Extremely rare, spectacular film about London during WW-II in color [A.I. enhanced & colorized]

[@Rick88888888]

*Please focus in your comment on London during WW-II* and *refrain* from making comparisons with today's complicated society, including race, multiculturalism, diversity, immigration etc." This video is about history and NOT about today's ugly world. If you don't understand or like my request aimed at keeping these films educational and a pleasure to watch then please just leave.

[@tonycavanagh1929]

I used to have a site like this . It was ruined by the angry and bitter.

[@mrx0088]

You even say today's ugly world. Showing these images increases the perception.

[@gaycha6589]

Well said.

[@cijmo]

Thank you for this. What I like to remind people of is that even THEIR sweet memories were disdained by people from a previous generation. What Londoners fair to realise is that they still live in a beautiful city that can be exciting or quaint, depending on where you go. I visit often and I have seen the changes but I still love London.

[@grantd165]

Very well said.

[@jamesjohnson6h380]

I like the way it lingers for a long time on each scene, not just frustrating glimpses like in a lot of old footage. Brilliant.

[@brandyf4088]

Agreed. Brilliant.

[@erroljobsz1877]

Loved it.

[@Tsug2803]

£42 trillion robbed from India, richest country before being colonised

[@cypher9000]

@@Tsug2803 There always is that one you - leaving completely irrelevant colonisation comments everywhere.

[@Tsug2803]

@@cypher9000 yes, one of us always has to, to remind you’ll of the great things you’ll did to our nation

[@yorkyswe]

I find these old movies strangely moving. The scenes of everyday life with people going about their own business, some rushing, some leisurely, all with the their own hopes, dreams and worries. The fact that most of them are dead now adds a poignancy to the moment, and somehow fills me with a sense of loss. I'll never know any of these people, or have a chance to have a conversation with them. A window to the past, my grandparent's days, that I can never go to. The juxtaposition of life going on against the backdrop of war is particularly interesting. And most, especially the women do dress elegantly. I wish we took more care over our appearance today.

[@sarac.3259]

yorkyswe, I agree - very moving. My mother was evacuated from south London as a child. I think it was why she found goodbyes very difficult (eg visiting family etc) and so do I. There is a memorial in a cemetery near where I live to a school that was bombed in Lewisham borough (before children were being evacuated, I imagine), and if we visited the cemetery and saw it, she always shed a tear to think that someone could purposely drop a bomb on a school. I also agree re the dress sense. From family photos I see that people did dress up - poorer people had few clothes or outfits but looked after what they had, and altered or mended things to make them last or update them.

[@lauren5862]

Couldn’t help but feel the same, especially with the music. Saddening yet uplifting. Loss but intrigued.

[@lililacour]

I agree on every feeling and emotion you are describing. Thank you for putting words to the way I feel every time I watch a video like this. Greetings from Buenos Aires.

[@dublinsfaircity]

@@sarac.3259 What do you mean your mother felt goodbyes were difficult?

[@malthus101]

You will one day; we'll all meet again one day....

[@robtroman7917]

Everybody is so smartly dressed. My grandparents were of that era. They did not have much money they lived in a council house which they kept like a palace. My grandad won prizes for his garden. I always remember you could see your face in my grandads shoes he kept them so shiny and his trousers always had a sharp crease. I wish my grandparents were here so I could tell them how proud I am of them.

[@barbarakidd1198]

My grandparents were just the same

[@mysterioussavage2989]

Every thing was run by my grandparents money looted from India that is Bharat.

[@OddboxLife]

What were their pronouns though?

[@GiT5UM]

i realised how lucky our gen are to have the ability to see back in time like this. great post, thank you.

[@Mitters]

I cannot help, but comment about my British Grandfather every time I see more of your videos around this era in London. My Grandfather, John, was born in Sunderland in 1931, but was raised in London proper in and around WWII. He had many stories during this era, and a lot of them hurt my heart, but I loved hearing about them because they helped me get to know him better. For example, being at school, and heading down the hall to the bathroom, but choosing the far side of the school to waste more time... and part of his school got bombed killing his classmates and teacher. Following this he was shipped off to the countryside (like in The Chronicles of Narnia, but worse), and was placed with a Catholic Priest. He says he beat him so often, that my Grandfather would run away back to London only to be sent back to the Priest. My Grandfather used to be Church of England and an avid believer in God, but says living during this era lost him his faith in Him and he held that feeling right up until the day he died in 2018. He eventually escaped for the last time, and was not sought after. He even tried to join the Navy to help his country, but was found to be underage and not allowed. Following the war he was an incredible soccer player, and was even asked to play for Team England at the time. He turned it down because the pay was terrible (about 20k a year nowadays) and became a merchant sailor wanting to travel the world. He was flabbergasted to hear how much professional soccer players make in our present day! He managed to dodge his fair share of ship sinking's (2 in total) - choosing to stay ashore instead of re-signing with the company for another leg, because he wanted to hangout in port longer. He eventually moved to what became known as Canada, and met my Grandmother while he lived in British Columbia. He was working in the country for the Crown at the government rail company. He had 4 children (my mother included) and they traveled around North America in their little car and camped everywhere and saw everything the continent had to offer. Eventually settling in a small town near Toronto, Ontario, where he became a driving instructor for the Crown again (government of Canada). He was an avid swimmer, smoker, and lover of all British comedy (especially Monty Python). He made an amazing Shepard's Pie, and often added "r's" to words that didn't have them (Canadar comes to mind aha). I think of my Grandfather when I remember learning to swim, ice-cream after a long day, and watching Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy while we ate dinner. He was a great storyteller, and had so many amazing trinkets from his travels. He lived a long and true life. He would have loved these videos I think. Towards the end of his life he spoke of missing home, despite having been in Canada since his early 20s. He had always meant to return to see his Aunt (who was like a sister to him - they were born 4 months apart I believe), but he never was able to. Life got in the way I suppose. He outlived everyone in his life - his parents, his brother, his wife, his friends - everyone except his Aunt; she passed ~4 months after he did. I hope to live such a full and wonderful life as him. Traveling the world, with so many accomplishments, and surrounded by family upon my passing. I hope to find a love as great as he and my Grandmother. They were married 50+ years, and still as in love the day they met, as the day she died. He never quite recovered from her passing, but still tried his best to keep busy.

[@peterjamesmmbago2773]

God bless you, beautiful things, memories to share

[@olivrose0]

Such a wonderful story. Thank you so much for sharing this, he sounded like a wonderful man.

[@stephenburnage7687]

I was born in London in 1952 and very little had changed from my memories of 1950's London. It was only in the late 1960's that change began to pick up.

[@mr.q8426]

1968 is the year beginning the end

[@bendobbing7015]

I know what you mean aha, I was born in 2001 so I can't really offer much of an opinion on how much things have changed but it looks like the 60s was the decade where the most change took place, though being from Sunderland, the city here has changed drastically in my lifetime. Just before I was born the shipyards and coal mines stopped operating, Roker Park was knocked down and the city centre has vastly changed. Change is inevitable though I guess aha.

[@Archimusik]

One of the most striking things about these kind of old videos is that every single man - without exception, young and old, rich and poor - is wearing either a suit and tie or uniform.

[@lsmith992]

And no one is overweight

[@southwestsaxon]

Their all white. Those were bad days

[@Venus20000]

@@southwestsaxon the glory days

[@brinsonharris9816]

Saw a doc about the UK film industry in the ‘50s, and guys in tweed suits and ties were climbing ladders on a soundstage to hang those heavy ass lights.

