0:00:05 > 0:00:07'For more than half a century,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12'Pathe newsreels offered Britain a vital window on to the world.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17'From global conflicts
0:00:17 > 0:00:19'to ideal homes,
0:00:19 > 0:00:23'from leisure crazes to love-ins,
0:00:23 > 0:00:28'they reflected British culture and recorded all aspects of our lives.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33'Pathe established their own unique way of delivering these stories.'
0:00:33 > 0:00:36The news was told as though it were an action thriller.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41President and Madame Lebrun of France are entertained in London.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46'The rousing delivery of Pathe's voiceovers became familiar to millions.'
0:00:46 > 0:00:51It's one of the most distinctive sounds of the 20th century.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53There were none but heroes at Dunkirk.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57It was the most superbly heroic operation of all time...
0:00:57 > 0:01:00'One man above all possessed THE voice of Pathe.'
0:01:00 > 0:01:02Let the greatest tribute of all
0:01:02 > 0:01:06be paid to the men who fought and fell in the rearguard action.
0:01:06 > 0:01:13'Bob Danvers-Walker was their most famous and durable commentator.'
0:01:13 > 0:01:15The venom of Germany's war machine
0:01:15 > 0:01:17turned against the British Isles.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19What he said was what we had to accept.
0:01:19 > 0:01:25'In its darkest hours, Pathe had encouraged a nation under siege.'
0:01:25 > 0:01:29What spirit! What courage! What men!
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Good health, sailor. Have this one on us!
0:01:32 > 0:01:36'The government soon realised they could harness the power of newsreels
0:01:36 > 0:01:40'and commissioned public information films.'
0:01:40 > 0:01:44Look over the clothes you've got, see if they won't last longer
0:01:44 > 0:01:48or if they can be altered to present-day needs.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53'Whether people liked it or not, Pathe would tell them how to live.'
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Save your coupons for an emergency.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01PATHE'S ROUSING THEME MUSIC
0:02:03 > 0:02:06COCK CROWS
0:02:15 > 0:02:19'Until 1929, Pathe's newsreels,
0:02:19 > 0:02:24'like feature films of the day, were silent.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26'To tell their stories,
0:02:26 > 0:02:31'they used the written word to present it on intertitles.'
0:02:31 > 0:02:33CROWS
0:02:33 > 0:02:38'When sound was added, it was a wake-up call to the nation.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'It wasn't much more than a title board with music
0:02:41 > 0:02:43'and location sound.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48'As the 1930s progressed, Pathe began experimenting with voiceover.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50'By the middle of the decade,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53'the commentator was a force to be reckoned with.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57'Now Pathe could develop a voice all of its own.'
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Factories humming puts railway traffic on the mend.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04This streamlined engine signals that railways are in a better position
0:03:04 > 0:03:06than they have been for years past.
0:03:06 > 0:03:12The newsreel commentator spoke with this extraordinary confidence.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15They set the scene in a short, sharp sentence.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17It was a sad sea drama
0:03:17 > 0:03:20when the proud Finnish windjammer struck Devon rocks.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24The world hoped she might be saved, but it was not to be.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'In an age before television, there was nothing more influential
0:03:28 > 0:03:32'than what millions saw in the cinema every week.'
0:03:32 > 0:03:36Newsreels were the best way for people to experience the world.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41'Often, Pathe adopted an uncritical perspective on what they filmed.'
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Up to a point, newsreels reflected life, but also manipulated it.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50'As shown in the 1936 documentary, The Great Crusade,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53'Pathe didn't back away from difficult issues,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56'like the housing crisis at the time.'
0:03:56 > 0:04:01In London alone, it's estimated that some 230,000 people
0:04:01 > 0:04:05live under conditions which are unfit for human habitation.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11Probably not five in every hundred of these roofs are watertight.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13In one of these streets lives Molly,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16her mother, two brothers and baby sister.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18Five of them in two rooms.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21The place is rotten from top to bottom.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24The decaying woodwork is infested with vermin.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26The five of them,
0:04:26 > 0:04:29including a six-month-old baby, sleep in one tiny bedroom.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Children are the parents of the next generation.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37Unless these places of dirt and disease are swept away,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39what sort of generation will it be?
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Are we going to perpetuate a C3 race?
0:04:41 > 0:04:46'Though they didn't shy away from grim realities,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49'filmmakers also showed grounds for optimism.'
0:04:49 > 0:04:52There's a wonderful narrative that takes us
0:04:52 > 0:04:57from showing rats and mice running around over a child on the floor,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00through to a transformation.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02Good afternoon, Mrs Harding.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06We've just come to see if everything's all right.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It's just like living in a new world.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13It's a bit of a fairy tale. It's very strong on uplift.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17But it would have reached an enormous number of people.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22Pathe carried a message about regeneration after the Depression to the mass audience.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26Two years ago, the government started a five-year plan
0:05:26 > 0:05:28to abolish the slums.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30This work is in its stride now.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33When the house-breakers take charge,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37you can really see how rotten these places are.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42'This optimistic tone was evident
0:05:42 > 0:05:47'in much of Pathe's output during the Depression.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52'In 1936, the company filmed a family, forced by poverty,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55'to leave their home and live on a beach.'
0:06:01 > 0:06:06Remember the man they call Robinson because he loved to cruise so?
0:06:06 > 0:06:10He's nothing to the Robinson Crusoe we found near Folkstone.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15'George and Sarah Chandler and their children went to live at the Warren
0:06:15 > 0:06:19'when George went bankrupt in 1928.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24'Their youngest daughters, Freda and Marjorie, born a few years later,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27'still remember growing up in tents.'
0:06:27 > 0:06:31We were down here on the beach 11 years altogether.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36I'm the one in the middle, swinging my legs, with an empty plate.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41I'm the little one in Mother's arms in the Pathe film.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44This is one of Crusoe's happy crew.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48These spartan folk are expert cliff climbers
0:06:48 > 0:06:52and barricade their canvas homes against little bounders,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54like these chalk ones.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58'The film painted a jolly picture of life on the beach,
0:06:58 > 0:07:04'but chose to ignore the reality of hardship that lay behind their parents' tale.'
0:07:04 > 0:07:08They had a lovely house in Dover. They had to sell that.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10Then they were living in lodgings
0:07:10 > 0:07:13and they couldn't pay the rent.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19Mother brought the children home and the lady said, "You can't come in. You haven't paid the rent."
