ever existed.

[@emgee81]

And what's more heartbreaking is that the people that live there now and the powers that be behave as if Londoners like you and I never existed there at all! 😔

[@lambethlongshanks7990]

​@emgee81 in what way, MG?

[@EagerSnowyOwl-qx5wx]

​@@lambethlongshanks7990 If you don't know......I won't bother telling you.

[@jeshkam]

​@@EagerSnowyOwl-qx5wxNo, please do!

[@LloydLaughalot]

@@jeshkamhave to be so coy over the obvious fact that these people have been ethnically cleansed and replaced.

[@awakeningwithreiki9451]

I am fascinated by this documentary. I live in Bermondsey now, in 2024, and recognise many of the streets.

[@annawarner7516]

What a blast from the past! I was 2 years old when this film was made. I just about remember sitting in a big pram like these kids and i remember the old songs my gran used to sing! I am one of the last generation to experience such things. 😢

[@rthholland2496]

All those lovely songs, my dad used to sing them to me. I still remember the words

[@spencerTaylor-f5t]

When my nan died in '75 all the stall holders in East Lane formed a guard of honour as the coffin passed through. Now you'd probably get mugged. What a shame to see how London has declined.

[@1gerard47]

Imagine if any of these ladies seen london now,they would top themselves .

[@barbarahalkyard1901]

Many did back then.

[@BanalayerPete1972]

@@1gerard47: They would've been more horrified at your bad grammar.🤣

[@lesleyscott938]

A London I definitely remember ❤

[@JohnDayart]

I was born in 49 in Brook st hospital lived in kennington, Brixton and Tulse Hill untill I got married. Loved this video, it brought back so many great memories especially the East Lane ❤

[@terrymarsh1875]

This is amazing! The road shown at 0.54 is Rouel Road, where I was born. The tall building was known to us all as the Synagogue. The woman interviewed at 33.02 is Edie Jones. Husbands name is George. They were friends of our parents and we knew them as Aunt Edie and Uncle George. The two girls are Carol (eldest) and Jennifer. This brings back so many personal memories.

[@Bob-Horse]

Really like the old Londoners, always got on really well with them. I was four years old when this was shot, which I do have fond memories of. Thanks for posting.

[@scroggins100]

Dear BBC, You have the history of the 20 century on video. Please, more like this.. Many thanks,.

[@Flip5ide]

More full documentaries please 🙏🏼

[@MrCtsSteve]

Love all these old videos from our cousins across the pond . Interesting

[@benbrown3782]

"... and versa vice." Love it 😊

[@John-h7l9e]

I lived in London until it became unbearable. We moved out for the safety of our children. I miss the London of my childhood. It was a great city.

[@ChavJag]

i ws born in 77 and over 45+ years i've seen it changed so much and not for the better.

[@mus139]

London...Unrecognizable now.

[@apebass2215]

I miss it too. I'm sad my daughter can't experience the sense of family roots and community that used to exist. Politicians had no business selling off her culture and heritage.

[@thomaspolice9400]

@@mus139 Utter bollocks

[@linzieloo1]

💩

[@derin111]

Absolutely brilliant documentary! I was 2 years old then in South London. I don’t care what anyone says, life is so much better now than then! And, as some of the older people said in this film, it was already much better for them than their forbears. The difference is, they acknowledged and were grateful for it. Unlike the fools today who look back with rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia and think the past was better. It wasn’t! Thank you for uploading this.

[@lambethlongshanks7990]

Well said, Derin! I agree with every word. 👍🏾

[@paulw6183]

For you maybe, another spoonfed baby boomer. Not for the 2 year old starting their life now.

[@clivebaxter6354]

Waiting times to see a GP dentist and A&E were far better then. Then London was over 90 white now it's less than 40%, being invaded is not better.

[@matthewwilliams3827]

But it was better in terms of their mentality, they were more contented with less.

[@MyPronounIsGoddess]

That view depends upon what you value in life.

[@kareneroglu4438]

I was 8 years old in 1964 and not from London but what a lovely documentary this is about a time gone by.

[@Lin.J333]

Oh if only they could see us now ..I really would love to go back and have our children be brought up in my time 60s 70s ,we are so unrecognisable now .

[@LOCATION_REDACTED]

I’m amazed the BBC hasn’t ‘lost’ these archives.

[@willduffay2207]

Grow up

[@LOCATION_REDACTED]

@ I don’t understand your comment.

