Inspection of Special Constables

A humble scrub is all it takes to get these French troops in a lather.

Developing the lifebelt of the air - or "how the stranglehold demon was exorcised"

Excitable children in their Sunday finery gawp at cameras during the parade for London’s May Queen.

Rheumatic soldiers are treated with the latest in hydrotherapy at the Devonshire Hospital in Buxton, Derbyshire.

Firepower and fancy dress as a captured German field gun is the focus of a parade through Croydon to mark Red Cross Week.

Brass bands, bicycles and marching special constables outside the Albert Hall for a Sunday presentation before Bishop John Taylor-Smith outside the Albert Hall.

It's standing room only on board the RT-Type bus as it makes its way through Barking for the last time, in this bittersweet short film from 1979.

Much excitement for the opening of Barking's new swimming pool - better known as the East End's Lido.

Terrific scenes of comedy walking as hundreds policemen line-up for the annual British Police Walking Championship from Barking to Southend.

Splendid shots of the king’s visit to the opening of a new power station in Barking, with terrific views of gleaming turbines and control panels.

Very brief shots from what appears to be the Barking & Dagenham Town Show in the mid-60s, showing some of the local beauty queens on floats.

Hand-drawn sound experiment by Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy.

A classic slice of British advertising history, though that hill's not as Northern as it looks...

Edwardian workers react to the camera at one of Rotherham's major employers.

Eager youngsters burst out of the gates of a Victorian cotton mill.

It's the first weekend of July 1901, and high society are on the Thames

An unusual farewell in this charming early film