London Early Morning People Going To Work (1933)

[@JPB-wy5cl]

I look at these old videos and always wonder who these people were, how they lived their lives. Very interesting video.

[@kevinjackson9786]

I do exactly the same when I see these great old films. Then I feel a bit sad to think they are all dead now.

[@Tampo-tiger]

Yes, they were all as involved in their day-to-day lives as we are in ours. One of them may well have been my mother as she walked across that bridge sometimes from South Lambeth Rd. I always try to see if she's there in any old film of Central London. I remember her clothes back in the 1960s when I was very young, so know roughly what she would look like.

[@douglasdare175]

The majority of this film is shot from the north end of London Bridge, looking across towards Southwark Cathedral. This bridge was built in 1831 but due to both the bridge itself weighing too much to be supported by the soft bed of the river AND the increased weight of traffic over the years, the bridge was sold in 1962 and rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, USA. The film could be late 20s or early 30s (as you can tell from the clothing and busses) but for those who are commenting below about the fast walking, film at this time was shot at a slower FPS rate (frames per second). This means when the footage is played back everything appears to be faster. Beautiful film. Thank you for sharing.

[@nancyhobson9710]

Yes, thank you for sharing

[@orangewarm1]

I reckon they shot it from the Monument

[@spaceshiprider768]

I heard that America bought the bridge thinking it was Tower Bridge so we’re very disappointed to when it arrived 🤣

[@nancyhobson9710]

Who can blame them if they were sold a pup?

[@Sheckles028]

I didn't know bridges could be sold.

[@vilamor007]

Wow, the crowds of people walking to work is amazing, brilliant video.

[@alumycrick2911]

The film was shot eighty-nine years ago. Nobody in it appears to be aged under fifteen. Even so, I wonder if even one of them is still alive today?

[@wiseali5584]

Having a car back then must have been fascinating.

[@chriswilde7246]

I grew up in South London in the early 70's even then there was only 2 or 3 cars parked up in every street, you go down the same roads now, you couldn't fit a bike between the parked cars, as you probably know. :0/

[@QPRTokyo]

This film deserves to be restored .

[@oddities-whatnot]

Colourising ? I cant do films but just started doing photos.

[@samtho114]

@Louise X doesn't improve it greatly, but set the playback speed at 0.75x. Obviously doesn't fix the shutter speed but still makes it look even better.

[@robward4655]

Slow this down to 0.75 in KZbin and you will see a lot more

[@MrGregHiller]

Thanks a lot for this tip !!

[@cristiansolares2007]

It looks normal now

[@regularbasis9295]

KZbin need to FIND to show film and music at it natural speed.

[@rogermoore27]

Amazing stuff. To be able to see so far back in time yet it is less than a century ago....is incredible

[@robertsmith5970]

Proof not that it was needed that when my Granny used to say of this time "we never went out with out a hat and looking smart",she was not lying!She got to 98 (born 1909).Coming from this time,in old age she was not keen on modern fashions and music and used to call it"the age of the ugly"!!

[@robertsmith5970]

@Edward Carter That generation are much missed, and I think of my Granny daily and class myself privileged to have had her to such a great age as I'm sure you must feel too.

[@robertsmith5970]

@Edward Carter I totally agree with you.!

[@stevenvitali7404]

Wear whatever you want , it doesn't matter, unless you have been conditioned to think that dressing smart actually means anything in life, just an idea that everyone just copied, people were more brainwashed back then I think

[@rickythe2nd63]

She was RIGHT! I shall now employ that terminology: the Age of the Ugly! God rest the dear Woman.

[@RikiNewtonMusicianSongwriter]

Personally I’m excited to all hell - to have been born as Beatlemania was about to swoop across the world 🌍. Living in a world without their music - is wholly unthinkable imho. Rx

[@tattyshoesshigure5731]

Fascinating footage... I could watch these old films of London streets for hours. That must be the old London Bridge that's now resting its bones over in sunny Lake Havasu, Arizona.

[@Isleofskye]

I am sure you are right, my friend...

[@BellogsTheChicken]

Everyone is white

[@kevinlongman007]

@@BellogsTheChicken The mass immigration into the UK did not start until the 1950's.

[@samsum3738]

I crossed that bridge many times .i think it was dismantled in the late 60s.

[@garyhewitt489]

Is it true they thought they were getting Tower Bridge ?