[@Hankydoodle1]

@@willduffay2207WTF 😂

[@TheMockatiel]

@@willduffay2207 Lighten up

[@willduffay2207]

@@TheMockatiel I'm super light, thank you. Just have to keep the fascists in check from time to time.

[@NonHalalBacon]

Heartbreaking looking at England now...

[@fionarabaiotti9518]

Yes we should go back to poverty and rickets…ah the good old days. The war, the Cuban missile crisis. Jimmy Saville. The Profumo scandal. This modern medicine…who needs it

[@joannedibben2352]

Yes it's totally heartbreaking what this country has been reduced to

[@algiles881]

@@joannedibben2352 Eight years of Sadiq Khan and his damned virtue signalling has left us off far worse than we were back in the sixties.

[@fionarabaiotti9518]

@@algiles881 oh I miss those days of slums and the Cuban missile crisis

[@algiles881]

@@fionarabaiotti9518 Sorry Fiona I didn't realise you had lost your sight - we still have slums and though we don't have Cuba, we have Ukraine, the Middle East (made far worse by Blair's illegal war) and far more drug and knife crime in Sadiq's cesspit.

[@debrahmcshane977]

Thanks for this lovely video. Lovely people in our London.

[@carldowd406]

Loved Sarf London, my family moved to Balham from Whitechapel for a better life in the mid 1800s. I went to the same Primary School as my Great Grandmother, St Mary's Balham and really enjoyed the strength of friendships and strong community back in the day. My Mother lived in the same premises, a block of flats in Balham High Road for 58 years on the third floor and in that time she climbed the height of Everest approximately 22 times...

[@etherealdreams7936]

Du-Cane court ?

[@carldowd406]

@etherealdreams7936 no no, they have lifts I seem to remember, but good observation! Thx for replying 👍👍

[@etherealdreams7936]

@@carldowd406 Ah no worries I'm originally from Pimlico to Tooting Bec, then Balham and now Streatham hill 👍

[@carldowd406]

@etherealdreams7936 well you're getting around a bit eh, great old film made about Pimlico back in the day... I had family in Leigham Court Streatham... By the sounds of it? In time, you ll make it all the way to the south coast 👍👍

[@etherealdreams7936]

@carldowd406 Ah yes hopefully I'll make it out of the big smoke in my latter years 🙏

[@denise5052]

Wonderful to hear those echoes through time.

[@Aubury]

A glimpse of a generation, with two world wars, an economic depression, amidst poverty for most part. Memories of my grandparents in Redan Terrace, Camberwell.

[@Alison-LoveAndUnity]

The stories. All thanks to the creation of the NHS, council housing and Our welfare state. And now they have almost succeeded in taking it all back from us and return us to that poverty, disease and struggle 😢

[@mrnobody3276]

I bet you smell like cheese

[@dariusdoodoo]

I’d be delighted to see end of the NHS

[@headron66]

@@mrnobody3276says mr nobody 🤣😂💀

[@kateh1743]

​@@mrnobody3276you are clearly as thick as cheddar.

[@mrnobody3276]

@@kateh1743 I'm more like a wedge of wensleydale. I crumble when I'm touched.

[@JunePrince-Iles]

Enjoyed this film , i was 17 when it was made and enjoying my first job off fleet street. Loved being in the city, i was brought up by my Londoner dad and Nottingham mother in CATFORD S.East LONDON. Went to same Victorian school as my dad did. Then the 1960's brought modern glass well-equipped comprehensive secondary schools! Then came The Beatles and the entire Liverpool Sound! WOW ! Us teenagers were well and truly launched! Happy memories!!❤

[@teddiemack8071]

Imagine any of these people returning to that area now and seeing it now. They would not even believe it was England. Yet just remember everybody..........there is no replacement because the media and authorities simply tell us that it is not happening.

[@givemeabreak100]

What goes around comes around, suck it up...

[@alanhargreaves-thevoiceofr2361]

@@givemeabreak100 the 'british empire' is a proven fraud . do not believe a word of it .

[@rabbit64sj91]

Fascinating documentary! I was born in February 1964, & first moved to London in December 1966. Makes me feel quite old watching this now I'm sixty. 😀

[@peterellicott58]

I was born in Rotherhithe and I’m proud to see and hear so many people in this video competently express themselves. Their use of grammar is better than that used by most university students of today.

