We love this new way to explore the rich history of the UK, without having to leave the comfort of your own home. Britain on Film is an amazing archive, recently launched by the British Film Institute, which puts thousands of films online for the first time, available to watch for free through the BFI player.
The footage, taken from around the UK – including news reels, documentaries, as well as family films – dates from the 1980s all the way back to the 1890s.
The films bring the stuff of history books alive, whether they show Queen Victoria’s funeral or life on the home front in the World Wars and reveal the changing (and, sometimes, incredibly unchanging) landscape of Britain, from cities to village greens, all searchable on an interactive map.
Some of the most fascinating footage shows some of the country’s rich regional traditions. There’s Lady Godiva in Coventry, Well Dressing in Buxton and Up Helly Aa in the Shetlands in 1927 just for starters (keep a lookout for the ‘sheep’ and ‘walruses’ in the last one).
And, as revealed by the footage of 1920s pet shows at London’s Alexandra Palace and Crystal Palace, we’ve never been able to resist a cute cat or dog.
And, with summer holidays on the horizon, you can see how generations before us flocked to the seaside, whether Eastbourne, Skegness, or Aberystwyth. The coast is also the setting for one of the earliest family films, which dates to 1903 and shows the children of the Passmore family happily playing on the beach – a complete contrast to the stiff family portraits we’re so used to seeing from the era.
Take a look at the BFI Facebook page where there will be a new film posted each day. And, while the project isn’t available outside of the UK, there are still plenty of films to be explored on the BFI’s YouTube channel.