One Summer in Somerset (1968) | BFI National Archive

Ah, the good old days - when hitchhiking and driving without a seatbelt were as safe as houses, and the average English seaside resort town was "clean, spacious, with the air of distinctive elegance". Sceptical? Then follow the West Country wanderings of one broke Aussie student, who thumbs a lift to sunny Weston-Super-Mare in his quest for a good time (and a tour of local historical monuments), and finds himself a surprisingly glamorous travelling companion.
The technique of building a mini-fiction into a travelogue profile of an area wasn't uncommon, and is quietly effective here. Janet in her sports car and our Australian friend may not be the most convincing characters in cinema history, but the jaunty narrative carries us through this promotional film for the local area more effectively than an objective voiceover might have done.
This video is part of the Orphan Works collection. When the rights-holder for a film cannot be found, that film is classified as an Orphan Work. Find out more about Orphan Works: ec.europa.eu/internal_market/c.... This is in line with the EU Orphan Works Directive of 2012. The results of our search for the rights holder of this film can be found in the EU Orphan Works Database: euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en...
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[@davidroberts1187]

Proof that progression of time doesn't mean it's better.

[@MarkHiggins-hq1st]

It can be hard to see what we once had and what we have since lost,

[@Paul-md8de]

What do think we once had that we have since lost ?

[@itwasntme8770]

@@Paul-md8de Civil society, based on trust, honesty, decency and respect for others and the law.

[@careytitan9097]

@@Paul-md8de A white homogenous, safer society, amongst our own people.

[@Paul-md8de]

@@careytitan9097 So white people don't commit crime eh!!! our society has never been totally white , seems certain people cling on to racism like it's some treasured value from the past and they just can't let it go can they ???

[@RichardThomson-oe3yv]

@@careytitan9097 Even if your comment wasn't racist, it's just factually wrong. Somerset's population today is 98.5% white.

[@andrewmorley474]

This film is how I remember Weston in my childhood. It’s very nostalgic for me .

[@GrrMeister]

Dream on !

[@pmacc3557]

I'm sure its just as nice today...right?

[@jimmywormholes2053]

ViSiTed Summer 2015 TourinG Around SomerSeT And DeVon BaSed In WellS Then Ilfracombe Two DaY TripS To WeSTern Super Mare. On Comparison To WhaT It Was In 1968/1969 Its More WeSTern Super NiGhTmare.

[@terrystevens5261]

@@pmacc3557 It is a dump now.

[@anythingbootneck]

Take me back to the 60’s 😀

[@dulls8475]

I will join you.

[@jermainesimpson834]

I bet the 60s was good

[@davids8449]

@@jermainesimpson834 much happier and simple times , No PR today's world people in Britain are shaped to size by the Government , the medium being Television, Press , and the main ingredient greed , and fear

[@keithroberts5611]

I remember as a kid going there by car before the motorway was built, From Bristol in the hight of summer it took almost half a day to get there because of the traffic jams, But as the film shows well worth the hassles, It was a real treat back then, All so different these days, Just imagine hitch hiking and be picked up by a single girl😮Pure fantasy!! Anyways thanks for sharing this film a trip down memory lane 🇬🇧👍🙏😊

[@griswald7156]

@@jermainesimpson834 like today…the 60s was crap for a lot of people,lots of people going without…but for the old people today the 60s was when they took their good health for granted..and didn’t worry about being able to see a doctor..

[@zdenaparish1989]

I'll second that @Venge. My beloved country too before it was soiled. That's how I remember England years ago, including the easy going music which was how it was.

[@chapsnaps1]

It's a great depiction of time past. No poverty and decay, no litter and no feral teenagers. Things don't always change for the better.

[@keithroberts5611]

Agree what happened to british groups all but gone now, Its all gangta rap!!