[@gillwil]

@@lsmith992 no processed crap and low calorie stuff then..

[@rogerramjet5302]

I grew up in London during the late 70 's and 80's and have such fond memories but even then my late Grandmother used to say 'we've seen the best of Britain'. We sure have.

[@robtroman7917]

My grandparents and parents were of this generation. Always immaculately dressed you could see your face in my grandads shoes they were so shiny. Not much money but they kept their council house like a palace. I never heard a swear word uttered from their mouths. You could trust them with your life. I wish they were here today so l could tell them how proud I am of them.

[@Tsug2803]

£42 trillion robbed from India, richest country before being colonised

[@brandyf4088]

They know. Thanks for sharing this glimpse back in time. Prayers from West Texas.

[@Tsug2803]

@@russellbeaumont310 well at least it’s not by murder and oppression

[@James-pyon]

India was invented by Britain

[@Tsug2803]

@@James-pyon yes the word India was invented by Britain, that’s where the invention ends

[@anglomer]

I love the way the people are able to nonchalantly stand by and watch the soldiers march past - no police presence, no terrorist threat...

[@ianmason.]

No terrorist threat? While this was being filmed in 1943 over on the French coast launch sites for one of Hitler's terror weapons, V1 bombs, were being built.

[@anglomer]

Clearly I was referring to domestic terrorists. None then, lots now.

[@anglomer]

@@nickryan3417 Check out changing of the guard some time and see how heavily policed that is - including armed police!

[@Riku-Leela]

There wasn't exactly any time for terrorism during WW2

[@mclovin4825]

No threat during WW2, good joke that 😂

[@MartinJackson777]

The people staring at the camera would never imagine that people in 2021 are whatching them on TV or in their mobile phones...

[@brianinglis3805]

What is this "mobile phone" you speak of future boy? A telephone that is mobile? Great Scott!

[@bobanob1967]

just received this on my brain implant in 2051, how quaint people having to watch this on devices in 2021

[@Viscount_Castlereagh]

@@bobanob1967 Is Her Majesty still living in 2051 good sir?

[@JacobafJelling]

It's a cool thought . Also listening to the music that played on the radio during their day. Lovely stuff 🇩🇰

[@bobanob1967]

@@Viscount_Castlereagh I assume you are referring to Queen Charlotte?

[@wastedaudio4565]

It's amazing to see people walking and interacting like normal human beings. Now a days, like 50% of the folks in these videos will be on their phones. Technology has been a massive advantage and disadvantage to mankind

[@GhostBoxmedium]

How on earth can anyone dislike this film. An amazing capture of history

[@malicroux2089]

@Yu Ta and people are not miserable today? at these they still had their freedom.

[@CheesestringXX]

It's not diverse enough.

[@woooster17]

My great grandmother born 1908 was an ARP warden in London.. I used to love talking to her about what she did.. She passed away just before her 101st birthday. A special generation.

[@aljack1979]

Yes me to, listening to my grandmother's stories of what it was like during the war. What she did, the work, the fear and the dances etc.

[@dondressel452]

I wish I could have had a couple of hours to listen to her stories I bet she was wonderful

[@aljack1979]

@@dondressel452 She was, I would listen to her stories over the and over! She painted airplanes during the war effort whilst my grandfather was in the merchant navy and her brother a bomber pilot (pathfinder) who sadly was lost on a mission and never found. Extraordinary people.

[@dondressel452]

@@aljack1979 I’ll bet you had a good time with her I worked with a guy in the 70’s who was a tail gunner on a bomber He told me as they were flying over Berlin he could see the planes being shot down left and right A very scary time for him

[@yodalf42]

i don't know why some people complain about the music, it really enhances the viewing experience

[@Rick88888888]

Thank you. That is precisely why this music was added. I really dislike the comments in which viewers complain about the music, especially when they try to force their minority taste on to the majority. Why can't they just keep quiet and just turn down the volume in stead of expressing negativity and spoiling the comments section for others?! I guess it all comes down to human nature. Some people thrive on negativity and need some object or person to kick against.

[@neilisgreatagain]

Agreed ,

[@bradleyclutton4564]

People love to hate! Fantastic video with the music 👍😍

[@Rick88888888]

@@thiswonderfullandpenwithco1151 Great!

[@EdgardoPlasencia]

In these times non musical people feel entitled to talk about music. They need to know their place. This music is great..

[@jb-zr4ez]

Fascinating! My great grandfather was a conductor on a London trolley bus and my grandfather was a London black cab driver. I was also a London black cab driver up until five years ago. It was amazing seeing the challenges they faced on the roads back then getting customers about amongst the bombed roads and buildings, my hat goes off to them. You can still see bomb damage on the side of the V&A museum. Great video, thanks.

[@Babesinthewood97]

It’s so interesting to hear personal stories like this.

[@returnofthegmac9203]

My uncle was a bus conductor on the 73 bus.

[@gerhardclement863]

Thanks from Germany for these wonderful pictures. Hopefully there will never be war between our peoples again. All the best.

[@Rick88888888]

Thank you very much!

[@viewmodeimages]

❤️❤️❤️

[@bobbywormald4831]

No more brother wars. The next European wars will be to stop immigration.

[@BE-jf7ke]

I can watch these old videos all day, this is such a transcendant experience. Probably the closest we will ever get to time travelling, in our lifetime at least.

[@mohammedkhan5010]

Also, the power of shooting on celluloid film. Its way too powerful. unlike today where everything is shot on digital pixels. things look bland and boring.

[@chrisj1906]

You’d have to suppose this is one of the reasons they are referred to as the greatest generation, given the death and destruction around them they still carried themselves well

[@janemontgomery7938]

Love watching videos like this with my nan, she is nearly 90 as I write this comment, she lived in England during WWII, she has dementia and these videos are great at getting her to remember things and tell stories.

[@Rick88888888]

Great! Can you share some of her stories here with us?! Much better than the usual comments about race and how London has changed for the worse...

[@mjh5437]

@@Rick88888888 You`re either to young to remember that it`s true,or you`re in denial and living with your head in the sand.

[@myamdane6895]

@@mjh5437 Judging by the incorrectly facing apostrophes I'd wager English isn't even your first language

[@bernardoliver6758]

thanks for an excellent series of pics .One thing I remember from those times (born 1936) was the light due to the amount of open space caused by the number of bombed sites.Most missed from then;proper fish & chip shops, grand steam railway engines &trams.However times change & we now have inside toilets ,pubs open all day (when Covid ends),coffee shops with pavement seating (very continental),phones which with a few clicks can reach the remotest Pacific island & holes in the wall if you need cash to mention but a few.Harking back to the wartime film clips I remember the generosity of the American servicemen to us street urchins with their gifts of food & gum.Belatedly I personally would like to send my heartfelt thanks to the U.S.A. whose young,very young men came here to assist this island in the darkest days.Enough now or this will start to bore just to say it saddens me to see derogatory comments; in my travels around the world as a merchant seaman I have found the majority of people to be decent human beings.thanks again for the footage.

[@nlbhaduri]

Thank you

[@gardenjoy5223]

People have changed. We own a venue for party's and weddings. One out of three of our renters just left us with the dirt they made, despite a good contract, this last month. We had to raise the warranty significantly, in hope they will love their money enough to behave more decent. Some people are so kind still. But more and more people are driven by selfish motives only, it seems. Entitled, demanding pound's worth for penny's paid. We work hard to keep it nice here, and they just litter the place and steal the most stupid things, like kitchen towels. Narcissistic traits are up everywhere and it is very destructive. You might not have been a merchant seaman for decades and would be surprised.