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

I was born Christmas 1961 at home on a small estate next to Rotherhithe tunnel, a stones throw from the Mayflower pub. Our family moved along to Surrey Docks a few years later, and lived on the Silwood estate. My parents moved us out to what seemed like the suburbs in early 73, and now i live in a small village on the West Kent, East Sussex border. I went back to Surrey Docks and the surrounding areas a few years back to see what it what like. What a shame that it has changed so much, not the knocking down, and building of new homes, but demographically, its totally different.

[@cecilefox9136]

Sure.😮

[@iseegoodandbad6758]

I heard home birthed people are healthy and have this wisdom and peace about them that hospital birthed people don't have? 🤔

[@ramsey633]

London has no white Londoners left and the newcomers have made it dangerous

[@timjmyall]

I was born on the 15th December 1961. Happy Birthday to us!

[@trytellingthetruth.2068]

@timjmyall Happy birthday to you 🎉🥳

[@heinkle1]

A totally lost London, with it gone a wholly different society and outlook.

[@jasonayres]

Many years ago, I had to call the bingo as part of my day job. Bizarrely (or not?), on several occasions I accidentally hypnotised myself. That's the best way I can describe it. Repetitively calling the numbers, I would just begin to nod off. I'm having trouble with sleeping recently. I might start reciting the numbers and see what happens.

[@Nickster_P]

When trying to sleep there's 2 things. Lay there and focus on counting backwards from 1000. you'll soon drop off. Another is to not worry about not getting to sleep. Resting and relaxing in bed is just as good for you. I was told this by a great therapist, that sleep is overrated. Be relaxed about not getting to sleep and you'll naturally drift off. So that's a couple of mind tricks you can try. Good luck.........👌

[@jasonayres]

@Nickster_P Hey, thanks very much 👋 I'll try this counting exercise tonight.

[@1gerard47]

I tried counting sheep,but some run round to jump the fence then I have to start again,it's always the same ones.😂

[@peterhaines6535]

Love the way the people burst into song all the time not sure why but it must be a comfort thing .....God help what they would think of London today.

[@stephenomara9343]

A lot of living room ms had a piano very few had tvs

[@bugandbay]

What a gem to view, some wise words spoken from the lips of a past generation instead of the voice over of a narrator, if the BBC still produced the likes of this (which they never will) I would probably purchase a tv & licence tax but I gave up on that 20 years ago 🙂

[@jojojo8835]

Have you heard anything from ‘the listening project’? It’s a radio4 podcast very like this but obviously without the pictures. Each is about 15mins long, and 63 are available on my phone’s generic podcast player.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Same here, I thought the TV was worthless and gave it up when it went digital. I was 16 in 1964 and was really only familiar north of the river (tho' I knew the trams in Welling). Things would be very familiar if I went back to that time. There were so many bomb sites until the 1960s and the docks and river traffic and the liners at Tilbury and the big ships sitting on the mud at low tide.

[@johannesclericusparacelsus4084]

For anyone who enjoyed this, I'd also recommend 'Where the Houses Used to Be' from 1971, where London residents discuss the move from street level to high rise living. Excellent, moving, and featuring a 70s moustache of historical significance. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnnIhp1ofc99m80si=glMgWOWJmWOI_vNZ

[@WilliamBarrington-k8s]

Black man here, I was born in South East London 1958 a lot of this documentary brought back a lot of memories. They were the good old days

[@wilhelmtauber836]

It's a place in a country that has been lost to time forever. It's like looking at another planet. Such decent and trusting ordinary poor folk who became extinct in only a few post war years, caused by wicked Westminster politicians as usual.

[@Captck]

Funny how a lot of what they said then can be applied to today. Things like kids having to learn things for themselves, instead of being spoonfed and protected. I often think that my children are worse off because they couldn't just go off and explore/play with their friends like I did in the 80s. Also about how they may have been poorer, but they were happier and how much it has changed since they were little. All things I could apply to today and most likely in another 20-40 years.

[@bettinaairaksinen215]

Ich liebe das britische Volk und die englische Sprache von Kindheit an. 1965 erstmals in Maidsstone and London. Unforgettable!

[@johnarnehansen9574]

I would love to some more newsreels as well as some more documentaries and interviews!..

[@rytesize]

As a "Sarf Lundanar" this is excellent

[@woodhammer8341]

Wonderful, insightful video. As close to time travel as one can get. Thanks for uploading.

