The BFI have put 2,500 films (and more are to come) from their archives online and made them available to watch (UK only i think). The films on the Britain on film website range from Victorian times to the 80s and seem to cover all aspects of British life. Unfortunately you only seem to be able to search by geographic location and not subject unless there is an alternative search front end i haven't found yet...
But i searched for my local area anyway and found a fascinating film from the mid-1970s on a family who move out of their highrise flat in Castle Vale to a lovely little house on... Tyburn Road! I wonder if my (not so near to be honest as they lived right at the other end of the road to me) neighbours are still there?
The second film i found was on the construction of the Gravelly Hill Interchange aka Spaghetti Junction and was a truly amazing insight into the running and planning of the junction. All the overhead gantry signs were apparently run from a big computer at Perry Barr police station, i suspect they are run from a somewhat smaller computer on someone's desk now.
Actually maybe the BFI got the search front end right anyway, i might not have found the films if i had been searching for subjects...
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