0:00:04 > 0:00:07Just over a century ago, the motion camera was invented,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11and changed for ever the way we recall our history.
0:00:11 > 0:00:16For the first time, we could see life through the eyes of ordinary people.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Across this series, we'll bring these rare archive films back to life
0:00:23 > 0:00:26with the help of our vintage mobile cinema.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33We'll be inviting people with a story to tell to step on board
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and relive moments they thought were gone for ever.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43They'll see their relatives on screen for the first time,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46come face to face with their younger selves
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and celebrate our amazing 20th-century past.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53This is the people's story.
0:00:53 > 0:00:54Our story.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23Our vintage mobile cinema was originally commissioned in 1967
0:01:23 > 0:01:26to show training films to workers.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Today, it's been lovingly restored
0:01:29 > 0:01:32and loaded up with remarkable film footage preserved for us
0:01:32 > 0:01:37by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41In this series, we'll travel to towns and cities across the country
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and show films from the 20th century that give us
0:01:44 > 0:01:46the Reel History of Britain.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Today, we're pulling up in the early 1900s at the dawn of a new era...
0:01:58 > 0:02:03..when the invention of the film camera put everyday people in the picture.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10We're in Albert Square in the middle of Manchester
0:02:10 > 0:02:13and we're here to see rare and remarkable films that are
0:02:13 > 0:02:19a unique record of life in this country over 100 years ago, from factories to football matches.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Coming up, captured on camera,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30the children who risked their lives in the cotton mills of Lancashire.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33So there were some quite serious accidents.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36There were some children in fatal accidents.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43A fairground owner comes face to face with his great-grandfather.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48I'd heard that much about him and, actually seeing him, it's just unbelievable.
0:02:48 > 0:02:52And the moment a treasure trove of old film was discovered.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56The first time they saw these films, our jaws dropped.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11Reel History has come to Manchester because it was here, at the turn of the 20th century,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14that working people's lives were first captured on camera.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Two local pioneering filmmakers, Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26were among the first film-makers to use the revolutionary technology of the time, the motion camera.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32Before its invention, the only visual records we had were photographs and paintings.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38But now, for the first time,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42people could record moving images of all aspects of everyday life.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50It wasn't just in the north-west that pioneering film-makers
0:03:50 > 0:03:53embraced this new technology, it happened across the country.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58One of the earliest films ever made was the Epsom Derby horse race,
0:03:58 > 0:04:03shot in 1895 by Birt Acres and Robert Paul,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05who built Britain's first 35-mil camera.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12Pharmacist-turned-film-maker James Williamson filmed this scene
0:04:12 > 0:04:15on Brighton Pier in 1898.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19And another pioneer, Cecil Hepworth, based in Walton-on-Thames,
0:04:19 > 0:04:24filmed Royal events, such as Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30But it was the discovery of a collection of early 20th-century films
0:04:30 > 0:04:35made by Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon that would change our picture of the past for ever.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40And thanks to the incredible work of the British Film Institute,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43who restored and preserved these rare films, we now have
0:04:43 > 0:04:46a unique insight into Britain at the dawn of the 20th century.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02My guests here today have come from all over the country to share with us
0:05:02 > 0:05:05their stories of relatives captured in these early films.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10'Many of them have never seen the films before. They'll be sharing precious memories
0:05:10 > 0:05:13'and photos passed down through the generations.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17'Margaret Coppins' dad, Norman, was only 12'
0:05:17 > 0:05:20when he first went to work in the cotton mills of Bolton.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25Norman was one of over 300,000 children employed in factories across the country.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31He went to work when he was 12, in the local cotton mill.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34He came home from school one day and his father said,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36"I'm getting thee a job, lad.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39"You're going working at John Harwoods's mill." And that's what he did.