0:07:19 > 0:07:22So Dad decided to take them camping.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24I think, originally,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26- it WAS just camping, wasn't it?- Yes.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29"We'll go down Folkstone Warren..."
0:07:29 > 0:07:33right along the far end, where you can see the cliffs,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37"..and we'll camp until I can find something better."
0:07:37 > 0:07:43I think they fell into the habit that there wasn't anything better.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Marjorie was born, actually, on the beach.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50My birth certificate says, "In a tent, on the foreshore"!
0:07:50 > 0:07:56A boat to them is more important than a bus to us landlubbers!
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Looking at that film, it's all terribly upbeat and great fun.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04So, life goes on - a shore life, but a gay one.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08That is kind of a metaphor for the way Pathe treated things.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13Everything was rather fun and the British were quite game and feisty,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15and they got on with life.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20'For those fortunate enough to remain in work and keep their homes,
0:08:20 > 0:08:23'things were looking brighter.'
0:08:23 > 0:08:27New industries were producing for the domestic market.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37'And Pathe set to work showing you what was now available.'
0:08:37 > 0:08:39People could touch,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43they could buy a lot more things than they'd been able to buy before,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46because of mass production.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56'One of the most popular consumer products was the motor car.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01'Responding to the steep increase in traffic,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05'Pathe produced one of Britain's earliest road safety films,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'starring entertainer Bobby Howes.'
0:09:08 > 0:09:11The kerb drill has just been introduced.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16We know that as you go to the kerb, you look right, you look left,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20you look right again and then you cross over the road.
0:09:20 > 0:09:27That was completely new in 1930, so I think what Pathe did
0:09:27 > 0:09:30was to make it instructional
0:09:30 > 0:09:32in an entertaining way.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36That's what the newsreels and cine magazines do best.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40You have this well-known personality from the music hall
0:09:40 > 0:09:42with a line of chorus girls.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47That would be something which would stick in people's minds.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Come on, loosen up!
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Bring your leg over, Nellie.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06'Pathe's filmmakers were keen to promote health
0:10:06 > 0:10:09'as well as road safety.'
0:10:09 > 0:10:13The government was very concerned about the health of the nation,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17particularly after the 1936 Berlin Olympics,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20where most of the medals had been won by Germany.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23So they pumped money into keep fit.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28'This fitness initiative may have been prompted by government concerns
0:10:28 > 0:10:30'about the militarisation of Germany.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35'During World War I, many Britons were unfit for active service.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40'With another war looming, Whitehall wanted Britain to shape up.'
0:10:40 > 0:10:45It used to be called "keep fit for the military". It just became "keep fit".
0:10:45 > 0:10:48That meant playing fields.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53It meant swimming pools, these wonderful open-air lidos.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00There were keep fit movements.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04Molly Bagot Stack's Health and Beauty League,
0:11:04 > 0:11:10almost like Busby Berkeley, thousands of legs waving in the air.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23'Around that time, Pathe's newsreels showed the mass fitness regimes
0:11:23 > 0:11:27'that had been introduced in Germany.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33'The country was the object of increasing fascination
0:11:33 > 0:11:36'among British cinema-goers in the 1930s.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40'Evidence of the Nazis' determination to build
0:11:40 > 0:11:44'a formidable military machine was a source of anxiety among a population
0:11:44 > 0:11:48'that vividly remembered the horrors of the Great War.'
0:11:48 > 0:11:52They say there are 800,000 pairs of boots standing heel-to-heel,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54waiting for the Fuhrer's speech.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58'Yet, at first, Pathe presented a largely uncritical
0:11:58 > 0:12:00'view of Hitler's Germany.'
0:12:00 > 0:12:04They really wanted to be nice to everybody.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08To us, it seems ludicrous they went to such lengths to be nice
0:12:08 > 0:12:11to Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15But they did, because they were international companies.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19They had no wish to be ahead of governments.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23These were periods when governments were being nice to each other
0:12:23 > 0:12:27until the months before the outbreak of war.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32'Pathe's editorial line was consistent with the British policy of appeasement,
0:12:32 > 0:12:37'despite signs of mounting international tensions.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39'With preparations being made for war,
0:12:39 > 0:12:45'Pathe reflected the nation's deep unease about entering another global conflict.'
0:12:45 > 0:12:49As workers evacuate the records of business into the country,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52nowhere is there patriotic excitement,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55but everywhere there is a deep hatred of war.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59There is complete confidence in British power, but no confidence
0:12:59 > 0:13:03in the power of violence and slaughter to make the world a better place.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07As the boats bring in more vital food supplies,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11merchant seamen know that, in the hearts of the German people,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15there is a preference for the joys of peace against the horrors of war.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19'Just three days after that newsreel was first screened,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23'Germany invaded Poland and Britain declared war.
0:13:23 > 0:13:27'Almost immediately, Pathe's tone was transformed.'
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Everything we do is inspired by the absolute conviction
0:13:31 > 0:13:36that a great evil must be removed from the world -
0:13:36 > 0:13:39the spirit of intolerance, of bullying
0:13:39 > 0:13:43and of senseless criminal ambition embodied in Hitler
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and all those who surround him.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48'Newsreel companies were expected to rally the nation
0:13:48 > 0:13:50'against the common enemy.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54'The day after war broke out,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58'the government set up the Ministry of Information
0:13:58 > 0:14:03'to impose censorship and commission propaganda.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06'Now there was an official body to decide
0:14:06 > 0:14:08'what the British people should see
0:14:08 > 0:14:11'and to prepare the nation for the trials ahead.'
0:14:11 > 0:14:17The interesting thing is that the state is using film in war time.
0:14:17 > 0:14:23We've always had public safety information within pamphlets,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25within advertisements, within radio.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30What you see in the Second World War is the explosion
0:14:30 > 0:14:32in the use of film.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Because it's an incredibly persuasive medium
0:14:36 > 0:14:39and it's a form of communication
0:14:39 > 0:14:43where the government can literally reach the whole population.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47If you're in the open, lie down, preferably in a ditch.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52If you're within five minutes of home, go home, but keep away from the windows.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56The most important rule is never to stare at the sky.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59If you don't take cover, you may get hurt.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03'As Britain faced the realities of the Blitz in 1940,
0:15:03 > 0:15:08'Pathe employed the man whose voice would become synonymous with their company for 30 years!'
0:15:08 > 0:15:11We at Pathe salute the soldier.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15'Bob Danvers-Walker was born in Surrey in 1906
0:15:15 > 0:15:17'and lived an adventurous life.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21'In the 1920s, he served in the Australian Yeomanry
0:15:21 > 0:15:24'before pursuing a career on the airwaves in Britain and France.