[@jnuttso1]

Aww our beautiful country as it used to be

[@lambethlongshanks7990]

I love this. Wonderful documentary.

[@RobertHoward-d8g]

I was born in 1949, and grew up just off the Old Kent Road. Sadly, what used to be a thriving community has been decimated and scattered. Where once there used to be Victorian bay fronted houses, tenement blocks, back street pubs and corner shops, now sits Burgess Park. A soul-less expanse of real estate. Former occupants transferred to Thamesmead and Erith and similar areas once known as marshland, or to 'new towns'. Ah, well. It seems the (then) GLC succeeded where the Luftwaffe failed.

[@1gerard47]

The torys and now labour allow an invasion every day.

[@kailashpatel1706]

Living in the Elephant and Castle on an estate in the 1970s was pretty tough...it was no walk in the park..

[@RobertHoward-d8g]

@@kailashpatel1706 Ah... One of the 'Rodney Road' crowd?

[@kailashpatel1706]

@@RobertHoward-d8g Around Law Street..it was called that?

[@RobertHoward-d8g]

@@kailashpatel1706 Ah, no... I mis-placed you to south of the E&C roundabout. I now realise you were north of it. Rodney Road once had a telephone exchange which gave the area its 'code'. In the same way that Scotland Yard's phone number was Whitehall 1212 - Whitehall being the exchange - my parents phone number was Rodney 4988. You were closer to the river than me. Almost the only times I strayed into your neck of the woods was to seek treatment from Guys hospital after being involved in street fights - they came with the territory. Thanks for the contact... Be well.

[@jamessmithson-br7rm]

When they talk about sweeping away the lovely old buildings. The ones that now go for a premium and are incredibly sought after 🙈

[@chrisbayes2972]

"One of mine isn't so bright" - Scathing honesty!

[@markwhalebone751]

I was three when this was made and I was brought up where it was made. My grandad worked at the chocolate factory with the swimming pool ( Shuttleworths) when this was filmed and most of his working life apart from the war. Nan worked around the corner in Peak Freans.

[@gargamunidas9478]

I was born in St Olaf’s rd Fulham 1964. This documentary is absolutely wonderful

[@Carl-x8y3c]

I was just 4 years young in 1964. I dont have much memory of it. I can remember pop music on the radio. The Beatles , Dave Clark Five , The Hollies etc.

[@kimelks9163]

I was born in 64

[@Carl-x8y3c]

@kimelks9163 So what

[@kimelks9163]

@@Carl-x8y3c rude!

[@Carl-x8y3c]

@kimelks9163 who me ? why ? I don't understand ? You say you were born in 1964. Well what of it ?

[@KarenBeadle]

my great grand parents - grand parents & parents all from South London - still here but in north London - we were such a mix of ethnicities & characters - love London ❤

[@hopebgood]

😀❤👍

[@leiwarl]

Everything changes but, London has not changed for the better,IMO.

[@whitemountainapache3297]

It's incredible to think that when this was filmed, the Richardson Gang were at the height of their powers, and England was still two years away from winning the world cup.

[@Shemra]

I was born in Hackney Hospital in 65, but moved to Huntsman St in 69. Went to Surrey Square, and spent many a Saturday morning running down the Lane.

[@michaelgregory9929]

Did you have pie & mash from Arments too...

[@LondonGoldie7]

It was 68 when you all moved 👍🏼

[@kevinsavage808]

Home sweet home. I was born in Guys Hospital in February 1953 and can remember the streets and people like these. The people have been betrayed by successive governments, and London now has hardly any indigenous people left.

[@iseegoodandbad6758]

Your " home birthed" counterparts say there's not enough diversity 😂😂!!!

[@angelaglanville9377]

Indigenous? Brits have many bloodlines from the Romans, vikings and the French. And for all the ‘ foreigners’ who now live in Britain blame the bygone British Empire greed. I’m proud to be a Brit in some ways but ashamed of our history in other ways. Move on!!

[@kevinsavage808]

@angelaglanville9377 Our blood lines are white European and the British empire gave so much to the world, I am proud of our history including our contributions to mankind.

[@angelaglanville9377]

@@kevinsavage808 it gave so much but also took too much.

[@kevinsavage808]

@angelaglanville9377 Sorry Angela, I just don't agree, however I accept people have different views.