0:05:39 > 0:05:45And when he was 13, he went full-time in the mill as a little piecer.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48What does "little piecer" mean? It sounds Dickensian.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50- I think it was. - The children were little piecers.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53As if they were little pieces themselves.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Their job was to get underneath the mill machinery
0:05:56 > 0:06:00and clean out all the cotton and the dust that collected under there.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07We're about to take Margaret back nearly 100 years to a time
0:06:07 > 0:06:12when millions of people just like her father worked in factories up and down the land.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19The film-makers Mitchell and Kenyon made money by charging working people
0:06:19 > 0:06:21to see themselves captured on screen.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Seeing the children reminds Margaret of her father.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30When I was watching the films, I was really looking to see if I could see him anywhere,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33but there were so many faces, it's so difficult.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42The children leaving the factories in these films look happy enough.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Yet, despite the wealth they created,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49many of them lived in ill health and great poverty.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54I found it very interesting watching them.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58I think the people there, they looked extremely poor.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01But they looked extremely happy, as well.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04And there was a lot of... They were...community,
0:07:04 > 0:07:11like a community spirit amongst them. Even coming out of the factory, they were all together and laughing.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17When I saw the little ones, I thought they looked absolutely wonderful. They did, really.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19All dressed up and so well-behaved.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24I can't imagine today's youngsters coming out quite like that.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28And doing somersaults and throwing their caps up in the air and all that sort of thing.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31They were, yeah, they were lovely.
0:07:34 > 0:07:35These were the early days of film
0:07:35 > 0:07:39and only still photographs exist of the horrendous conditions
0:07:39 > 0:07:43thousands of children like Margaret's father endured inside the factories.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48It was very hot and it was very humid.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50The floor was very slippy,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52with the oil that came off the machinery.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55So they worked in their bare feet.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56It was very noisy.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58They used to use sign language
0:07:58 > 0:08:00and they would have to learn to lip read.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03They had to get down on their hands and knees
0:08:03 > 0:08:06and get under that machinery while it was still running.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10So there were some quite serious accidents.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13There were some children in fatal accidents, I believe.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18But the harsh existence
0:08:18 > 0:08:22her father lived through as a child in the cotton mill still haunts Margaret today.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25They started at six o'clock in the morning
0:08:25 > 0:08:29and then they had a break about eight o'clock for breakfast.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31Then they carried on till 12 o'clock
0:08:31 > 0:08:35and then they had lunch and then he went to school in the afternoon.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39And, the week after, it was reversed.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44He would go to school in the morning and to work in the afternoon.
0:08:44 > 0:08:51It's just unbelievable, really, when you look around at ten and 12-year-olds now.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55You can't ever imagine them doing a job like that.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59It's been a very moving experience for Margaret.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Seeing the boys in these films has reminded her of her father
0:09:02 > 0:09:07and the kind of life he experienced in the cotton mills of Lancashire when he was a boy.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10A world that no longer exists here.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15I also felt it was tinged with sadness when you looked at those children coming out.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18They hadn't had a proper childhood.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23I am very, very proud of my dad. He deserves a mention.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26All the little piecers do. Hmm.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38When he was a boy,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41how much was he paid for a week's work?
0:09:41 > 0:09:42He got paid two and sixpence,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45which is 12-and-a-half pence in today's money.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48As I understand it, he worked in that place for the rest of his working life.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50He did. He worked in the mill for 53 years.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55He moved himself up by going to night school
0:09:55 > 0:09:58and he finished his career as a mill manager,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01- which was a really big achievement. - It was.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06- And then lived another 27 years. - Yes, he was 92 when he died.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08- An amazing life, isn't it? - Yes, it was. Yes.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon weren't the first film-makers
0:10:19 > 0:10:21to spot the commercial potential
0:10:21 > 0:10:25of filming men, women and children coming out of the factories.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28But they certainly exploited it.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33Billed at the time as "local films for local people,"
0:10:33 > 0:10:36they filmed everything, from factory gates to football matches,
0:10:36 > 0:10:41because every extra face in the crowd was another ticket bought at a later viewing.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Peter Sedgwick has come from Blackpool to tell us about his great-grandfather,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Augustus Sedgwick. He was one of the showmen
0:10:49 > 0:10:53who commissioned the film-making duo in the early 1900s.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59How did your great-grandfather get involved with Mitchell and Kenyon?
0:10:59 > 0:11:03He employed them to take films of local people at work
0:11:03 > 0:11:06and going about their daily life.
0:11:06 > 0:11:13And at night, he would show them in a mobile cinema and charge them tuppence to go in
0:11:13 > 0:11:19and make his money that way. So it was all part of the fairground,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22travelling funfair, that we used to be involved in.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28That is him himself in later life.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31- I like the pipe!- Yeah. And his gold chain with his sovereign.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36- Yes.- That was one of the shows that he had, the Sedgwick's Menagerie.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38He fetched wild animals over and showed them.