0:15:24 > 0:15:30'When war broke out, he was broadcasting from Normandy for the Forces Radio.
0:15:30 > 0:15:37'His counterblast against Nazi propaganda brought him to enemy attention.'
0:15:37 > 0:15:39He was on the blacklist.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42They wanted to annihilate him because of propaganda,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and he had to get out.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48'Bob Danvers-Walker brought his family back to England
0:15:48 > 0:15:51'just before the retreat from Dunkirk.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55'Pathe almost immediately snapped him up to be their commentator
0:15:55 > 0:15:57'and, briefly, the editor.'
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Ladies and gentlemen, as the regular Pathe Gazette commentator...
0:16:01 > 0:16:06'Bob would become THE voice of Pathe and, during the war,
0:16:06 > 0:16:12'would exhort the British population to resist the menace of the Nazis.'
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Breathes there the man with soul so dead
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Who never to himself hath said "This is my own, my native land."
0:16:20 > 0:16:25At this time, such words may well serve to stimulate our determination
0:16:25 > 0:16:28to resist, with all the strength we can command,
0:16:28 > 0:16:33an avaricious foe who seeks to plunder all that we hold dear.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37The style was very formal. I think that was the expected thing.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42The so-called upper middle classes were considered to be the leaders.
0:16:42 > 0:16:48And I think he was one of the representatives, perhaps.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53All the radio announcers spoke with very upper-class accents.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55The newsreels had to play along with that,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58even though their work was being seen
0:16:58 > 0:17:03in places where accents and attitudes were very different.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06To British manhood and British womanhood is left
0:17:06 > 0:17:12the proud task of saving civilisation from the defiling growth of barbarism.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17His voice was very stentorian, gung-ho and jingoistic.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21I think he was of his type and period.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25That was the way they delivered things in those days.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28It was the war effort, wasn't it?
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Everybody had to be patriotic and sound positive.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34"We're going to beat the huns" and the rest of it!
0:17:34 > 0:17:39We stand full square to fight as we have never fought before.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45And we shall be left alone, the last that dare to struggle with the foe.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49I think the radio and the newsreels were incredibly important.
0:17:49 > 0:17:56He symbolised continuity and authority and reassurance.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59It's a bit like a pilot on an aeroplane
0:17:59 > 0:18:01going through turbulence.
0:18:01 > 0:18:08These reassuring voices talking over some really rather dreadful scenes.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10It must have been reassuring.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Hastening to be with his people of Coventry in their hour of adversity,
0:18:14 > 0:18:17the King was an inspiration to the stricken but courageous inhabitants.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21They came through the ordeal magnificently.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24This is their greatest hour.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28It's a particular tone of voice. It moves pretty quickly.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31The kind of person you imagine holding forth at a bar.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35- Welcome home, Terry. - Thanks, Bob. It's nice to be back.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38- Take a chair. I'm going to grill you.- All right, Bob.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42'Pathe used Bob's voice to make an emotional connection
0:18:42 > 0:18:46'with the British people at this time of national emergency.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49'The newsreel was the ideal medium
0:18:49 > 0:18:53'to get a morale-boosting message to the largest possible audience.'
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Every man and woman, uniformed or working clothed,
0:18:56 > 0:18:58is in the front line.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03Crusaders of the home front, the navy, the army and the air force
0:19:03 > 0:19:06fight in the battle for civilisation.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09MUSIC: "Land Of Hope And Glory"
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Pathe during the war was a mirror of Britain at war,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16but it also shaped Britain at war.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Mrs Barker's home has been bombed by the huns,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22but it'll take more than that to move her.
0:19:22 > 0:19:27Even as Hitler and Goering, murderers as they are,
0:19:27 > 0:19:32come night after night and bomb us, I'm determined to stop in my house.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35I've been here 27 years and...
0:19:35 > 0:19:40still I'm determined to defy them and stop here.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42That's the spirit of the people!
0:19:45 > 0:19:47'When reporting the worst impact of the Blitz,
0:19:47 > 0:19:52'filmmakers would strive to convey, sometimes in humorous terms,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54'the courage and fortitude of the people.'
0:19:54 > 0:19:59As hoses play on the smouldering ruins, a fireman is heard to say,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02"Blimey! He wasn't half cross with us last night!"
0:20:02 > 0:20:06Let every honour be given to the rescue parties, nurses and doctors
0:20:06 > 0:20:11who toil for hours bringing help and easing the suffering of survivors.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15A lot of Pathe's content was to do with the Blitz spirit.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20It gave an impression that everybody climbed out of the wreckage
0:20:20 > 0:20:23singing There'll Always Be An England.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26It did not show any of the real horrors of war.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Meanwhile, London carries on. Windows may be broken,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33but the spirit remains intact.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37"Dear Sir, please note our new address."
0:20:39 > 0:20:43'Despite the bravado of its pronouncements,
0:20:43 > 0:20:50'Pathe was encouraging parents to send their children far away from Britain's cities.'
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Labelled and loaded and not forgetting their gas mask,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56the children head for the special train.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59They're not worrying. They're off on a holiday.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04'Giving an impression of an awfully great adventure was one of the ways
0:21:04 > 0:21:08'Pathe did its patriotic duty, supporting government policy
0:21:08 > 0:21:10'and boosting morale.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13'The newsreel companies would also play a large part
0:21:13 > 0:21:16'in communicating the official message
0:21:16 > 0:21:20'from the Ministry of Information.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23'Tagged on the end of the newsreels, the "fillers"
0:21:23 > 0:21:27'were an important weapon in the propaganda arsenal.'
0:21:27 > 0:21:29To work, girls...!
0:21:29 > 0:21:33'The ministry commissioned Pathe and other companies
0:21:33 > 0:21:37'to make and distribute over 2,000 of these films.'
0:21:37 > 0:21:42The government organised a collection of household scrap for chicken feed.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's ration-free and solves the poultry keepers' problem.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50The Second World War is the golden age of the public information film.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54It's a very good medium if you want
0:21:54 > 0:21:56to try and change people's behaviour.
0:22:00 > 0:22:06And you have a whole plethora of different public information films,
0:22:06 > 0:22:13advising people on what to grow, what to eat, how to use gas masks.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18It's every aspect of people's lives they're being advised on here.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28People will go to the newsreel theatre
0:22:28 > 0:22:32and will sit through a whole hour-long programme of news,
0:22:32 > 0:22:37and then go to the cinema and sit through the newsreel programme all over again.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41They might have been looking at these public information films
0:22:41 > 0:22:46three or four times, so that message is going to come through.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47Ah!
