http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18542080

RedToo.

Thanks! Very interesting and amusing. Loved it.

Very nice. Some of them quite stunning.

Thanks.


Wheels

A delightful look back in time. Thank you!

Very nice find.
I am amazed at how built up mid century Europe was, when I see pictures like this.

Wonderful pictures! Plenty of ideas and inspiration there for ground modders.

Thanks for that!

What a strange thing to say, what with most major European cities having history stretching back over a 1000 years. At the turn of the 20th century the population of London (est. 2000 years ago) was already at the 6.5 million mark. The growth of urban areas and industrial centres started in the early 19th century. I would imagine it was similar situation in France, Germany and other European countries too.

In this footage you can see the build up of suburban Britain. After the first world war there was a program to build social housing to ease overcrowding in city centres. Returning soldiers from the trenches simply did not want to return to the squalor they had left behind when they went off to fight for their country. After surviving the trenches they wanted something better for themselves and their families....quite right too.
What amazes me is that there is little footage of the sprawling central city areas, the same areas that people "escaped" from when they emigrated to the US.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Europe had been very built up, very industrial and very overcrowded for very a long time before this footage was taken.

I agree, Britain is very built up compared to some other countries I have visited, but as this link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ountryside.html

shows (I know it's the Daily Mail, but even so) Britain is still a very green and pleasant land. I think to a certain extent we have been brainwashed into thinking that the amount of land covered up with tarmac and concrete is more than it actually is. Something to ponder upon.

RedToo.

That wasn't what I was saying. Indeed Britain is a green and pleasent land, but it also has a very industrial heritage. I find it strange that someone viewing the original link would be amazed that we learnt how to build houses and industry before WWII. Not just us but the rest of Europe too.

I can see my comment has been misunderstood.

I did not intend to suggest that Britain prior to the war was undeveloped or god forbid the British having built houses and industry would be the source of amazement and wonder. Jeez get a grip man.

My comment was along the lines that the aerial pictures of pre-war Britain looked like they could have been taken in the present day. I did not know that Britain had such suburban sprawl in the 1930s. I mistakenly thought that at that time, outside of the industrial cities the countryside was rather rural, ignorance on my part -- thus the comment "I did not know".

The pictures were interesting to me because I got a view of pre-war Britain that I had not seen before. In the last ten years or so, I have seen many many pictures of the war years that I have never seen before, many in color. The effect has been to make the times feel far more close and recent than the hundreds of black and white pictures of the same iconic images that have been re-printed time and time again.

But your comment did indeed look like it suggested exactly that, with a slight patronising tone. Which is why I let go of my "grip"....jeez

Patronising tone, like most others, is in the ear of the overly sensitive reader.
Seems to happen a lot more with brits, too. You need to play all written comments
in your head with a voice in benevolent amusement. Touchy lot, you.... (C'mon,
you can do it. Maybe try an australian accent, that might help).

Stereotyping there a little aren't we .....eh!

Let's get this 'ere thread back on track:



You always knew where you were with British pre-war airfields.

Littlestone Airfield, St Mary's Bay, 1926.

RedToo.

You're right Redtoo....my apologies

Very interesting find, thanks for the heads up