[@rhonmart1]

I was born in Weston and was 16 when this was made. I left in 72 for Oz. It’s like looking thru a Time Machine, so many memories. Dad was drummer in the Ken Birch band at the Winter Gardens. I gave up my job and hired deck chairs on the beach before I left. Never regretted leaving.

[@patriciabailey1937]

If only we had the ability to see our life in reverse. In the summer of ‘68 I was working at Butlins in Filey- it was more like a holiday than a job! For me all of that decade was wonderfully memorable and videos like this don’t lie! If only we could retrace our footprints or turn Time around…😢

[@deansinger299]

many of the cars at the seafront - made in the UK. Ford Zephyr, Ford Anglia, Triumph Spitfire Mk2, Vauxhall 101 Victor, Morris Oxford, Jaguar Mk X, Morris Minor, Hillman Superminx Convertible and more...........made in 1966; may well have been released for watching in 1968!

[@ChangesOneTim]

The beauty contest winner's floral sash shows 1966.

[@martm216]

This region of Somerset was my summer holiday for many years. My grandparents lived in the delightful seaside town of Burnham-on-sea. I loved the freshness of the ozone air, the open countryside, with its outbreaks of real hills, like the Mendips, the Quantocks and a wonderful feature near Burnham called Brent Knoll, which always looked to me like a huge green trilby hat. A few years ago I finally climbed it, and it was a lot higher than it looked. After many years of not going to the region, I now spend in total a week or more in Burnham every year.

[@petemitchell3067]

Martin Mitchell ; ‘Tis even better here in Watchet!😏👋👍

[@martm216]

@@petemitchell3067 yes, my dad used to drive us around to that part of the coast, I remember - Watchet, Porlock and Miinehead. Everywhere around that part of the world is lovely to me. Last year I went to Dunster and Dunster Castle, which was fabulous.

[@Gannett2011]

A few of us lads would visit Weston for the day to play on the arcade machines in the early to mid 90s. Get down there about 9, have some pie and chips for lunch, and back to the arcades. It was a great day out! Surprisingly, Weston looked pretty similar to what is shown in this film in the early 90s. I haven't been back for over 20 years, and I would imagine it has changed considerably since then.

[@LoyalTeenWolf]

It’s a chavvy area

[@MrJenklns]

Weston's country lanes have become housing estates and traffic gridlocked roads !

[@orionxtc1119]

@@MrJenklns sad

[@keithroberts5611]

Drug capital of the west country!!😢WTF happened and what became of the people we used to be???The only thing to look forward to the past🤔🇬🇧🙏

[@john70803]

This sort of thing used to happen to me all the time when I was hitching around. Got fed up with it in the end.

[@an885405]

The scene where she picks him up is Hillend near Locking. Next scene is of Coronation Road, Bleadon. That merges into footage of Lower Kewstoke Road in Worle. The police station was in Laurel Drive, Uphill.

[@andrewmorley474]

Of no interest to anyone really but , I lived on Laurel Drive

[@Lookup2Wakeup]

@@andrewmorley474 Did you bump into Janet in her Spitfire........😀👊

[@Psammead21]

@andy885 Thanks for answering my question before I asked! I wondered where they were.

[@craigkilmurray1273]

Any idea what village they drive through on the way to Glastonbury?

[@bwghall1]

back in the 50s, we called it Weston-super-mud. used to cycle there from Chippenham.

[@politicalphilosophy-thegre3894]

Wouldn't see any streetscape like 0:44 anywhere in the UK now. And this was filmed as recently as 1968. More likely to be a morass of concrete traffic islands, bollards, railings, CCTV gantries etc.

[@Khayyam-vg9fw]

Someone's brother-in-law is making a tidy packet from these things.

[@ketoking9435]

What a day of Sunshine,,,,reminds me of my childhood,,,,,

[@GrrMeister]

13:30 *Weston-Super-Mare is a great place and I love it still in post Lockdown 2020. Lovely area.*

[@Vingul]

Glad to hear it's not all burkinis and litter.