0:11:38 > 0:11:44- At the end of the 19th century? - That was 1868, I believe.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47- Is that him? - Yes, that's him, that's him.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49THEY LAUGH
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Peter followed in his great-grandfather's footsteps and now he runs
0:11:52 > 0:11:55his own fairground on Blackpool's North Pier.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05He's about to come face to face with the man who started
0:12:05 > 0:12:08the family business more than 100 years ago.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19What a thrill to see it. I'd heard that much about him
0:12:19 > 0:12:25and actually seeing him on stage, it's just unbelievable.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27They didn't know what films were in those days
0:12:27 > 0:12:30and he travelled all over the country doing this.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33You're talking 15 years before Charlie Chaplin.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38My grandfather must've thought, "There's money here to be made.
0:12:38 > 0:12:44"If we can go round showing people themselves on moving films,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47"we can earn money." I know it was only tuppence to go in and see it,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49but, in them days, it was a lot of money.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53He employed Mitchell and Kenyon making the films
0:12:53 > 0:12:57and then they'd have men walking about with banners on,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00advertising, "Come and see yourself, we've filmed you today."
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Peter's father, Victor, died before these films were discovered,
0:13:06 > 0:13:12so he never got the chance Peter has had today to see old Augustus work the crowd.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16I'd love my dad to have seen it, because my dad told me stories,
0:13:16 > 0:13:22but he'd never actually seen his grandfather. He died well before he was born.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26There are not many people who see that, is there?
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It was electrifying to see it.
0:13:38 > 0:13:43And it was such a different era to what we're used to, what we do now.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44It's unbelievable.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Well, you've just seen your great-grandfather.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Yes, fantastic, absolutely fantastic. Couldn't believe it.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09- He toured this around the north of England. - He took it all around the country.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13- As far as he was concerned, Mitchell and Kenyon was a good franchise? - Yes.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15They made him a lot of money. Yeah, yeah.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Fancy having a mobile cinema like that?
0:14:17 > 0:14:20You couldn't get enough in, at tuppence!
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Today we've come to Manchester to hear extraordinary stories about people
0:14:29 > 0:14:33who were captured on film more than 100 years ago.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42The film-makers Mitchell and Kenyon were innovators, as well as businessmen.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Some of their most iconic images used filming techniques way ahead of their time.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54Shots from trams or moving vehicles give us dynamic portraits
0:14:54 > 0:14:58of Edwardian life, like this one filmed in Morecambe in 1901.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03But what's most incredible is that, for nearly a century,
0:15:03 > 0:15:07all their films lay forgotten in the basement of their old shop.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11They only came to light when the building was due for demolition.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16In 1994, in Blackburn, Lancashire, there was an amazing discovery.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21Hundreds and hundreds of rolls of film, which were themselves almost 100 years old.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23When people looked at them closely,
0:15:23 > 0:15:29they discovered that they'd got a cache of films which showed the early social history
0:15:29 > 0:15:32of this country over 100 years ago as never seen before.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Painstaking preservation techniques were used to produce remarkably scratch-free images,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41adjusting the speed to smooth out variations
0:15:41 > 0:15:45in these hand-cranked films taken on a Prestwich camera.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51It took the British Film Institute three years to print 1.5 million frames of the negatives.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57And, in the process, it's been claimed that the history of British film was redefined.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Thought of as one of the most exciting film discoveries of all time,
0:16:03 > 0:16:08the collection has been awarded United Nations status, making it a world treasure.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10I'm meeting up with Patrick Russell,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13a senior curator from the British Film Institute,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17to find out more about this incredible discovery.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20When this film came your way, what was your reaction to it?
0:16:20 > 0:16:24It was quite astounding. It was any film archivist's dream.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28To have not only 826 rolls of film survive from the early years of the 20th century,
0:16:28 > 0:16:30but that they should all be original negatives.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35The actual pieces of film stock in Mitchell and Kenyon's camera in the early 1900s.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Extraordinary. That was before we'd seen the footage.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42What did you and your friends think when they first saw the content?