[@cypher9000]

Even from your short comment you sound like someone I would definitely love to hear from more. Hope you're alright during this pandemic.

[@pompeyjon1979]

Well said

[@MrDaiseymay]

Very well said Sir.

[@RJPaul-px6vt]

Growing up in London during the 70s I remember that grimy, sooty look of the buildings, the cigarette shops, and overgrown gaps between buildings that had been bombed 25 years before. It was beautiful. It's now been so "done up" it's lost all it's character and is just another big city full of squeaky-clean buildings and grubby overweight people. Thanks for sharing this.

[@camerachica73]

I agree - I visited London a lot as a child in the 70's and 80's and I remember the black buildings and huge areas of wasteland with budleia growing (guess it had been in someone's garden pre-bombing) and houses abruptly ending with wallpaper, doors and fireplaces in the middle of the walls. The East End still had huge character, but everywhere is just so sparkling and trendy now with more and more independent shops closing down, that it's totally lost its character.

[@mjor6406]

Most of my classmates in Canada (in the 80s grade school) came from London and other parts of England in the 70s. We all grew up together in Canada.

[@RJPaul-px6vt]

@@camerachica73 Very nicely put, and I am glad that someone else has those memories. I live in the Far East now and prefer to remember London as the place you describe. I never go there now,the place has lost its significance to me.

[@YPO6]

​@@Nine-Signs How much professional beggars earn in London?

[@RJPaul-px6vt]

@@Nine-Signs You're right. And when it does fall apart it's going to be rather ugly to say the least.

[@thehandleiwantedwasntavailable]

You know it’s colourised when the Thames is blue!

[@markmcarthy596]

No chit mank

[@noire1001]

lol

[@jetsons101]

LOL LOL LOL LOL, It's still better now than before Sir Joseph Bazalgette.

[@Arltratlo]

so true, and it was just 60 years after the great stink..

[@willevans429]

look again, no movement in the water but the clouds are moving

[@TheBallowner]

To see footage like this, almost as if it were yesterday, is extraordinary. To be able to understand how these are just people like us and nothing alien, even if it was filmed so long ago. It's remarkable to see the color of the sky, the redness in someone's cheeks. I really wonder about someone eagerly waiting to cross the road and the reason why they were in a hurry. Were they late for a date or had an important exam to get to? And if they made it in time, did it change their future for the rest of their lives or was it just another meeting, a moment to forget. Really appreciate the cameraman, who thought these seemingly casual scenes needed to be recorded while people were looking at him like he was strange. Thank you, as well, for posting this. Made my day a bit better.

[@tenshikyoto2204]

Thank you very much for showing this movie. I have to say that I am Spanish, but I have lived in the UK for years and I really like history. This is an impressive country and proud of its history. It's hard for me to hold back tears when watching this video.

[@petofisanyi2420]

I think its the opposite Bro ... I lived there too. Not all but most politicians are out on the mission to ACTIVELY erase the history/traditions of Britain. Everything what is 'British' ... Especially in it's larger cities.

[@stephenwilliams1269]

Please note how clean it is and how presentable everyone looks.

[@tonymoran7659]

No garish white rubber trainers and track suits back then..even the working classes put on proper clothes..

[@jbloun911]

@@tonymoran7659 I usually water the greens in my tank top, undies and flip flops

[@jbloun911]

@@johnblair5783 Always been fatties.. one of the fattest people to ever live resided in England during the 1700s (Daniel Lambert).

[@garethwynn01]

@@tonymoran7659 how terrible it must be for you to have to live amongst people who don't dress to your standards.

[@ral9590]

uh, you mean how nice it is that most people only had one pair of pants? Or a dress shirt? That's why everyone "dressed up", they simply didn't have many clothes, as clothes were not mass manufactured like today.

[@nigeldewallens1115]

My mum died in 2019 aged 95. Mum served in the W.R.A.F and I say thank you to all back then for looking after Great Britain! The world today owes all from that Generation a huge debt which has and never will be paid! I say thank you to all back then for looking after the world for us today! Sigh! R.I.P mum and of course my dad who died 20 years ago! Thank you to all of from that Era!

[@malcolmkelly8475]

God bless your mother and her service in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Per Ardua ad Astra -- From Adversity to the Stars.

[@nigeldewallens1115]

@@malcolmkelly8475 Thank you very much for those kind words. I was very lucky to have had wonderful parents.

[@wuffothewonderdog]

I was born in 1942 in London and there were no fat children on my school, only a few stocky ones. Sweets were rationed and if you dropped a sweet you'd be lucky to get it back. We all played on bomb sites and some of these exposed old burial grounds, but we all survived. I don't remember any children being seriously ill, so our immune systems must have kicked in and got stronger. Wearing a mask and avoiding other people in today's BatFlu madness just means our immune system wastes away through not practicing with new bugs. Bunter will kill us all.

[@southwestsaxon]

NOBODY CARES

[@Venus20000]

@@southwestsaxon little salty boy go and play somewhere else, white people sharing memories together, that doesn’t include you.

[@pegasus8718]

I was born in London and lived there until I was 23 when I wanted my own home and moved out of London for a more affordable house. I remember most Sundays going for a tram ride across London Bridge, it was a real treat. At 11 years old I travelled to school by trolley bus, which often broke down. Ours was a very close knit family, as was our community, we lived in a small two up, two down, outside loo, terraced house. Our front door key was on a long piece of string hanging inside the letterbox, there was no fear of being burgled, there was nothing to pinch anyway😊

[@DukeJon1969]

Amazing footage. People from back then would be shocked at how much London has changed.

[@English.Andy1]

I wonder if there’s some 90 year old sitting quietly watching this having just seen themselves captured here from yesteryear, quietly smiling to themselves.

[@Venus20000]

My grandmother is 95 in June, we watched this today, she had a little cry. She was evacuated in the First World War and served as a WRNS in the Second World War.

[@dariusanderton3760]

@@Venus20000 very touching comment, very sweet, but if she's 95 in 2020 she wasn't yet born during WW I. Maybe she was evacuated at the start of WW II and then a few years later she joined the WRENS when the war was still on ?

[@Venus20000]

@@dariusanderton3760 possibly? My other grandmother was older so it may have been her that was evacuated during First World War.

[@King-2077]

WW1 ended in 1918, she has to be 103 yrs old of she was born at the end of the war.

[@Venus20000]

@@King-2077 yep, Darius pointed out my mistake. It was my other granny that was born at the end of WW1. My 95 year old grandmother who’s still alive was evacuated at the beginning of WW2 and later briefly served towards the end. Which is when she met my grandfather.

[@kaashee]

Everyone is dressed so beautifully. Thank you.

[@returnofthegmac9203]

That Tobacco shop is still there. And I often look at these and wonder if I have seen my grandparents as they were in their late teens when this was filmed. My Grandad and dad always took me into that Tobacconist in the early 70's. They used too buy Snuff and Tobacco. Thanks for the share this is amazing 👍 My mum always tells us that her and her friends used too play in The Tower of London. How amazing would that have been...

[@MattLarkham-nx5uu]

Not sure the Tobacco shop is still there, it was on the corner of Gt Windmill St and Coventry St, located (I believe) opposite where the Five Guys Restaurant is now, it's now a souvenir shop (and part of the London Pavilion building) and almost unrecognisable. It would be fantastic if it was still there though

[@spinynorman8217]

No fat people, London looking beautiful too.