[@keithroberts5611]

Don't visit after dark!! Stay safe people!!🤔

[@terrystevens5261]

You have to be joking right.

[@knightowl3577]

I was there in that beautiful summer of 1968, a young lad on the brink of manhood and surrounded by beautiful girls. That summer has stayed with me since then.

[@garryharriman7349]

I hear you're into fellas now, beautiful or not!😂

[@griswald7156]

I was there in July 1967….aload of rockers arrived on the seafront they throbbed along the promenade on their bikes a few hundreds or more…i was scared stiff..

[@Richie90090]

Bought back memories, thank you so much for posting

[@hewittsimmonds376]

I lived in Somerset around that time my father served in the British army and we lived in Yeovil and went to the preston road primary school I remember the head mistresses name was Mrs Gilbert Great memories

[@andyskelton7223]

Lovely bit of nostalgia not to sure about the Beauty contest judge !

[@terrystevens5261]

Swimming pool was his downfall.

[@benphilips9918]

"Phwooar look at those gorgeous Sheilas.." Oh you smooth-talking Aussie...

[@AndrewBuckleBookReviews]

Wonderful video, love seeing these videos of the 60s and 70s

[@roddymcniven8734]

A lot can go wrong in fifty years

[@mathewgreen4099]

Nice film, thanks for posting.

[@EelingStudios]

Happened all the time when I was hitching in those days, waited a couple of minutes then a blond in a sports car took me where I was going... or... did I wait for hours and a wagon might pull up after an hour... yes, that was more like it.. but a nice film indeed.

[@stephenborsbey4350]

the beauty queen garland says 66 and the car is a 1965. i think this was shot in 1966

[@simonbiggs9102]

Look at our broken County now

[@stephenchappell7512]

but at least it's 'enriched' 😏

[@griswald7156]

@@stephenchappell7512with what?

[@AussieKim42]

Stop voting Tory, then.

[@fletchsrv]

@@stephenchappell7512 Sadly that lovely seaside town and many others like it are now decayed like broken teeth and full of asylum seekers and various other dregs of society. Hopefully Janet gave our young chap a day to remember though!

[@Take_Me_Back_To_The_1980s]

@@AussieKim42 Provide an electable alternative and we would love to

[@jackkruese9929]

Weston like most UK seaside towns declined once ordinary people could afford to go abroad for guaranteed sunshine.

[@GinaJones-we4eq]

It isn’t always guaranteed. I remember some friends who went to Turkey at the time of the eclipse in 2000 . It rained for the whole two weeks… 12:40

[@jimififul]

1968. The last time the tide came in at Weston!

[@Gannett2011]

My dad used to call it Weston-on-the-Mud

[@jamara3330]

Shows that there are now too many people in the UK now. Getting rid of the Italian garden and replacing it with concrete was the saddest.

[@shaunxthexmod777]

that was great thank you ,

[@davids8449]

1968 was the year the family was making a film 📽️ of Chester, Bromborough, Eastham, and Woodside. Happy days long gone..........main camera men were my father, brother, and myself

[@ria1636]

I've never heard of Wells Cathedral, amazing building I'll look forward to visit one day.

[@trollmeistergeneral3467]

&Ria Why have you never heard of Wells Cathedral? It is world famous.

[@patricksmith4424]

It's a corker.

[@manfredwilliams9762]

Don't let Len Fairclough anywhere near that swimming pool ffs.........

[@swansong5263]

😮😅

[@lord.onk99]

Loved it.

[@janesmith9024]

I was about 6 years old so at the start of my conscious memory. Many of the UK seaside towns became since then very run down with poor or retired people in them as British people turned to better weather and cheap package holidays to Spain (our first was in 1970 - first time I had even spent a night away from home). (And yes we always say going to the seaside not going to the beach) I remember a lot more hitchhiking in NE England in the 1960s (where I am from) than now and we had 16 million fewer people in the UK about 60 years ago than we have now - so we have got an awful lot more crowded since I was little. No matter. Long live the UK and Long Live the Queen.