[@fslinteriors7889]

Don't suppose you have any footage of Clerkenwell's Little Italy around this period? My Great grandparents settled there after an arduous journey from Parma and never spoke a word of English, what a strange time it must have been :)

[@johnobrien8398]

Some of these buildings are still standing now amazing they haven’t been demolished for modern glass buildings nice to see this vid tho very cool

[@chuckc7815]

Must be listed buildings, can only be refurbished

[@maameodo4451]

Even the street lights are still there

[@sanchoodell6789]

Plus, of course, building damaged or destroyed due to WWII aerial bombing which this part of London along with the East End suffered greatly

[@elias7748]

Those horses must have been very scared of all those cars

[@truthoutmedia]

Fantastic footage thank you

[@snuckythehunchback683]

And not one of them had the urge or need to call someone from that lone telephone box at the end of the bridge!

[@Dtigernumber1]

People were healthy and slim because they used to walk. Less cars..

[@Szhc]

But smoking was very popular back then, as that wasn't healthy.

[@miranda-q6w]

There also wasn’t chocolate, cakes and McDonalds on every corner either. That is also why so slim.

[@Bucketheadhead]

Fewer cars

[@owenjones7517]

Slimmer, definitely. Healthier? Maybe not that straight forward.

[@onepalproductions]

No processed food or supermarkets.

[@jazaabdullah8846]

So crowded even at that time!

[@ljc6535]

Brilliant ..how England used to be.

[@sammyjames8920]

Shut up you racist! England belongs to the world, not just english people anymore! 😡

[@StarrySkies91]

Sammy James... well, that escalated quickly... and unnecessarily. Let’s all just enjoy the footage.

[@ljc6535]

@@sammyjames8920 who the hell you talking. Shut your mouth you don't know me and I will say it again and again. Calling me racists . ..always ..oh racists just have a different opinion....

[@TheBritishAce]

@@sammyjames8920 It belongs to English people!

[@thatldnfella1464]

@@sammyjames8920 Muppet

[@tarquin4592]

Fascinating, nostalgic footage. People have always been star struck ever since the invention of cameras. Then one could see Southwark cathedral clearly, today it is dwarfed by that monstrosity called the Shard.

[@mayaescott6250]

0

[@oest2029]

@Gulaid M I don't have a problem with tasteful modern architecture, but the Shard is a corporate glass monstrosity which looks horrible and creates a wind tunnel effect on the street below

[@wizzardwacs]

Oh come on the Shard is pretty cool!

[@bernaldelcastillo1768]

Very sad to think everyone in the video is already dead

[@pettermillar4158]

Even this policeman would be at least 120 years old.

[@fakhreabdin]

One who made this video, who may have never thought that one day millions of people will be watching their video at a time around the world.

[@davidrayner182]

@@fakhreabdin It wasn't a video. There were no such things as videos in 1933, It was a 35mm film.

[@Gasta1983]

@@davidrayner182 you sir, are like a child. You have a brain of a child. I love it.

[@geoffmower8729]

Yes I was just thinking that.

[@garygee5365]

Has anybody noticed anything about this film.

[@doretimothy]

Definitely London Bridge with Southwark Cathedral in the background.

[@angebrowne1730]

Thank you. My father would have been 13 then.

[@dambuster6387]

9.27 Broad st Goods Station ?

[@chegeny]

“These friends - and he laid his hand on some of the books - have been good friends to me, and for some years past, ever since I had the idea of going to London, have given me many, many hours of pleasure. Through them I have come to know your great England; and to know her is to love her. I long to go through the crowded streets of your mighty London, to be in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is." -- Bram Stoker, Dracula

[@patmays7344]

Absolute mayhem! What gets me, is the thought that all the people in this busy video, are all deceased. That’s a lot of people. Its a bit sad really.

[@patrickobrien1566]

It was probably filmed in the late 1920s , there are too many cloche hats on the women to be 1933 ,notice how foggy it is.

[@mredwardward]

At 2 minutes in a six-wheeled inside-staircase AEC LT2 bus enters shot. These did not enter London Transport service until 1931 so it cannot possibly be any earlier year. I think your assessment of just how fashionable London commuters were in their millinery choices may be a trifle optimistic. Besides, there's quite a few tilted hats in amongst the cloche numbers, presumably sported by those at the sartorial cutting edge.

[@adriel7540]

@@mredwardward Agreed, not everyone could afford to be up to date on fashion but garments and accessories were made with longevity in mind and were well looked after. Today's Western society, by contrast, and generalizing, treat many things as transient and disposable. Clothing, shoes, and furniture, are not as well built unless you go the designer/artisan route. Back then cobblers were well utilized, socks were darned, furniture was solid wood and built to last, none of this particle board. I do marvel how certain things were made back then and sometimes question if we have devolved in some regards...