[@michaelmcdonnell5998]

@@DonBean-ej4ou I thought it was Alfred Hitchcock making one of his cameo appearances!

[@TheFatNumpty]

That’s possibly a side effect of rationing! Should bring it back today 😂😂

[@neilisgreatagain]

Gosh yes

[@rosemaryraplar8]

No fast food, no junk processed food and portion controlled eating habits. Plus, look everyone is walking!

[@brndxt]

It was difficult if not impossible to be overweight during the WW2 years with (British) rationing and all.

[@mauritiusdunfagel9473]

God, that city was beautiful back then.

[@MK-rn2hm]

Because it was all white. Not like it is now sadly.

[@veraahllof]

It still is..

[@veraahllof]

@Messenger Charles Thanks!

[@MK-rn2hm]

@@cyriuxx5750 No disrespect intended. Your great grandfather would have felt the same if he was still around today.

[@jessicadaltongoode6019]

My Nan was in London during the war. The way she spoke about it terrified me as a kid - blackouts, searchlights, bombing, and sirens almost every night and everyone having lost someone either in fighting or the blitz. I look at these people and wonder who they lost. It’s strange to see the daylight time when life kind of had to carry on as normal despite everything. And anti-aircraft balloons?! Wild. Can’t imagine...

[@abtabworld6749]

Palestinians living that reality now

[@spencerwall1]

England was a beautiful especially London before, during the war and after WWII. all that pride has gone now. What a beautiful video you've made.

[@MarinaLindsay-TheHistoryofSara]

@@spencerwall1 England and many parts of London is still beautiful.

[@kevinpraditra]

To think that the Queen was already alive and going about her life when this video was taken, really amazes me.

[@mrforevernever517]

She has been well looked after.

[@colonelsanders4006]

So were plenty of other folk. The Queen isn't the only old person alive.

[@kevinpraditra]

@@colonelsanders4006 yes but she is one of the few adults of that era who still actively works right now. I suppose most other 90+ year olds have long been retired

[@colonelsanders4006]

@@kevinpraditra the queen also has access to the worlds best health care.

[@odhranoshea6269]

If this footage is from 1943 then the Queen was around 17 years old.

[@thomasm3615]

Why does London under the threat of German bombing raids seem less stressful than today?

[@redcardinalist]

it doesnt and you clearly dont live in london. Oh and what a stupid comment

[@iam18now.86]

@@redcardinalist Old lady got offended there.

[@odiaranda2756]

u know why bro, wee all know why, but we cant write it down here

[@marcusjordan9264]

because everyone wore hats and there was pretty music playing in the background

[@tonycatman]

Cars, vans, trucks and taxis are part of it. The constant, fast-moving, noisy hunks of stinking metal that dominate everything.

[@jimmyb1559]

Great video. I picture my parents, aunts uncles still young and in the prime of life. They lived through the toughest times yet all turned out to be loving and generous people. As was the goal in life for most people back then. I thank them all for their sacrifices while raising a family. They spared us nothing even though they went through life without much. The greatest generation? No doubt.

[@andrewdrummond8576]

The best generation. 👌

[@sarahhollow5368]

Beautiful, my grandparents would of been around 10 or early teens, I remember my grandmother telling me a story of how she made a doll house bunker outside for her dolls when sirens went off she would quickly put her doll in it before sheltering with her family. My grandparents are now in their 90s.

[@lablackzed]

A real generation the likes of we will never see again.

[@apebass2215]

@@sleepcrime why do you assume I'm old? Or that I hate my age? Gender roles and stereotypes are regressive, that's why we don't define men and women based on them. Biological sex isn't made up - it's objectively real and important. Learn the difference between objective truth and subjective belief. Thanks for proving my point.

[@apebass2215]

@@sleepcrime I'm not talking as if society has 'left me behind', I merely referred to younger generations pretending not to know what men and women are. I'm not left behind, I'm just sane. No one is rejecting biological sex except gender ideologues. Society didn't define men and women based on sexist gender stereotypes until trans people decided to demand that society perceive them as the sex they pretend to be. A man is an adult human male. A woman is an adult human female. That isn't my opinion, that's fact. You don't need to be old to realise this.

[@apebass2215]

@@sleepcrime nice projection coming from someone who doesn't know what men and women are.

[@apebass2215]

@@sleepcrime yeah, you already proved my point regarding society degrading to a point where some people, particularly younger people, refuse to acknowledge reality. Night.

[@apebass2215]

@@sleepcrime prove me wrong, define the terms 'man' and 'woman'.

[@HektorBandimar]

The face of London has changed so much since those days, good people, the like of which will never be seen again.

[@nickatnights]

Most were homophobic

[@oldmanjenkins6519]

@@nickatnights Good, that makes it even better

[@nickatnights]

@@oldmanjenkins6519 You protesters too much

[@oldmanjenkins6519]

@@nickatnights What? I've never been to a protest

[@nickatnights]

@@oldmanjenkins6519 Sorry - I meant backroom

[@juliancate7089]

One thing that always strikes me when watching candid films from decades prior to the 1960s is how well-dressed everyone is. In the future, assuming that we've not exterminated ourselves, people will look at recordings of us and think we were devoid of style, pride, we were dirty, unkempt bums. And they'll be right. Can the Post-Modern World get any worse? I guess we're going to find out, aren't we?

[@skadiwarrior2053]

The sky line was nicer too.

[@tjmarx]

These things ars taught, from one generation to the next. When a generation no longer possesses these skills, how can it teach them to their children? If a generation find themselves gripped by the petty quarrels of tribalism, so much so that they belittle themselves to savagery, how can their children be anything but? One must concede, it appears the only logical way left is down.

[@stephenchappell7512]

@@денисбаженов-щ1б You cannot compare the two Paris was not blitzed in the same way London was

[@stephenchappell7512]

@@денисбаженов-щ1б Those 21st century skyscrapers replaced existing postwar buildings, especially in the case of 'The City' which remains the world's financial hub. The medieval city was destroyed by the Great Fire while Wrens rebuilt city was mainly destroyed in the Blitz. Of course you have a point in the fact that in the immediate postwar years, rebuilding was the priority and it is true that some noteworthy savable buildings were indeed swept away in the general reconstruction programme.

[@Fpvfreaky]

Thank you for uploading this. It reminded me of mum and dad. Lost dads this year on the 29th of March. Mum and dad lived in London seeing all this and hearing the old music brings them back home.

[@evora9081]

Wonderful clip of London and Londoners. Sad to think that almost all in the clip are dead by now. I still think the London in the clip is much better than London of today

[@Blonde_Somnambulist]

Am I the only one to feel a sense of longing watching this , despite the fact I was born decades later .😀

[@houseofwine7704]

As a London lover I feel like you. I visite London since 1991. It is so sad to see how things changed to worse in UK with unregulated migration. Now it's more middle east than traditional British...

[@bastogne315]

@@houseofwine7704 Thatcher fucked it up.

[@houseofwine7704]

@@bastogne315 right, she started the economic madness. Than followed the organized uncontrolled import of the very wrong people whom destroy any stylish and organized community

[@petertaylor3600]

Don't long for what you want or you might get it.

[@toboldygo5823]

So far I’ve noticed two things about this video. First thing is the bomb damage is cleaned up as quickly as it’s made. Second thing the old people look just as alert as the young. I don’t know what that tells you but it tells me a lot.👍🏻 One image is worth 1000 words how true.

[@AbuHajarAlBugatti]

@@DonBean-ej4ou people werent godless braindead sheep who had their brain rotten by decades of TV. And couldnt rely on society to clean after them. Strong independent faithful people

[@RUX70N]

What I find amazing is how clean the streets are even during wartime. Fast forward today, the place looks like a run down dump.