[@eddyfye9783]

Hitch hiking with a suitcase? Try that today.

[@GrrMeister]

*It need a GirlFriend with Great Legs and you know and 1 Minute at most will all it takes !*

[@neilhartley3339]

😂🤣😂

[@benitopussolini544]

no,you need a petrol can and not look like a freak!

[@martspar9075]

I have visited "Weston Super Mud" many times over the years but in more recent years it has been a sad place to be with as the place is run down, just as most towns on the coast. Brean and Burnam were also great places back in the day with our caravan back in the day. I recall going on holiday when I was about 10 or 11 to Clevedon further along the coast where I feel the scalextric race track was located at the time. Looking back on much happier time.

[@carlwilson1772]

In the credits it says that the lead actresses clothes come from Marks and Spencer St Michael. The height of Elegance.

[@flaneurable]

The dog knew him!

[@tylerdod9838]

Now Weston is ruined and taken over by people that care nothing for things like intricate floral designs like the clock , diving pools, large scale events ect.... Now we only have two donkeys that look sad in the rain on the beach

[@jeffaller6190]

Can't someone get those donkeys out of the rain?

[@rodbridger3319]

Jußt like Hastings I'm afraid. The seaside used to be a wonderful experience with model village, floral clocks etc, now Hastings is only a shadow of its former glory.

[@rodbridger3319]

D anny is 0Smoking I can see the proof of the pudding then you know that I have just been given to the probability of course and assured that you are able to the blood that has been soaked into the proof of the pudding then you know that I have just stumbled across these videos on KZbin and '-'' cellar to the???

[@lynnstorey8020]

@@rodbridger3319 What??

[@peterstudley1804]

No cultural enrichment, heaven on earth.

[@Embracing01]

When kids could play in the sea without constant watching and molly coddling from parents. A lot of children these days under 5 are on leads lol. They would never let a donkey go near to a child now, think of the health and safety. That bike race today would have all the bloody police force there, little Hitler's in hi viz jackets all over the place and all the streets would be cordoned off just because there's some big bike race going on, and they'd be ambulances on stand by to attend to the crowds. Everything is extreme and unnecessary today when it comes to any event or public gathering. I've been to food markets I've seen ambulances there. It's ridiculous. No ones gonna get hurt for godsake.

[@terrystevens5261]

Donkey rides still happen on Weston beach.

[@miniramptricks1986]

thanks for the memories chappie

[@deanstanley5799]

Triumph spitfire !

[@GrrMeister]

10:09 *"Their are some Wonderful Views up here," long before **_Dogging_** was invented, which simply meant taking your pooch for a walkies.*

[@SharonMakepeace]

A bit before my time, but what a lovely film!

[@vaughanwarburton9623]

Apparently a great fire swept though the model village that called on fire fighters from all around, at the height of the blaze the flames could be seen from nearly 4 feet away 😂 great video

[@paulbucklebuckle4921]

Lots of the country side still looks like this , I was born in 1968 , janets still got the sports car but the dog got run over ,,

[@Take_Me_Back_To_The_1980s]

The country we were. The country we could have been still

[@admiralcraddock464]

Yeah that happened all the time; a girl in a sportscar stops to pick up a stranger. And that Spitfire would have rusted before her eyes after driving on that beach

[@Captally]

1968 in Historic archive? This was 2 years AFTER I left the Royal Navy for cryng out loud!!

[@neilelliott6151]

The year I hatched and 17 before I got pressed

[@pmacc3557]

congrats you are a member of historical society!

[@janesmith9024]

Yet if we don't preserve them we lose them so it is worth saving.

[@rabbit64sj91]

1966 is 55 years ago, so quite obviously part of history now! 😉 All of the past becomes history, and this is over half century ago: It's just as we grow older we become rather amazed to find ourselves a part of it really, as our memories stretch further back in time. ☺

[@clivebaxter6354]

Left the UK 18 years ago, cannot stand what it has become. The past really is another country!