[@jusb1066]

never ending smog in london way into the 70s

[@mackan-kf4tg]

Patrick O'Brien Impossible for it to be the late 1920s, take a look at the different types of London busses.....this was shot in 1932 at the earliest👍🏻

[@samsum3738]

A London General bus , the year tubes and buses became London Transport

[@kenaldri4982]

No wonder everyone was so slim back then. They walked it off.. At 7:35 - a very distraught looking flower peddler. Maybe he should move to the side of the street? I see traffic cops using the latest in cutting edge technology. Hold out your arm and pray that folks will stop behind it. Many didn't, sending them careening smack dab into traffic. As a pedestrian, its clear you are basically on your own. Just try ticketing thousands of people for jaywalking.

[@jusb1066]

peope still lived in london in those days, the yare walking TO the underground to go to their employment,, so not walking everywhere

[@kevinskipp2762]

No such thing as jaywalking in the UK.

[@Joe-dj4xz]

No McDonald's back then butt.

[@onyx395]

Aww that flower peddler looks so sad :(

[@luislaplume8261]

Some of these buses look like they came from the World War 1 era.

[@MerleOberon]

I wonder what Phosferine was?

[@grofuss88]

Phosferine was a herbal supplement to restore your appetite don't know if you can still buy it, btw I enjoyed your films.

[@MerleOberon]

Thank you for replying, I love looking at all the details in these old films.

[@MerleOberon]

Sorry, forgot, I love Miss Oberon too.

[@Roger.Coleman1949]

I've heard a period audio advert for it and it was called a ' tonic wine ' !

[@garyhewitt489]

@@Roger.Coleman1949 my parents took over an old shop in the 80s, It had old dusty wine racks with some old bottles in them. There was a bottle of it in there . Also some other interesting old bottles Found four crated of old Australian Sweet white wine, in a strange blue fluted bottle I reckon it was at least forty years old,cheap plonk. It had matured into a fine smooth tawny port like drink that was delicious.

[@jameslatimer1432]

Everybody seems to be walking on the same side of the bridge

[@martincooney6504]

Interesting just how determinedly everyone was walking back then - with some sort of purpose that seems missing today. What a bustling city it was. Also, they way people dodged and weaved past each other, in such close proximity, with barely a second glance. The word 'choreographed' comes to mind. Even the trucks appear to be barreling through the melee , as opposed to picking their way. But perhaps, best of all, no lumbering tourists blocking the way!

[@Lytton333]

Exactly my thoughts! People seemed to have more general dignity of gait than today. The clothes do that - I know, I've worn period clothing.

[@RMGWOO]

Every comment romanticizing the past gets more and more exaggerated. Now people walked with more determination back then? Come on. As if people on foot in England just have no idea where they're going.

[@ds1868]

@@RMGWOO You forget the context of the time. This film was shot around 1932, people in Great Britain were more confident back then, they had a sense of purpose and pride in themselves and their country. At this time London was the centre of the greatest Empire in world history, it's Navy still the largest and most powerful in the world and the King was also Emperor of India. Althouth the United States had grown significantly after 1918 Great Britain was still the number one world power. It was a completely different world, a concept of British power and influence completely beyond your comprehension. If you have nothing useful to say keep your uneducated comments to yourself.

[@RMGWOO]

@@ds1868 I didn't say anything about the national character of the time. You're getting carried away with an argument I'm not even making, and then insulting me at the conclusion. I'm saying that you can't tell all that by footage of people's general body language, which was what the original comment claimed. And I was saying that there's always someone romanticizing the past in any archive footage found on KZbin. It's a common response, and in a hundred years there will be people romanticizing this era, even though we are harassed by all its problems. I know about the Britain of that time. I'm British.

[@bluecardholder]

Actually, if you look on a normal work day the flow of pedestrians walking north across the bridge in the morning peak is more or less the same. They have all come from London Bridge Station/

[@bagpuss998]

Magic

[@__-sm2nq]

I love how fast they walk Edit: by the way i know that its speed up. I just like how it looks as if they are walking fast

[@ahassen1236]

They are walking at a normal pace. It's the film that's fast

[@flipshroomz9379]

It looks like theyre all late for work! In such a hurry!! 🖐😂🖑

[@elpistolero9394]

A Hassen WOOOOOSH!!