[@boinknook]

Same thing over here in NYC mate! Back in the 1940's NYC looked just like London. Back then NYC Sanitation had men dressed in white that were sweepers. They would patrol their area with a broom and bucket. Well, with the Sanitation budget ballooning? Those jobs are long gone! Rats replaced them!😂

[@steveeyre6975]

We've got rats all over England but these stand on two feet

[@MrJules1977]

Reminds me of my grandparents who were married in 1937, he served in the raf as a radio operator, he taught me some morse code as a kid, they were both such good people and i miss them still years later.

[@southwestsaxon]

lol noone cares

[@robtroman7917]

@@southwestsaxon Wrong plenty of people including me care about what that generation did for us. You should to.

[@MarkNOTW]

And all the parents and grandparents of these people were saying “I remember a time when things were so much simpler and safer” etc.

[@tomloft2000]

during WW 1 ?

[@chiomaakindeleokoye4914]

Was never safe for black people in britain in those times either.

[@Venus20000]

@@chiomaakindeleokoye4914 the victims have arrived 🙄. It wasn’t safe for anyone, there was a war on.

[@isengard1500]

It wasnt save for a white person to step foot in Africa either...

[@apollo53122]

@@chiomaakindeleokoye4914 You should go back to Africa, then.

[@NoirFan84]

This is wonderful work you've done showcasing a fascinating period in history. I love this stuff.

[@franceskronenwett3539]

Beautiful footage. What amazed me was seeing how nicely dressed all the people in this film are, despite bombing raids, rationing and other terrible hardships.

[@johnakerman5428]

Superb. Wonderful quality and a real sense of how London life looked in WW2.

[@stefaniemaria5393]

i watched this video three times and couldn't believe my eyes!? in the middle of the second world war and every single person is perfectly dressed even children! Woww

[@richardfenton3700]

London skyline without any skyscrapers. Wonderful.

[@elizabethfox4761]

I love watching these. It's a window into the past. Fascinating! Don't let the negativity get to you! Please keep making these!

[@pj8143]

Nobody’s is in a rush like today talking on their phones 📱, very relaxed 😌. Love the music, thanks for sharing brilliant film. Way before my time.

[@buzzerbeaterbuzzerbeater9001]

I attempted to write the same. Greetings from Croatia.

[@smith9808]

It makes your problems and worries feel really insignificant watching so people from the past. All of these people had them too, but no more. You’ll be them one one day. Forgotten, only preserved on film, which in time, will be forgotten too. Make the most of life and enjoy every day you’re lucky to have ✌️

[@dizmop]

I was thinking the same thing, our days here are numbered so appreciate our time here while we have the chance

[@jekku4688]

I'm an American ("Yank") and this brings tears to my eyes for a time that was so much sweeter, kinder, more intimate, more _connected._ Everyone pulling _together_ instead of apart. The men wore suits. The women wore dresses. EVERYONE wore hats. :-) The skies were blue and full of clouds, not checkerboarded with chemtrails! The music was about love, not about nihilation and destruction. Interesting to know that little children in this video are now grandparents or great grandparents. And I discovered a new phrase: barrage balloon! Something I'd known nothing about. Loved every second, thanks!

[@MrDaiseymay]

Very well said. Yes, many are commenting on the points you raised, and to a certain degree, you are right. But people since these days, have had to live with different problems as best they can. I'm over 80 now, and remember some of the war, and all that followed, such as the 'Cold War' threat etc. This generation will have to do the same, but in their own way. There's talk of war in Europe as I write.

[@Rick88888888]

Well said! (apart from the chemtrail nonsense which are simply contrails)

[@r3b22ber3]

What is the significance of everyone wearing hats?

[@Rick88888888]

@@r3b22ber3 I guess you know the answer yourself

[@MrDaiseymay]

@@r3b22ber3 I's a long long story. Do some digging

[@jeffgoodwin46]

When I was young I'm now 76 my parents used to go an auntie in Bromley just after the war and I went with them as well. We used to get to London by bus and then onto Bromley. Quite often we would get the train into London to have look around and the first time I went was 1947 I was one. I don't remember much at that age if anything at all, but in 1953 we went just after the coronation and I remembered that well.. These movies remind me of those times and I have loved London all my life because of my parents trips to it. Thanks.

[@spana123321]

I’m from Birmingham but used to drive trucks and the driver is in the blood. Are you referring to Bromley by Bow?

[@whyohwhy3407]

Even with the war going on, I have never seen such elegantly dressed people in the last 30 years! Women looked beautiful and classy! Thank you for the look into the past 🙏🙏🙏🙏👍🏻👌

[@MrDaiseymay]

It's Mary Quants fault

[@IrishEyesAreSmiling]

I think what strikes me most watching this is everyone takes pride in their appearance even though they had so little at the time.

[@kirishima638]

Most people had one or maybe two suits/dresses that they wore all the time. Clothing was really, really expensive.

[@gregft1979]

Same, the most striking is how they all seem to dress up: all men are in suits, most with ties for example. Nowadays, even one of them walking around like this in a street would be looked (maybe except financial district). This is a real shame.

[@mattparkin7224]

@@gregft1979 or it's just the progression of fashion...

[@Irisdwc]

@@twentytwo138 I mean... Fasion is different now, but most of the people nowdays dress very similarly to one another, it's just what's currently socially normal

[@MrDaiseymay]

@@kirishima638 I lived with pass-me-downs, until I was 10.

[@MonkFishTV]

The chasm of difference between this London and the London of today is so unbelievably tragic.

[@Ash-886]

London is no longer an English city

[@ruthcollins5140]

A productive, smart & hardworking people. Always willing to help their neighbours out. Nowadays more likely to be shot or stabbed

[@junior4654junior]

London county council planning ruined much of London post war. More than the Luftwaffe.

[@junior4654junior]

@@Ash-886 do you live here?

[@junior4654junior]

@@ruthcollins5140 Where are you getting your information? ffs, lol

[@Honest_and_Brutal]

Look how beautiful it looked compared to now.

[@jamesdare8584]

@Jas Singh Yes, far too dark today. Buildings......People, everything

[@Honest_and_Brutal]

@Units Received that's the problem too many people rely on technology it's why we're in the mess we're in.

[@BodybuildingSteve]

@Ell Em Ay Oh well spotted haha

[@gaim44]

@@Honest_and_Brutal So why are you using the internet if its so bad...meh..lol

[@Honest_and_Brutal]

@@gaim44 that doesn't make any sense.

[@thegroovetube2316]

I am Irish and my mother nursed British soldiers injured in the war when she was based in Biggin Hill. She told me of seeing the dog fights in the sky and bits of planes falling to the ground. She walked in a corridor of the hospital when it was bombed and the person in front of her was killed while she survive unscathed. If not, I would not be here to tell this tale.

[@bastogne315]

I grew in the 70s in Rochester. My neighbour was Vic Jackson. He fought the Japanese in Burna. Loved his stories about how he got his medals. My parents were Irish too. He got his medals...he said...after every battle the generals would drive round and open a big box of em and whoever was still alive could take their pick. He had the most beautiful rose garden. RiP Vic and his beautiful wife.

[@colinpumpernickel2605]

This makes you want to weep. What did the elites do to our beautiful country?