[@scuzzy983]

I really enjoyed this, thanks for uploading. If you’re going to be posting more full-length documentaries I’d love to see What the Hell ever Happens in Marlborough (first broadcast 19 October 1969) 👌

[@williamc6564]

This news item documentary is shocking the way it depicts life's difficulties. Imagine how 60 years from now in the year 2024 how difficult life will likely be for everyone? Shocking. Just shocking.

[@seanbruce2425]

Well done for getting out, we totally agree and be moving to Spain soon ourselves.

[@whitelines3097]

I was born in Brixton 1951 and watching this makes me sad. Our society has been destroyed

[@ColinAtkins-j3h]

Nice to see none on the streets great video 👍🦊

[@JaneRoss-ff3wp]

Thsbk you for showing this ! Its so important and to know what its like today is heartbreaking. Id give a lot to go back in time to Uk in those days. I was born in 64 and ive witnessed so much chsnge in just 30 yrs .

[@janweed3646]

My granddad worked on the docks at tower bridge unloading boats. One day a sugar bale snapped its cable and fell on my grandad and he lost his leg. Two weeks later he was back at work, working in the stores, he had a job for life after this, he worked till he was 73. Nowadays that would have been a massive payout but this was 1929

[@dancingdingo]

I love documentaries like these!

[@sebastianohalloran9093]

This was an absolute delight. So sad that within a decade containerisation reeked such havoc in the area.

[@Adrian-cw8yu]

RIP London

[@TravisBennett-hx7gt]

So sad to see how it's all changed now, hopefully it will get better in the future🤞🤞

[@krishnan-resurrection714]

The importation has only just started ...unfortunately ..

[@chrisbayes2972]

"I get up at quarter to four [...] and then I'm out." - Admirable!

[@jon9218]

That life was on the way out even then. Docks did not have long to go. £50 a docker said he earned on a good week. 10 years later it was all over.

[@stephenomara9343]

When it became containerised in Tilbury 😢

[@martinobrien7110]

Fascinating . The process continues .

[@lf30456]

Good old Blighty! Before we were sold out !! This is what England should look and sound like 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿💔🤍💙

[@Zebra-yq8lr]

Everyone is so slim!!

[@lordwalker71]

lol not everyone

[@patboudotlamot]

formidable documentaire

[@georgewilliams8198]

Words of wisdom and happiness were spoken by hard-working Londoners who had a hard life.

[@allsearpw3829]

GREAT TIMES , WHEN PEOPLE WERE GLAD TO BE ALIVE .

[@Coomberg]

BBC documenting London of 1964 before they played a key role in destroying it.

[@nickbumble2240]

🤣

[@londo776]

Who are ''they''

[@Tmuk2]

​@@londo776The BBC

[@nicholassimpson518]

What a prat

[@kateh1743]

​@@londo776The BBC as obviously stated - why you trying to look for something that isn't there.

[@patshepherd784]

I was telling my grand children what a London was and this film explores it exactly 44:40

[@avalondreaming1433]

I imagine all of the jobs these people had are now gone. The chocolates factory with the swimming pool was fantastic 😋

[@kailashpatel1706]

We lived in the Elephant and Castle in the mid to late 1970s and the area was bloody dangerous..

[@bardo0007]

Amazing video. Listen to the old wise man at the end of this documentary, it could have been today.

[@seanmacleod1724]

Fantastic old documentary full of characters and people I recognise….real Londoners. Particularly interesting to see East Street Market in 1964 on the same day that I came across a headline stating that three people had been stabbed in that same market, leading to the death of one of them. (11/11/24)….. This is precisely what people mean when they say “Britain isn’t what it used to be”. All we hear of now are stabbings, stabbings and more stabbings. The people featured in this documentary are working class, not particularly well educated or articulate but they are essentially decent with a strong moral code. They understood hardship and welcomed the changes that were improving their lives. They weren’t perfect, but give me folks like these any day, folks like my old nans and grandads….Salt of the earth.

[@MakeMakeShift]

This makes you think about power and wealth and how it’s given out. In theory there would be no poor and no poor areas because those in power have the ability to help everyone. But they choose not to. This has been the case since the dawn of civilisation. I was born in 1984. In those days there were still people around who were born in Victorian times. That connection has now been lost. I was also born in London and have seen the changes it has gone through since then. I feel like I exist in a state between the past and the present. Even in my late teens/early 20’s London still retained some of the characteristics it has in this film. Those days are long gone now expect for echoes and memories. I cry for all those that came before and I fear for what is to come.