0:22:47 > 0:22:49I am the fuel demon,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54and I have come to warn you that this waste must stop.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56It was a way of encouraging people,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59but also informing them what they had to do.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03They had to carry their identity card, wear an identity badge.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05They had to carry their ration book.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09It needed to inform them about new regulations.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13Britain was an extremely regulated country in the Second World War.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17A man's pocket shows many of the little things we have got used to.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21A whistle, ration card, petrol coupons.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Identity cards.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31A torch. Not forgetting lunch,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35in case his favourite restaurant isn't there any more.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38'During the war,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42'the Ministry of Information launched inventive campaigns
0:23:42 > 0:23:47'with titles such as Make Do And Mend, Dig For Victory and Salvage,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51'to encourage people to make the most of the scarce resources.'
0:23:51 > 0:23:55People were bombarded with information during the war
0:23:55 > 0:23:59on radio, in the newspaper, leaflets through the door.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01And, of course, on newsreels.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04One day, George went to the cinema to cheer himself up.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08They were showing one of those official films.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12What do you think it was about? Well, see for yourself.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Bones are of vital use in the war effort.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18The idea of Salvage was you had to save everything.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22It was forever making cartoons about Salvage.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24You had to throw nothing away.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Pathe was in the foreground of encouraging that.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Ladies and gentlemen, there is a moral to this story.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Have you a skeleton in YOUR cupboard?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38Give it to Salvage.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Have a clear conscience.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46It was a way of getting people to feel they had a role in the war,
0:24:46 > 0:24:51that the country was united, there was an external common enemy
0:24:51 > 0:24:54and Britain was fighting back.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58We haven't got enough coupons. I need a few for towels.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01- KNOCKING - Perhaps WE can help you.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04< And who might YOU be?
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Your old clothes, put away and forgotten.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Use us now.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13I could make a smart costume for the young lady.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17I've never turned a pair of trousers into a skirt in my life!
0:25:17 > 0:25:22Never mind. It's quite easy to do. Ask at your technical institute.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Or get together with your friends and form a Make Do And Mend group.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32'Even more important in military terms
0:25:32 > 0:25:35'was the campaign Careless Talk Costs Lives,
0:25:35 > 0:25:41'aimed at preventing sensitive information being leaked to enemy agents.'
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Lovesick John Jones
0:25:43 > 0:25:46met indiscreet Mary Brown.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51If you knew something about where your soldier husband was being sent
0:25:51 > 0:25:53or there was a war factory near you,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58somebody might overhear and that might put people's lives at risk.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00He said to her...
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Let's go to Coombe Wood for a picnic.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05She said to him...
0:26:05 > 0:26:09It's closed. There's a dump of our new mine detectors there.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13The consequence was...
0:26:13 > 0:26:18- And the world said... - That's your fault, Mary!
0:26:18 > 0:26:22Very often, they were very simplistic. Everybody knew that.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26They were preposterously naive.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30The Browns at home. Suddenly, the alarm.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Enemy aircraft are here. An incendiary bomb hits the house.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37It burns violently but it can be tackled...
0:26:37 > 0:26:41I did have to laugh about putting out the incendiary bomb.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45You have a fire. It's burning the carpet.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47Throw on some water. End of film.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50But you have to see people fetching a bucket,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54fetching a hose, alerting a neighbour.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58The carpet's curling up as a little bit of fire gets going.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Miss smith arrives. She has received training from the local authorities,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05which you, too, can receive.
0:27:05 > 0:27:10Brown operates the pump away from the heat and smoke.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15'Amongst the most important and effective of the official films
0:27:15 > 0:27:19'was a series of recruitment trailers urging women
0:27:19 > 0:27:22'to show some pluck and sign up.'
0:27:22 > 0:27:26If you are between the ages of 17 and a half and 45,
0:27:26 > 0:27:31there is a job waiting for you, a job that must be filled.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37I saw a recruitment programme given by a Pathe News
0:27:37 > 0:27:41that they needed women to volunteer because the soldiers were fighting
0:27:41 > 0:27:45and they needed girls to take up their jobs.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50I'll have a bit of that! I got fed up of the shelters every night.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52So I joined up.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57'Penny served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the ATS.'
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Pet, I haven't seen you for ages! How do you like the ATS?
0:28:02 > 0:28:06- Fine. How's everyone at the office? - Oh, all right. You do look smart!
0:28:06 > 0:28:09- I envy you your job. - You don't have to.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Why don't you join up? It's a grand life.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16It was an eye-opener.
0:28:16 > 0:28:23I didn't realise women could be so useful until I saw the Pathe News.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28The uniform looked good.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Although it was itchy and that, it looked good.
0:28:32 > 0:28:39Apart from being useful, I thought it was exciting and I thought I'd meet different people.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44I liked the social life as well because, believe it or not,
0:28:44 > 0:28:46they had lots of dances.
0:28:49 > 0:28:55'Pathe was keen to emphasise the glamorous aspects of women's wartime roles.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59'They even gave helpful fashion advice for working women.'
0:28:59 > 0:29:02The Vingle hairstyle!
0:29:02 > 0:29:05If your job is where the wheels are turning,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08it's common sense to keep your hair short.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12A hair on the head's worth two in the machinery.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17The partings form four Vs, hence, V-ingle - Vingle.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22'But as war drew to a close and husbands returned home,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25'women's roles were about to change.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28'In this film, A Tribute To Women,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33'Pathe dramatised an encounter between a returning serviceman and his dutiful wife.'
0:29:33 > 0:29:38This is the story of just one woman among the thousands who waited.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42For her, it's the greatest day of all. Her man is coming home.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46What had happened after the First World War,
0:29:46 > 0:29:51men had come back and found that women had taken their jobs.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53The word was "dilution".
0:29:53 > 0:29:55Pay had fallen as a result.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59There was a great anxiety that this might happen.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02One of the inducements of the Second World War
0:30:02 > 0:30:05was that men were promised their jobs back
0:30:05 > 0:30:08when they came out of the forces.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12'Pathe quickly shifted its attitude to working women,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16'preparing them for their less exciting post-war lives.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20'The same women they'd urged to join up were being encouraged
0:30:20 > 0:30:24'to step back into their pre-war roles.'
0:30:24 > 0:30:29Thousands of wartime brides never had a chance of cooking for their husbands.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32Grim outlook for the old man when he comes home?