[@setter501]

I was born in Reading in 1951, left UK for Oz in 81, just watching this late at night in my North Queensland home but it's swept me back to a time before I was born!, I could feel it like I was standing there! my earliest memories of London are much like this as a very young kid in the mid 50s only 10 years after ww2 finished London was still a lot like this! and over the ensewing years till 1981 I was a very regular visitor to London by both Car and only 30 minutes on the train, if you can put more stuff like this together including other parts of the UK and the world (including Australia! 😂) It would be amazing but many thanks just for this, keep up the great work! 👍🇦🇺

[@E_M_Scott]

People look so nice and slim and well-dressed.

[@coppershark1973]

They've been on rations for years and that would be ALL the clothing they owned.

[@markcole8151]

That soon changed didn't it. Moderation went for a long walk never to return.

[@daeshbagcentral5298]

People ate less,but more healthily. Deliveroo didn't exist.These days people order a bag of fried shite on the phone & hey presto a scrote turns up on a Honda 50 wiv your grub innit.

[@samlee6749]

​​@@markcole8151oh it will return, you can be sure of that.

[@NicholasBurton-pe3po]

​@@coppershark1973and some how were more healthier back then than today's fat Britain 😂

[@chrisdechristophe]

Sadly this London has gone, never to return. How clean the city was. When I go to London now I do not recognise it as Britain.

[@silverbullet2008bb]

Back when London was an English city. We were never asked.

[@silverbullet2008bb]

​@@jonglewongle3438 Nice try troll.

[@stephenheath8465]

That what happens when you bring in''cheap labor'' from the Empire after the War.

[@CzechMirco]

@@jonglewongle3438 Apart from the "melting" actually not working not even in the USA where they coined that nonsense, and also apart from the fact that there is no empire anymore.

[@chiomaakindeleokoye4914]

SCREW THE UK! from a proud nation traitor in londoner 😎

[@SimonJones265]

I love all these old videos of London, New York & Berlin etc. Everything looks beautiful before culture arrived.

[@martinkulkarni3569]

Define ‘culture’.

[@guckfoogle1096]

@@martinkulkarni3569 Oh you know, we know, everyone knows!

[@martinkulkarni3569]

@@guckfoogle1096 Knows what?

[@doszl]

I too like to see places prior to them being culturally enriched.

[@sunnyh2334]

How lovely to see moving coloured history, very emotive, beautifully done, thanks

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ejn7538]

Beautiful🤩, people there have style & elegance and are properly behaved 👌

[@peterarmstrong3298]

These people were going through living Hell and certainly didn't have the mod cons of today but they were all impeccably turned out and proud people.

[@gillwil]

Clothes were made to last then...

[@Tsug2803]

£42 trillion robbed from India, richest country before being colonised

[@fus149hammer5]

Maybe someone should find some footage of people in the east end or the tenement areas of Liverpool or Glasgow. I think the clothing would be somewhat different from the affluent area of Westminster or the City Of London. This film is only a snapshot of one small area of London. At the start of the blitz people living in this area believed the "common hoi poloi" in the east end actually deserved to be bombed and only cared when they themselves copped it. In fact when eastenders fled west towards Paddington to avoid the he bombs the locals told them to go back incase the bombers followed them!

[@ogmoiz]

@@Tsug2803 Jeez stop companing in every comment section. I get it, I'm Pakistani, but you can't complain about history bc it's the FKIN PAST!

[@Tsug2803]

@@Ash-886 Britain was certainly the best in murder, loot and oppression, no competition whatsoever, no doubt. I agree with you.

[@nathaniziah]

Look at what we have allowed to happen, we should all feel completely ashamed.

[@grumpyoldgit9498]

Thanks for this video,i found it fascinating as a bloke in his twenties, trolley buses,barrow boys,cars all sharing the roads.The way Tower Bridge, St Paul's, Tower of London miraculously advoided damage was soo lucky....Enjoyed this....😀😀

[@freedomisslavery6840]

What has been done to London and England these past 50 years is criminal. These old videos just depress and anger me.

[@mirial2108]

That's why it should make anyone with a soul weep.

[@-M0LE]

What’s wrong with london and englsnd compared to this Ppl are way healthier and have support if they are starving

[@now591]

@@-M0LE Are you 11years old?

[@mirial2108]

​@@-M0LEMuch of England just lacks soul which is a reflection of the secular society it has become.

[@mirial2108]

@@AwRighttttt People, especially younger people in the 60s, chose to abandon the Christian society which was what you see in the footage for the one we have now. I feel really sorry for the old people (possibly featured) that have to live out their lives in loneliness in a London they would have never chosen.

[@Zapp33311]

Looking at these magnificent old buildings I’ll never understand why “modern” automatically has to mean soulless glass and concrete.

[@Mindhunter88]

Consequences of the agressive Capitalism

[@guillermococofrito9196]

@@Mindhunter88 nothing to do with it. Some of the most beautiful places are the most capitalist, like switzerland. And all socialist architecture is like that, grey, oppressive and boring. It has more to do with the rapid growth of cities due to inmigration and overpopulation.

[@mav4578]

@@Mindhunter88 wholly inaccurate :) Read more and speak less.

[@draxlerchronicles5851]

@@guillermococofrito9196 EXACTLY!!!

[@bobross6602]

It's all about cost these days

[@MJ1919]

I’ll be thinking about this this weekend. My grandad who was killed and all my relatives who gave me my freedom and endured this war.

[@iainmurphy2045]

Utterly captivating. First rate. Well done. This transports me to a different time and offers a very convincing picture of times I can just about remember.

[@doctorbritain9632]

Even during a war they dressed better than we do now.

[@mesolithicman164]

No trainers, no baseball caps, no sportswear, no sketchy multi cultural garb.

[@GhoblinCrafts]

@Spinkstein Because there was a war going on and people were in rations...

[@GhoblinCrafts]

@@mesolithicman164 Oh no, clothes of different styles whatever will we do? The horror!

[@mesolithicman164]

Ghoblin Crafts You probably have very low standards. So any concept of style or taste would pass you by.

[@GhoblinCrafts]

@@mesolithicman164 Standards? You think style and dress sense is objective? I'd hate to be as ignorant as you.

[@oldmanhuppiedos]

You can clearly see the barrage balloons hanging in the air to keep out enemy planes. London had a hard time during the second world war. A special film, you can see soldiers from America and Australia walking in the streets.

[@pj8143]

Don't forget the New Zealanders 🇳🇿 & Canadians 🇨🇦they were there too.🙂

[@khyung8]

Yes , those flying fishs ...

[@lizmacleod8903]

Notice how smart and emaculate people were in those days, they didn't have many clothes but they were always smart. Love this film ❤️

[@dankierson]

Immaculate, Liz 🐻 But it looks like a summer Sunday soon *after* VE Day to me. People are unhurried and even a bit lax.

[@objetivista686]

Or artificially smart

[@luckydave328]

@@dankierson I think you are right.

[@dougreed2257]

@@objetivista686 what is artificially smart? 🤔

[@objetivista686]

@@dougreed2257 pretending, trained to appear articulate, using polite language.. stuff like that. And also to counterargue this stupid original comment "they were always smart"... yeah, world wars, prejudices//colonialism, pollution (London was specially bad in that times), complete lack of proper critical thinking.

[@theenginemanfromthepast.]

If only I had a time machine to go back and take walk through London back then! Fantastic piece of film, thank you for sharing it.

[@Rick88888888]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@ivanahavitoff7308]

I feel I have just stepped into 1943. Beautiful. Thank you.

[@channelfive7883]

You're a weirdo .

[@ruskinyruskiny1611]

If you were there you would want to be back here in the 60s. 1963 is far better than 1943.