[@rapido2963]

That Aussie chap is a first rate cad and a blighter!

[@kevinparfitt6452]

By the sash its 1966 not 68.

[@blackvulcan100]

1965 Spitfire mark 2 painted in powder blue just like the one I had.

[@blackvulcan100]

And I dove WSM often.

[@Ifitwerks]

I wonder how long it lasted after its salt bath!!!! Terrible thing to do to it!

[@Thereishope664]

Nice!, Len Faircloughs' tongue was hanging out judging the beauty contest.

[@stephenchappell7512]

Back when it wasn't a crime to be a lad

[@p.istaker8862]

I know it was not perfect back then. But that place has certainly gone down hill.

[@iVenge]

my beloved country, before it was soiled.

[@southlondon86]

I know right! Take us back to the good old days of Jimmy Savile and Myra Hindley!

[@iVenge]

southlondon86 If that’s the only thing you get out of Britain in the 1960s, then you must be rather deranged.

[@Vingul]

@Times Arrow Peoples all over the planet have done horrible things to other groups in the past, and the past can't be changed, the fact remains that those countries were founded by Anglos. If the Turks were being flooded with Europeans (not that that would be in the least likely), would you then tell them to move back to central Asia, where they originated? Of course you would not, nor should you. That's not even mentioning that Anatolia (Turkey) was populated by Greeks before the Turks came, Somalis and Pakistanis didn't exactly originate in the U.K. -- but that's beside the point. We've all heard your type of silly argument before, it always works only one way, and that is to the detriment of Europeans. Get real.

[@jonny7491]

Times Arrow I would say most of these expats living in these countries all have the same values as their nationals and respect the country they decided to call home. They don’t try and push their own cultures on on other and cry racism when someone complains.

[@ibrahimsulaiman9047]

@@Vingul "To the detriment of Europeans" - Europeans have settled all over the world, and so there's no injustice when the world comes to settle in Europe. It really is that simple.

[@Aperegrine90]

Wells Cathedral was the See since AD29. So, before the crucifixion then? We were clearly a forward-thinking race!

[@complexlittlepirate3589]

You gave me a good laugh, thanks!

[@edwardsp1916]

Oh Weston, what's happened to you?

[@davidstubley4957]

‘Heading for Bristol’ lolz

[@swansong5263]

This hurts!

[@peternicholson233]

Beware. The Aussie student might be Bazza McKenzie

[@griswald7156]

I like W.S.M. I was there injuly 1967..

[@metlmickey]

If time travel was one way. I would go and stay the rest of my life.

[@robinking6201]

Western super mare on mud

[@raymondbonington9355]

Worked at sand bay pontins 1976 77 .

[@martincunningham6411]

Hillman Super Minx Convertible 1962-1964 is the car he is sitting in at the end of the movie

[@ChangesOneTim]

Wow! Matthew Broderick's first role😉 Brilliant film from the "Ooh Matron" Carry-on era. Hitch-hiking; the mayor smokes a fag while ogling the beauty contestants; the line of deckchairs occupied by oldies in cloth caps and Sunday best; parking pretty easy; village police stations; high diving boards at the lido - shocking! One thing that never changes of course is Weston-super-Mud when the tide's out.

[@Fontsman]

Wonder how much is left of the buildings such as the pavillions and pool?

[@terrystevens5261]

The Tropicana pool is no more sadly.

[@london19657]

The narrator barely sounds Australian. Still, all film voices were posh then. Thanks for posting this. p.s. We were condemned to Clacton for this decade. Quite similar in ways,except the beach.. Hard to tell when you're six.

[@zogworth]

He's a kiwi so it's probably just how he speaks with a bunch of RP RADA layered on top.