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Not if he had the sense to marry an ATS girl.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38The attitude to women is amazing!
0:30:38 > 0:30:41It's like being in the Victorian era.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44How's that pie getting on? Looks pretty good!
0:30:44 > 0:30:50There's one husband who won't need to whistle Ma I Miss Your Apple Pie.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54It's assumed that women would be doing what women should do,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57looking after their husband and children.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59That is an absolutely universal assumption.
0:30:59 > 0:31:04There's a newsreel in which ATS girls are taught how to lay a table
0:31:04 > 0:31:07and get the meal ready for "the old man".
0:31:07 > 0:31:12During their course as housewives, they're taught how to run a home
0:31:12 > 0:31:16down to laying the table, so that when George's mother comes to stay
0:31:16 > 0:31:19she won't be able to find fault.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22Pathe filmed that and made it look very patronising,
0:31:22 > 0:31:27but it was happening, so they can hardly be held indictable for that.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32'Women's roles would continue to change but, for now,
0:31:32 > 0:31:39'everyone could celebrate a vital victory and a return to peace.'
0:31:39 > 0:31:45This was the British people's finest day - VE Day, the end of the German war. Six long years.
0:31:45 > 0:31:50A jubilation rings out in the victory peal from St Paul's.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57'Pathe had performed an essential role during the war.
0:31:57 > 0:32:03'They'd acted as mouthpiece for the government to cajole, instruct and exhort the public
0:32:03 > 0:32:06'through the challenges faced on the home front.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08'They'd established a house style
0:32:08 > 0:32:12'that epitomised Britain's plucky war-time spirit.'
0:32:15 > 0:32:19We know that, in the days when the war seems remote and far away,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23these will be historic pictures that tell another generation
0:32:23 > 0:32:26how we celebrated Victory in Europe day
0:32:26 > 0:32:30and thanked the service chiefs who worked so valiantly.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34'Britain was grateful to Churchill for leading the nation to victory,
0:32:34 > 0:32:39'but his popularity didn't translate into support for his party.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42'In the 1945 General Election, the nation voted
0:32:42 > 0:32:48'Churchill's Conservatives out, and Labour's Clement Attlee in.'
0:32:48 > 0:32:50When it came to the post-war period,
0:32:50 > 0:32:55people were afraid they'd go back to the old Conservatives of the 1930s.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00The sweeping victories throughout the country
0:33:00 > 0:33:07mark an epoch in the political life of this country.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11One effect of the war, particularly of the Blitz, was the feeling
0:33:11 > 0:33:15that there must never be going back to the inequalities of the '30s.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20'Pathe and other newsreel companies supported the Labour Party's plans
0:33:20 > 0:33:23'to build a new kind of future.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26'Social change was high on the agenda.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30'The new government promised better prospects for the people
0:33:30 > 0:33:34'who had given so much to help win the war.'
0:33:34 > 0:33:38The big change after the war, apart from the Welfare State,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42was the huge house-building programme.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47We had to replace the homes that had been destroyed and replace the slums
0:33:47 > 0:33:54so that gave people a completely new opportunity for a good life.
0:33:54 > 0:33:59'Pathe's editors were keen to show the process of reconstruction.'
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Very much alive amid the ruins
0:34:01 > 0:34:04are the bright ideas of the post-war planners,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08who want to build the old bricks into homes that are new.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11The war upset the idea of things being as safe as houses.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15They aim at making the houses of the future safe and serviceable.
0:34:15 > 0:34:22In the 1930s, there had been terrible homelessness, slum conditions, misery, ill health.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25People said, "We are never going back to that again."
0:34:25 > 0:34:31'But there was no easy solution to Britain's post-war housing crisis.
0:34:31 > 0:34:36'So exasperated were some that they took matters into their own hands.'
0:34:36 > 0:34:38There was a crisis.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42People stormed barracks and occupied blocks of flats.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Peace-time battle report.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47The siege of London's Ivanhoe Hotel.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51On the pavement - police, press and squatter sympathisers.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The squatters carry on as best they can.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58A food supply has come up from below.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02Squatting turns a spotlight on a desperate housing situation.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10'One official response to the crisis was prefab housing.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14'Pathe's films extolled the virtues of the government's
0:35:14 > 0:35:16'quick-fix solutions.'
0:35:16 > 0:35:20A whole house can be erected rapidly by manual labour.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24The temporary prototype houses are the first of 30,000 in this country.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29They fit them together as easily as children's building blocks.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36This house has no stairs, no dust-collecting wainscoting
0:35:36 > 0:35:40and is intended to last about ten years.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43'Though the prefabs were meant to be temporary,
0:35:43 > 0:35:47'Eddie O'Mahony has enjoyed living in his for the last 65 years.'
0:35:47 > 0:35:52My wife had applied to the London County Council
0:35:52 > 0:35:55for accommodation.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57They said it was a prefab.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02I said, "I don't want a prefab. I want a house."
0:36:02 > 0:36:08I was fed up of living in tents and Nissen huts and that sort of thing.
0:36:08 > 0:36:14They said, "Before you turn it down, just go and have a look."
0:36:14 > 0:36:17'Eddie and his wife, Ellen, were one of many families
0:36:17 > 0:36:21'who doubted the quality of prefab housing.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25'Pathe's films helped to overcome initial sceptisism.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27'In their film Homes While You Wait,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31'a middle-class couple are invited to test out prefab living.'
0:36:31 > 0:36:36George Smith and Mrs Smith are looking for a house.
0:36:36 > 0:36:42That's not unusual, but these are unusual days and the usual sort of house is unusually scarce.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46They're on the track of a Uni-Seco house,
0:36:46 > 0:36:50a house made out of sections of portable units.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53We made our way into number six
0:36:53 > 0:36:58and directly my wife opened the door, the first thing she said was,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01"What a lovely big hall!
0:37:01 > 0:37:04"We can get the pram in here."
0:37:04 > 0:37:08And we found, not only had it an inside toilet,
0:37:08 > 0:37:13but a bathroom with a heated towel rack...
0:37:14 > 0:37:17..immersion heater.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20Just put a switch on and we had hot water!
0:37:20 > 0:37:26We came into the dining room and my wife said, "Look how big it is!
0:37:27 > 0:37:30"Start measuring up for the lino."
0:37:39 > 0:37:42A hinged breakfast table is a space-saving idea.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47The refrigerator tops the list
0:37:47 > 0:37:50of £80 worth of fittings built into Churchill Villa.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Bedroom number two also has plenty of cupboards
0:37:56 > 0:37:59and, like the other rooms, is central heated.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02I think it is very good indeed.