[@jcbanbury]

🤣🤣 cant you see its speed up lol

[@ENGLISHMURPHY]

El Pistolero you’re dumb

[@z.deutch1334]

My grandfather was born in 1933 :)

[@BrassLock]

The clock.says half past nine, so all these people are late for work! No wonder they're running. Also, in my opinion it's more like the mid 1920's judging by the ladies fashions and the model cars running on the streets. The 1930's cars were more substantial and integrated in their metal pressed bodywork, whereas those shown here are clearly metal on timber frames with very thin profile wheels and tyres.

[@Isleofskye]

Well observed :)

[@mackan-kf4tg]

dav snow Sorry but it’s definitely earliest 1931. Look at the London bus types.....they tell a very detailed story👍🏻

[@abdulhameed87]

People are not running, the speed of the early day camera makes it look like they are running....

[@cjdfv]

London was quiet in the 30s. Damn.

[@saeedurrahman2056]

It was taken 86 years ago

[@geegod9122]

Lol films had no sound audio then, remember silent films?? Lol, watch charlie chaplain or summit

[@bangosdemangos416]

Chris Dykstra It’s even quieter now 😧

[@TheCaretaker555]

before the UK started to decline and still continues to sink into darkness

[@mikeparkinson8192]

People walked a lot faster back then, then again they were fitter back in the day as there were no KFC's McDonalds and Subways dotted around all over the place.

[@imdctubeuk]

Mike Parkinson people seems to walk faster because I believe this video was filmed without the sound therefore at less frames per second.... Hance this unnatural movement like a silent film. But I agreed, that generation ate less and more important healthier food.

[@Stringbean421]

@Mike. You are joking right? it's the speed of the original film from these early days cameras. All films of this early period were faster in terms of frames per second. In reality, they're walking at normal pace just like everyone else today.

[@normannokes9513]

Daily Bovril , prominent advert, provided the impetus.

[@nickmorrison4637]

Change to speed to .75 in the control panel, it makes it very realistic.

[@StewartP45]

@@nickmorrison4637 Thank you, had never noticed playback speed control before. Learn something new every day !

[@ianpeddle6818]

Given the ladies fashion I would suggest this is mid to late 1920s. I find these videos bittersweet given that London isn’t like this now. My family lived just the other side of the bridge in Bermondsey then. Now London isn’t really London.

[@henryseidel5469]

I am German , and I am surprised about how Gentlemen-like all these people look like. There is hardly anyone without hat and tie. Actually, I was expecting some ragged-trousered proletarians rushing through steam clouds to their dirty factories. Yet I believe there must have been a special area where these films were taken. Would be nice to know where it is.

[@tomotoole8589]

Think of how many would have been on the underground Rail.

[@capriomrowkicz1751]

Gold Time

[@user-sedoikot]

Постановочные съёмки.

[@grahamcheshire]

Recently went to see this bridge in Lake Havasu. Looks a lot better there, well looked after.

[@mikeos1]

There's what is probably an urban legend that the Americans thought they were getting TOWER bridge.

[@kevinlongman007]

@@mikeos1 I think they did.

[@johnbyrne474]

4.40 cameraman going for a quick pee

[@VinayKumar-db4qz]

Back then people just walked faster.

[@shinelight727]

Yes, no waddling of overweight people

[@hoppocompus7325]

chanve the playback speed to 0.75x if im right old cameras had a tendency to playback faster than they recorded

[@ENGLISHMURPHY]

Hoppocompus amazes me how people don’t realise that lol

[@muddybeard]

It's still like this now, with the congestion charge 😂 (pre-covid)

[@MikeMike-hx3gm]

Less than 30 years before 8 was born. 1933 the year the Nazis came to power

[@evzenvarga9707]

When English people still inhabited London.

[@amylee9]

So many people! So overpopulated.

[@Isleofskye]

NO ! That was just outside London Bridge station with people travelling into London and just crossing London Bridge to work in The City Of London..

[@Joe-dj4xz]

So overpopulated now though

[@ItsDeffoScott]

@ And it would be crowded by nazis if it wasn't for Britains brown commonwealth soldiers fighting for its freedom across the world, you're welcome! :D

[@subashgrg4666]

@@ItsDeffoScott we got more diversity now and it's better. Proud Londoner. 😆🤗

[@malpreece5008]

Chris That’s funny! 😂

[@elias7748]

The streets definitely reeked of gasoline and horse crap

[@dannywest7587]

Fake,fake,fake,shame on you who ever you are!!!