https://www.youtube.com/user/britishpathe
British Pathé uploads 85,000 historic films to YouTube (The Telegraph, 17 Apr 2014)
Thousands of hours of historical footage showing major events, celebrities and simple day-to-day life from 1896 until 1976 has been uploaded to YouTube
British Pathé, the newsreel maker which documented all walks of life on video during the 20th Century, has uploaded its entire collection of moving images to YouTube.
The archive of 3,500 hours of footage was digitised in 2002 thanks in part to a grant from the National Lottery, and is now freely accessible to anyone around the world for free.
The unique collection of video covers major events, famous faces, travel, sport and culture and is a wealth of information on the First and Second World Wars in particular.
Scrolling through the archives reveals everything from the tragic: Emily Davison throwing herself under the King's horse, the Hindenburg disaster and the Hiroshima bombing, to the downright unusual, such as Southampton University's 1962 attempt to launch a flying bicycle.
Founded in Paris in 1896, Pathé launched in Britain 14 years later. It single-handedly invented the modern television news format but ceased recording in 1970. After that it was sold several times, at one point to EMI, but launched as an independent archive in 2009. Two years later it opened a YouTube channel and has today announced the final step in digitising and uploading its entire collection to Google's video sharing platform.
Alastair White, general manager of British Pathé, said: "Our hope is that everyone, everywhere who has a computer will see these films and enjoy them. This archive is a treasure trove unrivalled in historical and cultural significance that should never be forgotten. Uploading the films to YouTube seemed like the best way to make sure of that.
“Whether you’re looking for coverage of the Royal Family, the Titanic, the destruction of the Hindenburg, or quirky stories about British pastimes, it’ll be there on our channel. You can lose yourself for hours.”
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Eve's Wireless - World's first mobile phone (and... erm... portable music player, on demand), 1922
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