0:38:02 > 0:38:07For the men who are coming home and the women who have been working hard
0:38:07 > 0:38:09and want to get back to family life,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12I think it is an ideal house.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17'Britain gradually tackled its housing crisis
0:38:17 > 0:38:21'but as Pathe's films show, millions were living on the breadline.'
0:38:21 > 0:38:26I did hope we might have it a bit easier now there's no more war.
0:38:26 > 0:38:28Instead of that, it's worse.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31The post-war years were very difficult.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35We rationed bread for the first time AFTER the war.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39When the Germans were starving, we rationed bread.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43This is the ration card. Take a good look.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46You'll see it each day and every day for at least a year.
0:38:46 > 0:38:52We were sustained by the knowledge that we were engaged in a big project.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56'Pathe prepared the nation for the new National Health Service,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00'which promised universal free health care from cradle to grave.'
0:39:00 > 0:39:05This leaflet is coming through your letter box one day soon.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10Or maybe you have already had your copy. Read it carefully.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12To me, it was really moving.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17I remember how wonderful the arrival of the National Health Service was.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22It was a miracle. It was overwhelmingly wonderful.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27We were completely disbelieving that we could have all this free,
0:39:27 > 0:39:30and that it was the same for everybody.
0:39:30 > 0:39:37What an incredible thing for Britain to have thought it up and to be putting it into practice.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40That little modest snatch of newsreel
0:39:40 > 0:39:45is very poignant for those of us who were there at the time.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49'The information films used leading entertainers of the day,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52'including comedian Tommy Trinder, to guide people
0:39:52 > 0:39:56'through the various elements of the Welfare State.'
0:39:56 > 0:40:01Please everyone try by the 5th July to have read the booklet through.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Put it safely away. You may need it one day.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08Then you can read what to do. Right? Ha ha! You lucky people!
0:40:08 > 0:40:12'These changes revolutionised the relationship
0:40:12 > 0:40:15'between the people of Britain and the state.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18'Pathe showed the government's official fillers
0:40:18 > 0:40:22'to make sure everyone knew what they were entitled to.'
0:40:22 > 0:40:25There's shoes for Betty and a suit for George.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28I'm not made of money. It's impossible!
0:40:28 > 0:40:32Wait a minute. I've just read about Family Allowances.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36- We can get ten shillings a week for our three.- You'll never get that.
0:40:36 > 0:40:42Oh, yes, you will! The first Family Allowances will be paid on August 6 of this year.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47What public information films are trying to do
0:40:47 > 0:40:50is almost drag the British people, bodily,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54into a cleaner, better world.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Your National Insurance number is extremely important to you.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02Make a note of it so that it's always at hand.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06'Some of the most inventive of these fillers were made by this man,
0:41:06 > 0:41:09'the independent filmmaker Richard Massingham,
0:41:09 > 0:41:14'whose films were distributed by Pathe and other newsreel companies.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18'Massingham had worked in medicine but turned to filmmaking later.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21'In a series of entertaining films,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25'he cast himself as a dim-witted, accident-prone everyman
0:41:25 > 0:41:29'in need of sound advice to cope with the changing world.'
0:41:32 > 0:41:35The proper place for your number being, of course,
0:41:35 > 0:41:40on every claim you make under the new National Insurance scheme.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42He's right, you know.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49I'm going abroad! Hooray!
0:41:49 > 0:41:53'Massingham brought a comedic touch to his fillers,
0:41:53 > 0:41:59'which were used to instruct the population on virtually every aspect of their lives.'
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Hey. You can't take all those notes with you.
0:42:02 > 0:42:07Take your holiday or business allowance in travellers' cheques.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11But not more than £5 in sterling notes. Do you know that?
0:42:11 > 0:42:13Do you understand English?
0:42:13 > 0:42:18Good. Well, remember, you can take out £5 in notes.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21'Massingham's films were not notable for subtlety,
0:42:21 > 0:42:26'but they used humour to dispense practical information and advice.'
0:42:26 > 0:42:29- Get it?- Ah!
0:42:30 > 0:42:34'Other films from the period were more serious
0:42:34 > 0:42:36'and censorious in tone.'
0:42:36 > 0:42:41When George gets on, we often find that other folk get left behind.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45'This film discouraged unnecessary journeys on public transport
0:42:45 > 0:42:48'when even buses were in short supply.'
0:42:48 > 0:42:53Perhaps I'm just a transport hog.
0:42:54 > 0:43:00'One of the government's obsessions, evident in public information films of the 1940s,
0:43:00 > 0:43:05'anticipates a major preoccupation of our time - health and safety.'
0:43:06 > 0:43:08SCREAMS
0:43:10 > 0:43:15Poor woman, one of the 700 people who die in Britain every year
0:43:15 > 0:43:19through falling down stairs because high heels catch in frayed carpets,
0:43:19 > 0:43:25bad lighting, some hidden obstacle, too highly polished lino.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29First, you had to demonstrate that there was a danger
0:43:29 > 0:43:31and frighten people.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36Then you empowered them and said, "This is how you avoid that danger."
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Fix those loose stair rods. Tack down that frayed carpet.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43Mend that hole in the lino.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Don't wait, or you may be the next.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54'From how not to pack your parcels
0:43:54 > 0:43:58'to how to buy your stamps, the government's post-war fillers
0:43:58 > 0:44:02'tipped into nannying the nation and showed the extent
0:44:02 > 0:44:06'of increasing state intervention in people's lives.'
0:44:06 > 0:44:10If you tell parents when to put their children to bed,
0:44:10 > 0:44:12that's quite controversial.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15"Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town
0:44:15 > 0:44:19"Upstairs and downstairs, in his night gown.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23"Tapping at the window, prying through the lock
0:44:23 > 0:44:27"Are the children in their beds? It's seven o'clock."
0:44:27 > 0:44:32Wee Willie Winkie in this rhyme hadn't heard of our summer time.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Really thoughtful parents know children must sleep a lot to grow.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41'It wasn't just information films that were increasingly opinionated.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46'Some of Pathe's newsreel reports also adopted a moralising tone,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50'especially after the arrival of Clement Cave in 1946,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53'who swiftly rose from news editor to editor.'
0:44:53 > 0:44:55With Clement Cave,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59you can really see the voice and the tone of Pathe changing.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03It becomes a lot more...socially aware.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08You could even say it's becoming very left-leaning at that point.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10That is very unusual for a newsreel.