0:16:42 > 0:16:43I think I speak for everybody,
0:16:43 > 0:16:49the first time that they saw these films, our jaws dropped. It was an incredibly moving moment.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Because the image quality was so high and because Mitchell and Kenyon's filming
0:16:53 > 0:16:58is so often about the human being and capturing so many human beings in the film frame,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02it was an extraordinary and emotional experience.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05They are such human films. They made Edwardian Britain look different
0:17:05 > 0:17:08than it had looked before in the mind's eye.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12But to have films from this early on in the 20th century in this form,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14it was like striking gold, in some ways.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19- Three years working on them, what were you doing in those three years? - We were doing a number of things.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22One of them was working on the physical films themselves,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26to ensure that they could be safely printed onto new film stock.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31And we also had to deal with all of the problems that those rolls of film had faced
0:17:31 > 0:17:36in the intervening years. So this included things like shrinkage.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40They'd been in metal barrels for decades in the basement of a shop.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43It included things like discolouration,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48and these films were made before the manufacturing of film was standardised,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51so there were all sorts of problems associated with that.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56Alongside this, we were looking at the films as they were printed and researching their context.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01What we know now is that the Mitchell and Kenyon films
0:18:01 > 0:18:04gave the masses their place in recent history.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06So we owe them a lot.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09They didn't just capture people's working lives,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12they captured the national obsession - football.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19The collection holds dozens of films of football games, including up-and-coming clubs
0:18:19 > 0:18:23like Newcastle United, Bradford City and Manchester United.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Some things never change!
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Clearly, match day was just as much a part of people's lives then
0:18:30 > 0:18:32as it is today.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39The Football League was founded in 1888 and, by 1905,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43first division matches attracted five million fans every year.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46About 13,000 spectators turned up to each game.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52George Harrison, from Preston, has come along today to tell us
0:18:52 > 0:18:54about his grandfather, Peter McBride,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58who played for Preston North End in the 1900s.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02They were the first team to win the League and FA Cup double in 1889.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04- My granddad came to Preston.- Right.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06That's my granddad, there.
0:19:06 > 0:19:13He played for Ayr United and he came down to Preston.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14He was a goalkeeper.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17What do you make of him? You knew him, didn't you?
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I knew him, yes.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21He could be very sharp.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26But talk about football, and you'd got him.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29You know, you'd got him.
0:19:29 > 0:19:36We're now about to show George a rare film of a football match that took place more than 100 years ago.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48How will he feel seeing his grandfather lead his team onto the pitch?
0:19:55 > 0:19:59When I saw my granddad coming onto the pitch,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02I felt very strange about this, because
0:20:02 > 0:20:08my granddad was in his 20s when that film was taken.
0:20:08 > 0:20:15It didn't seem right for me to see my granddad at a much, much younger age.
0:20:19 > 0:20:25Talking to men that had actually seen him play years ago, when I was a young lad,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28they said what a brilliant goalkeeper he was,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32one of the finest they'd seen.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35From all reports, he was a good 'un.
0:20:38 > 0:20:45This is George's grandfather's team playing Wolverhampton Wanderers on 19th November 1904.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49His days as a top footballer were a world away from the footballers of today.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54They used to wear the old boots that had the big toecaps on.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58And he used to go to the local police station.
0:20:58 > 0:21:03And he'd scrounge, for want of a better word!
0:21:03 > 0:21:08He'd get a pair of woollen gloves that the policemen used to wear
0:21:08 > 0:21:12and he wore them when he was playing in goal.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17And when they went out training,
0:21:17 > 0:21:22they'd got to blow the ball up first before they could do any training.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27Unlike nowadays, they get them all blown up for them, ready to start.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32This match against Wolverhampton Wanderers ended in a 2-2 draw.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Seeing his grandfather as a young man in his prime
0:21:36 > 0:21:39is a bittersweet experience for George.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44Yes, you felt a bit choked, that...
0:21:44 > 0:21:49He were... At that time, he would have been famous.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53I felt very proud that he were my granddad.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06In the early 1900s, factory workers across the country
0:22:06 > 0:22:09got just half a day off on a Saturday and, as well as football,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13in their spare time they adopted cricket as a national obsession.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18- Seeing those films is interesting, isn't it?- Yes. Yes.
0:22:19 > 0:22:2486-year-old Edna Grimshaw has come along to tell us about her granddad, Billy Ormerod,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29who started playing cricket for her local town of Accrington in 1898.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31But the trouble was,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36he's on a photograph here, that was taken when he was young.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39I hate to say this, but the fact that you weren't a boy
0:22:39 > 0:22:43- and you couldn't play cricket, was it a disappointment?- It was.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45THEY LAUGH
0:22:48 > 0:22:52We're showing Edna one of the earliest cricket matches ever captured on camera
0:22:52 > 0:22:55and her grandfather is in the film.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59She's never seen him play cricket and, with only one photo of him as a young man,
0:22:59 > 0:23:01spotting him could be a problem.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10On my old photograph, he has a tache.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15The only one on the photograph with a tache.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19But when all the men walked past, they nearly all had a tache!