[@sleepyheadsleeps]

nothing stays the same, always slowly changing.

[@NOWtheband]

Thankfully, that is very true! 🙂

[@GazBobArt]

London has not changed for the better.

[@londo776]

@@GazBobArt Just spotted another racist

[@marine4lyfe85]

Slowly?

[@armjos1]

They would turn in there graves now, nothing left of that world today 😢

[@robbflynn4325]

Where do you begin to comment on this? So may things.

[@alanstarkie2001]

How eloquently local, working people spoke back then.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

This is not my London. I was 11 in 1964 and lived in Brockley, London SE4, going to my Secondary Modern School (in Catdford SE6). To get to see the Thames, I'd need to get a bus either to Greenwich (or to perhaps Tooley Street and on up to the Embankment or docks from there), mostly though I went to Greenwich (SE10) to see the Cutty Sark, visit Greenwich Park, climb the steep hill to the Royal Observatory (which I visited with my Grandad, as I did with him to see lots of "the sights" in London, including walking around 'The City' etc.) I didn't meet anyone in South London til 1970 when I started work at my second job, (in a Riding School in Dulwich (SE21) as two of the girls who rode there and became my friends, both lived in Bermondsey (SE1) 😮...so many of these sites are unknown to me...!! I'm 71 now and I wonder how many older people, like me, just grew into old age or whether they found themselves being 50+ apparently suddenly and realising time seems to be outpacing us and we looked at our parents and we were aging too!! That feeling was 21 years ago now... I wonder how the youngsters in that film are feeling these days... I also wonder what today's youngster will be feeling as they age...not that I'll be around to find out by theen!!

[@krishnan-resurrection714]

No one will even be speaking english soon ...

[@brigidsingleton1596]

@krishnan-resurrection714 Do I detect a hint of racism entering your comment...?! (Sounds as if you were heading that way...)

[@krishnan-resurrection714]

@@brigidsingleton1596 straight truth .

[@rob1921]

im from east london, moved out 15 years ago, i wouldnt move back to be honest, the london of this video and the one i grew up in in the 70s /80s is unrecognisable today

[@AntMan-b8l]

The birth of modernization through the observations of Victorians. Epic piece of visual documentation from 1964. What a jem.

[@JonniePolyester]

My old manor ❤

[@JJONNYREPP]

1964: CHANGING Times in SOUTH LONDON | South of the River | Voice of the People | BBC Archive 0816am 7.11.24 i concur with the old dear 8mins 05secs into the ski - wherein she pooh-poohs those notions of being happier even though most were destitute. it's cobblers!! nonsense...... it's a case of kids being younger and having things to do, being part of her peer group etc etc... pure nostalgia. not so this old gal who knew what she was about, watching her people be sent away for having kids out of wedlock and taking up with the wrong type etc etc... she was spot on. nothing grand about being poor. though it does highlight the shyster element that surfaces. and will forever surface as folk panic and feel they'll lose their social standing come the revolution..... or whatever b.s they use these pawns for... good on her, i say.

[@balluna1453]

I lived those days, first hand, and can tell you/everyone the 'good old days' didn't exist in my working class world!, it was tough for WC, especially the women, they started work on half the pay of their male counterpart, I can assure you that 'half pay' it wasn't!, it was far less and it lasted way beyond teenage years, in fact it never came to an end until after the 1980s had, getting credit needed to be backed by a male relative etc., signature, legally but not actually since it was mostly men that made the final decisions. The only plus I can see is that there are more false teeth being worn, which accounts for the start of the NHS.

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@balluna1453 Comments on ‘1964: CHANGING Times in SOUTH LONDON | South of the River | Voice of the People | BBC Archive’ 0904am 7.11.24 though that woman who was earning more that her father ever would seems to give the lie to the facts of the matter. i suppose such matters are relative. the problem seems to be folk putting themselves forward as representative of strife or woe and they are nothing of the sort. such is life... best off asking the old girl how it was... her leaving work to have kids and not being seen as fit for purpose after the fact was how it was - so i have been told. they even had age ranges as to when you were to be parcelled off in the sense of leaving school - between 14 and 16... getting a job getting yer end away and settling down. strange world - which is not that far removed from our own era 70mor 80 years later... as a child i only recall having to move home as the council had refurbished the homes.. gas fires instead of coal fires, plush bathrooms...