1928-1929: Life in England (real sound)

SlipNet

SlipNet

The Living Force
This is a curiosity gem from the twenties, giving us a glimpse of a world long ago. This fascinates me, so I thought I'd share it, how people lived in years gone by, with a different outlook and way of living. Life seems less intense, people are more laid back. Also look at how practical people are! We're a bunch of screen staring wierdlings by comparison. Having said that, we live in an age of technoratic genius in many ways so I'm wrong there. I chuckle, but I'm serious too. We've got a whole lot to learn as a race, individual genius is one thing, but what about the rest of us? Makes me want to get up off my posterior and learn a trade.

 
Thank you SlipNet! I found it full of ‘giving’ energy, maybe because all the activities shown are done in groups. And I agree the ‘high’ technology seems to only enhance our screen staring skills.
 
If you click through to YouTube, there's a pinned comment with a list of information and timestamps about the scenes, also allowing you to skip through. It's interesting that most of these video's are shot in the south of the country (not that i mind, I'm just curious to hear the other accents and so on):
guy jones


Pinned by guy jones

guy jones 1 week ago (edited)

0:08 - Feeding Seagulls in Polperro (May 9, 1928)
1:03 - Dock scene in Porthleven (May 24, 1928)
1:29 - Farm in Bedfordshire (Mar 29, 1929)
3:02 - Fishermen in Bognor (Feb 1929)
4:15 - Hop pickers in Kent (Sep 6, 1928)
7:10 - Diggers in London (Feb 1929)
9:02 - SS Olympic dock workers in Southampton (Jan 17, 1929)
10:35 - School in Bognor (Nov 15, 1928)
12:39 - Street scene on Guy Fawkes Day (1929)
13:28 - George Lansbury speaks on London slum conditions (Oct 29, 1929)
15:45 - Turkey market in Attleborough (Oct 10, 1929)
16:02 - Livestock auction in Newark, Nottinghamshire (Jan 8, 1929)
19:38 - Floral dance through the streets of Helston (May 8, 1928)
23:11 - Dancer auditions at the London Pavilion (Oct 25, 1929)
26:50 - Horse race crowd in Epsom, Surrey (June 6, 1928)
28:23 - Saint Leger horse race in Doncaster (1929)
29:10 - Large fox hunt in Leicestershire (Nov 4, 1929)
33:18 - Devizes motorcycle club (1929)
34:37 - Duchess of Bedford returns to London (1929)
35:34 - Flying beagle meet (Nov 30, 1929)
39:20 - R100 airship above Cardington, Bedfordshire (1929)
39:58 - Oxford University rowing practice in the Thames River (1929)
43:04 - Sir Robert Baden-Powell speaks in Surrey (May 16, 1929)
44:23 - Lady Astor speaks in Buckinghamshire (Aug 18, 1929)
45:31 - Honoring bishop of York in Yorkshire (Jan 1929)
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SlipNet said:
Life seems less intense, people are more laid back.
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This might actually apply for feeding seagulls and floral dances. There must have been grimier parts of the country though, were people were toiling to make a living under not so leisurely conditions.

I hope I'm not being too unfair by describing the film as "propaganda"... ;-)
 
SlipNet said:
Yeah I've no doubt that life was very challenging during those days, I think I was wondering in my initial post whether the people were a bit more robust too. Didn't word it properly at the time.
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I don’t know about robustness, but walking as a the normal way of movement to work and markets instead of driving, or making own preserves instead of buying the ready made ones or scrubbing kitchens or wooden floors with home made soap instead of applying product and using the vacuum do its rounds, or even doing own housework instead of paying a service, would make at least 10000 steps a day and consume effortlessly at least 2500calories by just living normally. I remember my childhood and youth with similar games to the ones children were playing in the clips, I remember seeing men cutting trees the same way with hand saws and I remember the sense of simple respect and warm familiarity between strangers at the vegetable or meat markets. I remember the people being less sophisticated in articulating their expectations from life. Then, modest was someone that had self sufficiency but did not spend money on luxuries. These days you use modest instead of poor, low, little etc. because everyone has the glitz of luxury as the default or normal without knowing how it is made, achieved or how it can be maintained. From this point of view I think we are ‘damaged goods in the warehouse of constant delusion’ and not that the people before were more robust.
But it is not too late. 🥰
PS Yesterday I took 1kg of dried beans and kept them overnight in cold water. Today I cooked bean soup, beans in tomato sauce with bayleaves and paprika, and bean dip with garlic and we have cooked food until Saturday.
 
Here's another oldie that seems worthwhile having a look at: 1923 - School in rural Ontario, Canada [in winter]. I know there are a number of these kinds of video's online (British Pathé is a good source) but this one came up in my feed and, while i only skipped through, i thought some of the scenes were particularly striking; like the children wrapped up in winter coats while sitting in the old style one room school house waiting for the woodfire burner to get going. It seems to be part staged and part documentary, and it has sound in parts but it's an added soundtrack, which is a shame. But, unlike many of the old videos, it's like a mini documentary at ~10 minutes, rather than just short snippets.

It also just reminded me of what John Taylor Gatto said about these styles of schools being a much more productive way for children to learn; having the same teacher for years; the older children looking after and helping teach the younger ones, and so on.

1923 - School in rural Ontario, Canada (speed corrected w/added sound)
215,804 views
•Published on Jan 25, 2016



Edited version of "The Rugged Road to Learning," old film of a day of school in rural Ontario, Canada in winter 1923. Set to a natural rate and added in sound for ambiance. Thanks the Library archives of Canada
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