0:23:22 > 0:23:28I thought, "Now then..." But I thought I saw him. I really did. Yes.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32I'm the only one living that remembers him at all.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37In fact, this is Billy, he's the man in the white hat.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41This match was filmed in 1902 at a local derby between Accrington
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and their biggest rivals, Church.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50I know he held the batting record for years and years at Accrington.
0:23:50 > 0:23:58If he had 50 runs at one match, they used to collect for him.
0:23:58 > 0:24:04So they used to say that my granddad was very, very wealthy.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07I'm afraid he wasn't wealthy, no!
0:24:17 > 0:24:21In Manchester today, I've been meeting people like Edna
0:24:21 > 0:24:25whose relatives feature in these rare, 100-year-old film archives.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32But who exactly were the two men behind the camera?
0:24:32 > 0:24:34I want to know more about them,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37so I'm meeting Sagar Mitchell's granddaughter
0:24:37 > 0:24:42at one of Manchester's most iconic buildings, the John Rylands Library.
0:24:44 > 0:24:51- How did your grandfather get into the business of making films? - He was a cabinet maker by trade.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55And he used to make his own cameras, obviously wooden cameras.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00- He met up with this other man. - Kenyon.- He met up with Kenyon. How did they work together?
0:25:00 > 0:25:02He was a shopkeeper in Blackburn, as well.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05He dealt in furniture and cabinets and things like that.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09So they had a career in common.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12This is a rather splendid photograph.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Yes, I think he is probably around 21 when that was taken.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20- A very dandyish young man.- It looks like it.- Top hat, cane.- Yes.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25When he started the shop, he went into photography then,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29which was developing and printing.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35This part of the shop would be full of Meccano models,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38train lay-outs and Dinky toys.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40And I always used to be miffed,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43because I wasn't tall enough to reach this counter.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46I couldn't see and he was my grandpa.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48SHE LAUGHS
0:25:48 > 0:25:52That's you and your grandfather on your third birthday party?
0:25:52 > 0:25:55That is quite a treasure, yes.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57I just thought he was a lovely grandpa.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Every time he visited us,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04if I looked underneath my panda nightdress case, there was a thruppenny bit.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09There's also his driving licence.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14- Let's have a look at that. - That's 1905.
0:26:14 > 0:26:21- And he is, in Britain, the 1,042nd person to have a driving licence. - He was.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25And he passed his exam and then he could drive a petrol car.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28A petrol car. One of those!
0:26:28 > 0:26:32When you see these films, what thoughts do they bring to you?
0:26:32 > 0:26:39I think it's absolutely amazing, really, and I can't believe, in a very small way, I'm part of it.
0:26:39 > 0:26:45What I do think is, he would be thrilled by what has happened to it.
0:26:47 > 0:26:54He would be absolutely thrilled that all his work was being respected and shown.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56That would be really good.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05The popularity of Mitchell and Kenyon's films had begun to wane before the First World War
0:27:05 > 0:27:09as the novelty of people seeing themselves on screen wore off.
0:27:11 > 0:27:16The partnership between Mitchell and Kenyon was formally dissolved around 1922.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Kenyon died in 1925.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24Mitchell lived to the age of 85 and died on 2nd October 1952.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31But thanks to the careful preservation work carried out by the British Film Institute
0:27:31 > 0:27:33and film archives all over the UK,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37we now have a national treasure that's a window into a lost Edwardian world.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Any further discoveries like these will be in the safe hands
0:27:43 > 0:27:49of the BFI's new master film store at Gaydon, Warwickshire, which will preserve and protect
0:27:49 > 0:27:52the National Film Collection for future generations.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01What struck me most about these films is the energy and the happiness
0:28:01 > 0:28:04of the crowds who rushed through the factory gates
0:28:04 > 0:28:06or in the streets, or at the football matches,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10as if they wanted to be in the picture, and they are in the picture
0:28:10 > 0:28:14and they are in the social and historical picture of this country for ever.
0:28:14 > 0:28:15Next time on Reel History,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19we're in Blackpool with our ice creams and our knotted hankies
0:28:19 > 0:28:24to celebrate the '50s heyday of the British seaside holiday.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32It was typical summertime, freezing rain, gales blowing!
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:41 > 0:28:44E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Reel History Of Britain is on tour
0:29:00 > 0:29:02and this weekend we're going to Leicester.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06So come along and see the archive and get hands-on with your history.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Full details are on the BBC website.