[@ivanahavitoff7308]

@@ruskinyruskiny1611 I said stepped into not living there. Besides 1963 was just an extension of the drab 1950s. Swinging London didn't kick off until 65/66.

[@ruskinyruskiny1611]

@@ivanahavitoff7308 Oh no swinging 60s started 62/62. psychedelic 60's began in 19 65. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eqiTf2yleL92mqc

[@nomoremrniceguy8106]

How did it go from this to ... what it is today in less than one hundred years. What a tragedy.

[@Sukhumvit246]

It's disgusting the way it has ended up.

[@darlalove8863]

Simple, LEFTISTS

[@nomoremrniceguy8106]

@@Funeeman Well YOURS definitely is since YOU are on KZbin called Funnee man and YOU have a picture of a clown 😂

[@nomoremrniceguy8106]

@@Funeeman you are a loser bud. You think people can't express their opinions? I think London was better before and yes, crime rate etc in London is a tragedy.

[@nomoremrniceguy8106]

@@Stevesteve_ bombs to terrorism, rationing to food banks and austerity, politics has got worse, 'freedom' with your technology that enslaves you. Whatever you say Steven

[@birdsaloud7590]

There was more life in wartime London during the Blitz compared to people staying at home in 2020..

[@Robcatist]

Covids more dangerous than the Luftwaffe apparently 🙄

[@stephenchappell7512]

WWII was fought in the name of freedom Lockdown is about taking those hard fought freedoms away

[@stephenchappell7512]

@@sleepcrime 'vulnerable people' are dying from a lot of other things at a much younger age than your designated 'vulnerable people'. "All animals are equal but some are more equal than others" George Orwell Animal Farm

[@stephenchappell7512]

@@sleepcrime "Lockdown doesn't aid in killing vulnerable people"? How about suicides? How about wrecked jobs and businesses? How about delayed cancer referrals and treatment? (I include myself in this number) What do you think pays for the NHS? Wealth that's what A crashed economy means an impoverished NHS which means more preventable deaths going forward DOPE!!!

[@stephenchappell7512]

@@sleepcrime Covid Covid Covid blah blah blah Well us awoken "people" are now the majority and you my friend, the ones who believe everything told to them, are a dying breed literally!

[@RoccoGalata]

I loved this.i love London as I am a proud London black cab driver for the last 25 years.I was born in Uk ,italian background due to the war.I wish my parents were still alive to put their memories and mine into a contest.thanks for this.

[@BellBeakerBloke]

@@RoccoGalata I’m afraid you’re part of the problem. People like your parents coming here has destroyed London

[@KMKM.S94]

Wonderful video, it's sad to see the state of London now.

[@tonycavanagh1929]

Yes taken over by the very rich.

[@mwd331]

What is a state? Almost all of central London looks infinitely better, the tenements and slums are gone. The docklands and Battersea are completely regenerated just as a couple of examples. I somehow think you aren’t talking about how London looks are you.. you don’t like the colour of people.

[@richardguest4574]

@@mwd331 The white Londoners are reducing in demographic more and more by the year and are already ethnic minorities in their own capital city. Why on earth do people like you fail to understand their dismay at this??

[@joshleafjl1]

It looks so clean back then, even during a war

[@kevinworrall231]

I know what your saying Josh but back in them days people didn't throw things away also there wasn't much packaging that wasn't reusable paper bags crates etc

[@Vloke6]

Wow how racist

[@brianconnor1810]

Thats because it was english people who lived there then.

[@Secretlyalittleworm]

I mean, there’s still a thick black layer on everything- look at the state of nelsons column

[@Secretlyalittleworm]

@@brianconnor1810 the kind of opinion that’s 80 years out of touch- so fits well with this film

[@theshimmertrap5825]

Can't help but look at these and feel like we've lost something about our society so pure and ideal.

[@ruskinyruskiny1611]

I do not think so. Remember millions were being murdered in Hitlers gas chambers as some of this film was being shot. Women even in the democratic west were subject to male violence which was treated as "no one else's business". "pure and ideal" some maybe, as some are now, but hypocrisy, as now was rife.

[@FCB-ez4fl]

We have a romantic view of the past. The old architecture and the classy manner in which people are dressed are just mesmerizing. In reality there was a whole social class left behind. And indeed the many wars in Europe led to misery.

[@theshimmertrap5825]

@@FCB-ez4fl I hear what you guys are saying but I'm talking about something much deeper irrespective of the politics and social norms. Something to do with the essence of the human soul. Their is something more vital and true about the people then. The data backs it up in terms of rates of mental illness, obesity, etc. We lost a part of our humanity in this hyper-real, post-modern, materialist landscape.

[@ruskinyruskiny1611]

@@theshimmertrap5825 Greta, AOC and 1000s of others show that the Soul of humanity is alive and well ❤

[@FCB-ez4fl]

@@theshimmertrap5825 I recognize what you say as well. Modern technology keeps our mind too busy. As a kid I felt we had more calm without mobile phones. Kids actually played on the streets.

[@WhoisPersona]

It's a rare pleasure to be able to look back at how daily life was for people in a time that only my Grandparents can tell me about. You've used technology of today to let us peek into yesterday as it was meant to be seen, impressive work my friend.

[@hughrainbird43]