0:45:10 > 0:45:16For 50 years, Britain's miners have demanded the nationalisation of the mining industry.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20Their campaign began in the pioneering days of Keir Hardie.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24It has ended in 1947. From now on, the people take over.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28Cave completely changed the style, the format.
0:45:28 > 0:45:35He believed that television news was on the way and there was great competition for newsreels.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37They had to adapt with the times.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40'Even Pathe's entertainment strands
0:45:40 > 0:45:43'reflected their increasing social awareness.
0:45:43 > 0:45:48'Like the 1947 film entitled Pathe Pictorial Looks East West,
0:45:48 > 0:45:54'which contrasted the poorest boroughs of the capital with the most affluent.'
0:45:54 > 0:45:59It really suggests that the East End is where there's real community
0:45:59 > 0:46:07and the West End is where there's no community, just a bunch of rich people living isolated lives.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10The East End kid may dream of the Oval,
0:46:10 > 0:46:13but his playground is often where the bomb dropped.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18He learns to take his pleasure where he can.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22What have they got that the other fellow hasn't?
0:46:22 > 0:46:26Probably a nanny who never lets them out of her sight.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31These children of the west, who must dress up even to play in the park.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39It's great fun pretending you're a real sea captain.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43But isn't it rather lonely this way, with no-one to share it?
0:46:43 > 0:46:48Is this social criticism? No. I think it's trading on stereotypes.
0:46:48 > 0:46:54But it's providing a fascinating insight into the social divisions
0:46:54 > 0:46:57in Britain in the post-war period.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02'In 1947, Cave commissioned a film that went one step further,
0:47:02 > 0:47:05'to raise awareness of the lack of social care for the elderly.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09'In explicitly political terms, Cave told his audience
0:47:09 > 0:47:12'that they had a duty to support his campaign for change.'
0:47:12 > 0:47:15This is the story of Britain's old people,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19too old to speak for themselves, with no-one to speak for them.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24If this were a scene from Dickens, we would shudder at it.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26Yet this is in Britain in 1947.
0:47:26 > 0:47:31It's fine to talk about a certain social issue
0:47:31 > 0:47:36from a political standpoint, slightly left or right of centre.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38You might get away with that.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42But the line that he crossed with that is, at the end of that story,
0:47:42 > 0:47:47he exhorts the audience to go and lobby their MPs.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50The problem is, what can you do about it?
0:47:50 > 0:47:55You have an MP, write to him. You elect councillors, press them.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58You have newspapers, write to them.
0:47:58 > 0:48:03Once the public conscience is aroused, the fear of old age will be banished for ever.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07The demand should be, "This system must go!"
0:48:07 > 0:48:13It raises a very interesting question about what the role of news on screen should be.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16What comes back from the audience and exhibitors
0:48:16 > 0:48:20is that that is not what its role is.
0:48:20 > 0:48:26There's a very British tradition of the news being impartial.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29'As a result of films such as this,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32'Clement Cave was demoted from the top job at Pathe
0:48:32 > 0:48:35'and soon left the company for good.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42'After that brief foray into radical campaigning,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45'with films critical of the status quo,
0:48:45 > 0:48:52'Pathe returned to its traditional approach, producing positive films that endorsed government policy.'
0:48:52 > 0:48:55Line upon line. Main lines.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Branch lines. Loop lines.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Junction upon junction. Network upon network.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07Mighty achievement that was an inspiration for the world.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13'Transport was a longer film that Pathe's documentary unit made
0:49:13 > 0:49:18'to promote the nationalisation of Britain's transport network.'
0:49:18 > 0:49:24What we see here is a traditional British documentary style.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28A documentary with very high production values,
0:49:28 > 0:49:30beautifully shot, has great commentary
0:49:30 > 0:49:35and is there as a public relations vehicle.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37In less than a century,
0:49:37 > 0:49:41120 separate undertakings had reduced themselves to four.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43And now reduced to one.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49Road transport, railways, canals and docks.
0:49:50 > 0:49:55To view them all together and make them work as one.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57'This film was one of several that showed
0:49:57 > 0:50:02'how the country's industry and economy were getting back on track.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05'Pathe's cameras were on hand four years later
0:50:05 > 0:50:09'when Britain showcased its industrial progress.'
0:50:09 > 0:50:12London South Bank Exhibition shows the world what Britain can do.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16'In 1951, the Festival of Britain seemed to herald
0:50:16 > 0:50:19'the beginning of the end of austerity.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21'It brightened the national mood
0:50:21 > 0:50:25'by presenting an optimistic vision for the future.'
0:50:25 > 0:50:30Britain in the late '40s was a pretty grey, threadbare place.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35The Festival of Britain is something exciting and different to do.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38That's why you get tens of millions of people
0:50:38 > 0:50:42who either go to the South Bank or lap it up on the newsreels.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46Because it represents the first kind of bit of good news,
0:50:46 > 0:50:51the first flash of enthusiasm that people have had for a long time.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55The royal party will begin their inspection
0:50:55 > 0:50:58at the Great Dome of Discovery.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Escalators carry visitors to the top floor,
0:51:03 > 0:51:06an indication of the vastness of this ultra-modern building.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09In the dome, exhibits tell the glorious story
0:51:09 > 0:51:13of Britain's lead in discovery and exploration,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16both on this planet and in the universe beyond.
0:51:16 > 0:51:19Britain was poised to enter this new era
0:51:19 > 0:51:23of consumerism and of the space age and the jet age.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27The South Bank Exhibition, Britain's proof to a doubting world
0:51:27 > 0:51:31that she still leads in science and discovery, draws to its close.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36People saw it as a rare opportunity to feel proud about being British,
0:51:36 > 0:51:38to fee buoyant,
0:51:38 > 0:51:40to feel they got their reward.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45CROWD SINGS "JERUSALEM"
0:51:46 > 0:51:49And singing Jerusalem,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52it's a classic example of that collective spirit.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57Despite our troubles,
0:51:57 > 0:52:01this festival has been a great British accomplishment.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03FIREWORKS EXPLODE
0:52:08 > 0:52:10'In the same year,
0:52:10 > 0:52:13'Churchill's Conservatives were voted back into power.'
0:52:13 > 0:52:19By the voice of the people, Winston Churchill is once again called to guide our destiny.
0:52:19 > 0:52:25'The new Conservative government would commission fewer public information films.