[@AussieKim42]

Is the narrator Tim Bowden? (From ABC’s old Backchat program, before it became MediaWatch)

[@tonydevern3742]

Ooh!len fairfinger,the dubious life guard.

[@buy.to.let.britain]

BELL BOY !!

[@juniorrobinson4678]

Loving this but that guy must have got a time machine back from the eighties

[@td370]

My dad would’ve been 2 years old during this filming, interesting

[@chicanesimon]

Better Times

[@connor25]

Does anyone know the first dual carriageway is/was or the police station in the first village?

[@TheDIBSY]

Laurel Drive in Uphill. Don’t know D/C 🤨

[@robnewman6101]

There's a Local Police Station.

[@SuperNevile]

"Heartbeat era" ~ A sergeant, and a couple of coppers, one on the beat and the other on a motorbike.

[@robnewman6101]

Thanks.

[@chippysteve4524]

Amazing journey back to a more innocent time when nobody threw their litter on the ground and just before the 1st Glastonbury festival. Don't fasten your seatbelts folks!

[@griswald7156]

I couldnt afford a car in1968, today i can afford a car but not the car parking charges and the fines..it was before double yellow lines and car parking apps on your phone..

[@mark.e.p]

Isn't that the actor from Coronation street - Len Faircluff at the beauty contest?

[@paulnodalo9130]

Yes!!

[@connor25]

Ironic he was at a swimming pool, after what he was had up for later on in life that is

[@peezebeuponyou3774]

@@connor25 I've given this a thumbs up.

[@ruthyarrow]

The mayor of Weston sending the Holy Thorn to the Queen ? Mayor of Glastonbury ..would have thought .15:28

[@dulls8475]

Are the South African teams provincial teams? So bigger playing base?

[@patricksmith4424]

In your dreams mate! An attractive young women in an open top sports car does not pick up strange/creepy (modern speak) guys. I doubt they did even in the golden age of hitch hiking in the late 60s early 70s. In the 1920s/30s my mum went to boarding school in weston. The playing field was the beach, they used the pier supports as goalposts for hockey.

[@paulb2049]

Wasn’t Peter Adamson done for messing with little girls in his local swimming pool?

[@johnnyonenote376]

A jury found him not guilty of those charges.

[@tuvalulili]

U climb all the way up the tor and dont give us a panoramic wow..?

[@karlford5770]

if you was to come here now its all changed the good old days have gone from back then this place is just a dump now with nothing to do i know as i live here it was a nice place to come back then but not anymore its the pits now thats for sure come see for your self and see whats left of the place now nothing nothing at all there is a pontins though if you want to experience the real hi-de-hi check it out lol

[@garyburchgb]

He didn't sound very Aussie to me. Weston has changed regarding the attractions, but I recognise the buildings and the street layout. I think the donkeys have gone now though.

[@alloutofbubblegum9223]

Don’t know who was creepier, Len Fairclough, scourge of the swimming pool or the weird faced Aussie.

[@whitevanman999]

Thumbs up from me for remembering Len Fairclough.

[@None-zc5vg]

@@whitevanman999 He got away with it, thanks to George Carman, only to shoot his mouth off later on.

[@whitevanman999]

@@None-zc5vg With hindsight my comment should of said, ' Number 2 got the thumbs up from peter adamson '.

[@lucysparks240]

☺❤😘

[@grahamburbage7686]

Does he?

[@dinx556]

In his dreams!

[@StephenMerchant-up8sg]

Anyone know the beauty queen? She certainly was a looker in 66!

[@DeanSinger-ky7md]

Marion Jenkins

[@kramnam4716]

The dog was the star

[@matthewlovelock6928]

It's so obvious the script was he got his end away

[@keithfowler2013]

Slimey git !!!!

[@benitopussolini544]

I thought he was lucky for a minute when he got rid of that stuck up posh bint and then it comes back,shit, could have sold that dog!

[@Kingbruce115]

5:25 hehehe