Ottershaw 1939

An air raid could come at any moment and Derby had to be ready to deal with the casualties. The people of Littleover were so well prepapred they filmed one of their exercises.

Whether it’s the height of the war or its aftermath makes no difference to these children enjoying themselves: at the seaside, on V E Day and around the bomb sites of Sheffield.

A great example of ‘despite war, life continues’, Welwyn Garden City residents continue with annual traditions, festive occasions and celebrations, during wartime.

An American G.I. learns how to brew a proper English cuppa in this jolly wartime ad for Maypole tea.

"A bomb's cut the gas off. Where can we get a meal?" Look no further than the Friends Relief Service.

Life in Broadwater seems unaffected by the war in this film - especially when friends and relations drop by - though a closer look reveals that all is not quite what it seems.

Join the Giles family and their friends on an idyllic seaside holiday by the Sussex coast - just a few months before the Munich Crisis

The Victorian great and good mark the passing of a political titan

For Britons during the Boer War, a welcome opportunity to support the troops - and march alongside them

Factory gate glimpses at - we think - Barrow-in-Furness

Worthing waves at us in this mesmerising early film

Film's first joke? A fresh take on an old prank.

This was one of a series of actuality films made by the Victorian pioneer Birt Acres during 1895. The film is thought to have been shot on June 20, on the occasion of the opening of the Kiel Canal by the German Kaiser Wilhelm II. Acres shot other films at the same time, but they have not survived.