0:52:25 > 0:52:30'Pathe's output became less concerned with social provision and public advice.
0:52:30 > 0:52:35'Instead, it addressed a new generation of consumers.'
0:52:35 > 0:52:39It must be spring because here's the Daily Mail Ideal Homes Exhibition.
0:52:39 > 0:52:44And for any young man whose fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46as usual, it's full of good ideas.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49For instance, the Women's Institute house.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54400,000 women gave their suggestions for what would make a home ideal.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59The kitchen is brimful of niceties only a housewife would notice.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01We get a vision of the new housing,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04the new gadgets, the new lifestyles.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09That comes through very strongly in the Pathe newsreels of the 1950s.
0:53:09 > 0:53:12But why talk of love and money in the same breath?
0:53:12 > 0:53:16So long as you're dreaming, why not do the girl proud?
0:53:16 > 0:53:18"Do the girl proud," it says.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23Because you were meant to aspire to a beautiful home,
0:53:23 > 0:53:25and that was your job.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28When asked, "What do you care about?
0:53:28 > 0:53:32"What will make you vote one way in a General Election?"
0:53:32 > 0:53:34the answer's almost always the same.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Prices, the price of things.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39What they want to do is make sure
0:53:39 > 0:53:43they can continue buying more and more things.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Sharing in the good life, that's what they want.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50Half the fun of these exhibitions are the gadgets.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Here's something that will do a lot of useful jobs.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57With different fittings, you can mix food, then clean up the mess.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03Some things aren't what they seem, by a long chalk.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06That isn't champagne. It's a sham bottle!
0:54:06 > 0:54:11'Pathe's films delighted in the excitement of consumerism.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15'Their new unofficial message was, "Spend, spend, spend."'
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Patiently waiting Their hearts palpitating
0:54:17 > 0:54:21They stand there in line Biding the time...
0:54:21 > 0:54:25The Battle Of The Sales was done in rhyming couplets.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30For several reasons. One, it's fun. Two, it's the activity of women.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32You don't need to be very serious.
0:54:32 > 0:54:37You can mock it while reporting on it. Nobody will notice very much.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Perhaps it's a dress Costing two quid or less
0:54:39 > 0:54:42You come here to fight for Having waited all night for...
0:54:42 > 0:54:46You notice from today's perspective it seems condescending.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49But it's quite fun. It's "of its time".
0:54:49 > 0:54:51For a coat or a cape Whatever your shape
0:54:51 > 0:54:55They'll find one to fit No, that isn't it
0:54:55 > 0:54:58From napkins to shrouds The battling crowds
0:54:58 > 0:55:00Choose their new linen I wonder who's winning
0:55:00 > 0:55:02That's a nice sheet But oh, my poor feet!
0:55:02 > 0:55:04In with the oil The machine's on the boil
0:55:04 > 0:55:07The best of us fail At a January sale.
0:55:07 > 0:55:13In 1957, Harold Macmillan made this speech that, to a lot of people, sums up the spirit of the 1950s.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18He said, "Let's face it. Most of our people have never had it so good."
0:55:18 > 0:55:21There's nothing historical about this kitchen.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26It contains some of the most up-to-date gadgets on the market.
0:55:31 > 0:55:36"You never had it so good!" It should have been, "You never had it so GOODS!"
0:55:36 > 0:55:40'One of the goods more people could afford
0:55:40 > 0:55:42'was a television in their homes.
0:55:42 > 0:55:46'The popularity of TVs meant a steep decline in cinema attendance.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50'Pathe and the newsreels no longer enjoyed the influence they once had.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53'They had never entirely given up
0:55:53 > 0:55:57'on producing public information films to admonish errant drivers
0:55:57 > 0:56:00'in traditional Pathe style.'
0:56:01 > 0:56:04Look at that! Road manners? Where are they?
0:56:08 > 0:56:12Have you ever shown bad manners like this?
0:56:12 > 0:56:17Have you ever stopped your car in the middle of the road and to blazes with everyone?
0:56:17 > 0:56:20It's downright daft and selfish!
0:56:20 > 0:56:25'Pathe's paternalistic messages no longer carried the authority they had in their heyday.'
0:56:25 > 0:56:28By the 1960s, the newsreel has passed its peak.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31It's past its sell-by date!
0:56:31 > 0:56:35Some of the Pathe material of the 1960s is quite touching,
0:56:35 > 0:56:39because it feels like an older brother or a father
0:56:39 > 0:56:43trying to "get with the young people".
0:56:43 > 0:56:47Brace yourself and prepare to meet, in some sort of action, a hippy.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52This is history, all right. This is what they call a "love-in".
0:56:52 > 0:56:56The kind of stiff, mannered, affected voice of the newsreel,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59which had seemed authoritative, is old-fashioned.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04In fact, an authoritative voice at all is kind of...passe!
0:57:04 > 0:57:07'The once-commanding newsreel watched from the sidelines
0:57:07 > 0:57:11'as the nation was swept up by rapid and radical change.'
0:57:11 > 0:57:14This, ladies and gentlemen, is London.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16Swinging London, it's been called.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19Though some people might find a different adjective.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24Social rebels have taken over in what seems more like an invasion.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29They've got their own language that is "way out and weird"!
0:57:29 > 0:57:32The newsreels are suddenly amazingly dated,
0:57:32 > 0:57:35as old-fashioned as old-fashioned clothes.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37They were absolutely out of it.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41Perhaps some of us are just getting old and crusty,
0:57:41 > 0:57:47forgetting what it meant to be young and active, in every sort of way.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50'At its peak,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53'Pathe had spoken to the nation with unshakable authority.
0:57:53 > 0:57:58'It guided the British people through times of peril...
0:58:01 > 0:58:04'..and celebrated moments of joy.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08'It recorded our hardship and privation,
0:58:08 > 0:58:12'and documented our national renewal.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16'Their films showed the country's problems,
0:58:16 > 0:58:19'offered solutions and provided life-enhancing,
0:58:19 > 0:58:22'and in some cases life-saving, information.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25'Pathe's paternalistic tone
0:58:25 > 0:58:29'may seem overly moralistic by today's standards...'
0:58:29 > 0:58:31Ladies and gentlemen, as the regular Pathe...
0:58:31 > 0:58:34'..but for a generation,
0:58:34 > 0:58:39'Bob Danvers-Walker articulated the concerns, aspirations and values of Britain.
0:58:39 > 0:58:43'The voice of Pathe was also the voice of a nation.'
0:59:02 > 0:59:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:05 > 0:59:08E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk