1927 London in colour

Pioneering British film maker Claude Frisse-Greene made a number of silent films showing life in the UK in the 1920s, one of which in London was filmed using the colour film he and his father William developed called the Friese-Greene Natural Colour process. Claude hoped the film could help publicise the process to Hollywood though in the end Technicolor won that battle. The British Film Institute have now released this film online, after performing computer enhancement to reduce flickering.

The film shows a fascinating insight into normal everyday life in the capital. Buses, boats and lots of men in hats! The skyline of London is very different to today though at times the scene hardly seems to have changed that much at all.

London in 1927 from Tim Sparke on Vimeo.

The 70s house

Scanning a few old photographs yesterday i came upon this one taken in the first house i lived in, in Crosby. I was only a baby at the time so the photograph was likely taken sometime in 1972 or perhaps early 1973. What is most interesting about the photograph is probably what is missing. There seems to be a total absence of technology though there was probably was a TV out of shot. Nowadays a photo of a living room would include remote controls, mobile phones, consoles, DVDs and other technology. Back in the early 1970s you would have a TV and a telephone and little else, maybe a hi-fi or a radio. Other than that the room is very familiar and probably trendily retro these days. I wonder how the living room will change in another 40 years time.

Its interesting how much has changed though some items in the photo have survived all these years, the painting on the wall for example is right behind me on my own wall now as i type this!