Another fantastic posting, Rick. You ask for dates and locations, and as a Londoner, whose parents survived those times, I'll do my best We start on the south side of Westminster Bridge looking over to the Houses of Parliament. I think that's the blitz-damaged St Thomas's Hospital on the left. I I never knew there was a "contra-flow" across the bridge for trams, they'd turn right and run along the Thames Embankment at the far side. 0:37 Buckingham Palace with "Guards" in Khaki uniform. On Sunday 18th June 1944, a German V1 flying bomb fell on the Guards' Chapel in Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk, just a few hundred yards from the Palace, during Morning Service. 121 soldiers and civilians, including the presiding Chaplain, were killed, 141 were seriously injured. 0:58 The "Upper" Pool of London from London Bridge - I never remember the Thames looking so blue, it always seemed a muddy brown! 1:16 Cigar shop on what from another sequence is on a corner of Piccadilly Circus, maybe Haymarket . 2:16 Trafalgar Square. All the art treasures form the National Gallery at the top of the Square had been removed to secure storage sites in mines and caves at the outbreak of War. My mother remembered free classical music concerts and recitals being given in Trafalgar Square during the War. 3:12 Back to the "Upper Pool". 4:09 "Blitz" bomb damage in the City of London. Many of these "bomb sites" were still there, overgrown with vegetation and weeds when my parents took me up to the City, where my fathers' company was based, in the early and mid -1950's. 4:48 Back to the Piccadilly Circus cigar shop, and you can see the covered-over statue of "Eros" far left. Those gents in trilby hats look like "spivs" who would trade in "black market" goods unavailable on normal Wartime rations. 6:08 Looking across the River Thames from the Embankment to the "Shot Tower" (lsft) and the "Lion Brewery" on the right, on Waterloo''s South Bank. The brewery, together with a lot of bomb damaged slum housing, would be swept away to make room for the 1951 "Festival of Britain" site, but the Red Lion statue now stands at the bottom of the entrance to Waterloo main-line railway station in York Road. 6:25 Can't place this side street - Never pass my cabbie's "knowledge" exam, would I? 6:50 More "Blitz" damage. 7:15 "Blitz" damage in the City near Tower Hill. 7:40 St. Paul's Cathedral - Christopher Wren's masterpiece stands almost undamaged among the "blitzed" buildings. A symbol that London would survive whatever Hitler threw at it. My father lost his job at a wholesale draper's in St Paul's Churchyard when the premises were destroyed in the "firestorm" incendiary raids of Christmas/New Year's Eve 1940. Aged thirty-six, he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and served on the Home Front, North Africa and Italy before "demob" in 1946. Before that, both he and my mother, all 5'4" (1m 63) of her, had served as Air Raid Wardens in Lee Green, South London. My mother continued in this work until the end of the War, attending at V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket "incidents" even after the Lufwaffe had been driven from the skies over Britain. Born a "Cockney" in the East End, she'd witnessed as a girl the barbarianism of German air bombardment during the Zeppelin and Gotha raids on London during World War 1. 8:45 "The Balloon Goes Up" in Westminster Gardens near the Houses of Parliament. "Balloon fabric" was a hard-wearing material with many uses in much demand in "austerity Britain" after the War! 9:36 Women's Royal Army Corps personnel being instructed at an Anti- Aircraft battery in Hyde Park. The equipment at 10:10 I believe is not a gun, but a range-finder used to determine the altitude of a hostile aircraft. I suspect that the next few sequences are cut in from pre-War material. 11:10 Piccadilly Circus. Eros is "unclothed" and the motor vehicles and dress look pre-War. 11:29 Trafalgar Square. 12.04 This turns out to be Hyde Park Corner. Again pre-War, I believe: The railings haven't been taken away to "build Spitfires", and Speakers' Corner is thriving, which I believe was not allowed during the War. 12:30 Waterloo Station. A "king Arthur" Class locomotive brings in an express from Bournemouth or the South West of England, and at 13:33 a "Mogul" brings in another train - note the porters hurrying towards the First-Class coaches! Again, I think this is pre-War footage, rail travel was restricted during the War - "Is your journey really necessary?", and I'd expect to see many more people in uniform, Royal Naval personnel travelling to and from "Pompey" and Devonport, as well as "brown jobs", among the passengers. Certainly the Southern Railway wouldn't be advertising "Summer Fares" at the ticket barrier, 15:33 A reprise of "Blitz" damage, with barrage balloons. 16:30 VE Day celebrations, this is definitely 8th May 1945. I'd say the War-time footage was taken from 1942 onwards, if only for the number of "Yank" uniforms in the crowd scenes, always an object of jealousy from our troops in their baggy khaki uniforms! The sequences from 11:10 onwards to 15:33 I would say are pre-1939 for the reasons I've given, but still are poignantly similar to the London I remember as a boy from the 1950's. The buses and trams should be bright red and white, of course, even in wartime, but hard to "colorise" on an original black background. Thanks again for producing and posting this, and bringing back so many memories.

[@johntyjp]

That was very comprehensive Hugh, you've captured my boyhood memories there!!!

[@Rick88888888]

Thank you very much for your very detailed and educational description. I have added almost your entire text to the description. I had to shorten it a bit due the 5000 character limit that KZbin imposes for any description. I hope you don´t mind!

[@hughrainbird43]

@@Rick88888888 You're welcome. Thank you for all your work in bringing these memories of the past to us, in spite of the ingrates and bigots that post their comments.

[@meljen8592]

Blimey Hugh,you know your stuff,thank you.

[@TallyHo7]

Blimey! Are you in the footage too? ;) I think I can help you out with the side street at 6:25 ... it's shot from Great Windmill with Denman Street in the background. The building in the distance is now the St. James Tavern.

[@joefzd4040]

Granny would have loved this if she was alive still! The way people double take on the camera is great. People were so more hands on back then, touching, holding hands, both men and women. Men walking along with arms over each other's shoulders. I think the modern age lacks these physical signs of affection, her in the UK for sure. I think we're spiritually poorer for it.

[@MariA-bu2jv]

Totally agree..........and I don’t believe it will come back anytime soon 😢

[@h.h.amford702]

I wholeheartedly agree with both of you. We have traded platonic physical contact for phones and have let stupid superficiality shame such innocent yet important gestures. I remember my childhood when walking hand in hand my girl friends (not romantic) or arm in arm was normal and not frowned upon. It was a gesture of affection, intimate friendship, a sisterly connection. On pictures from my father and grandfather I see them arm in arm with friends and colleagues too, joking about. Nowadays, if people posted such pictures online everybody would simply write "gggaaaaaaayyyyyy". Civilisation has gone downhill.

[@pinarellolimoncello]

That is because that perverse lying boring fraudster Lucifer has stigmatised warmth and affection, touching up kids or choir boys so that genuine affection is then frowned upon.

[@robtroman7917]

It is my privilege and honour to have known and been related to people from this era. They had standards, kindness and modesty that makes me want to beat my chest with pride.

[@milo04]

And now the British are well down the line in this country fella .

[@fuchiaimperfect2093]

I think anyone alive now would be related to people from this era, or any other era for that matter

[@clivebonneywell6967]

They were civilised

[@curaeus007]

Simply brilliant work given the age and likely fragility of the source material.

[@MikeJones-rk1un]

Ww2 London looks safer than the world today.

[@pipodekluklukmamalou824]

Tell that to the V 1 and V 2 victims.

[@pipodekluklukmamalou824]

@Athos Aramis indeed.

[@john48132]

No terrorists....

[@idunno512]

No discipline now. I pretty much blame labour for everything

[@Matt19matt19]

Yeah but life expectancy was much lower back then.

[@Bigbro28]

An exceptional video (love the music.) After watching this I had to subscribe. 🐨🇦🇺

[@thecaninestingray313]

I see a lot of comments that seem to look at this with a sense of nostalgia. Many commenting how it was a simpler, better time. I just want to add that what you’re viewing is a moving photograph. An romanticized snapshot of a specific time and place. An idealized view of the world as it was. What you don’t see, are the REAL lives the people were living. The conversations they were having, the stresses they felt, the sicknesses they carried. Hell, they were subject to being bombed during the night. Yet these videos don’t show that side of reality these people faced. Old videos and photographs can be an interesting glimpse into the past, but certainly don’t paint a full picture of that world people seem to yearn for.

[@thecaninestingray313]

@@missprimproper1022 To imply society “these days” has somehow devolved, I think, is the result of three things. 1) It fails to see the arguments and ridicule that wasn’t documented during that time. 2) We live our lives out in excruciating detail, details where we tend to focus on those loud minorities, whereas we didn’t have those kinds of detailed experiences from olden days to see the “turning on each other” that wasn’t passed down. 3) the internet really tends to highlight the worst of society. A part of society that isn’t new, but has been made more prevalent by people who otherwise wouldn’t come into contact with them without it. I’d also like to add, that I doubt your generation has had to face a crisis on the scale that theirs did, so society really hasn’t been put to the test to give a fair comparison. However, I would like to point out the best equivalent, if you’re American, and point to the nation, particularly those in New York City the weeks after 9/11, who faced a crisis on a similar proportion.

[@camwat5193]

@@missprimproper1022 respect for telling it how it is. Nothing more nauseating than a faux social commentator lecturing self-important nonsense about something they haven’t experienced to those that have. You have a great day.

[@MrDaiseymay]

DOOOHHH that's spoilt it now.

[@andrewfrancis7272]

It's worth reading (or rereading) George Orwell's pre-war books. Life was not easy and nothing to romanticise about now. There were good things too, like the public spiritness during the war, but glamourising the past too much is mistaken.

[@EleyReiHer]

The old-looking footage, resilient to damaged caused by war and lack of overly modern buildings ... looks stupendous. Makes me loving it more