The Derby 1896

A pioneering example of filmed news: from Epsom to the screen in record time

This pioneering film stands as one of the very first examples of filmed news - rushed to the screen just a day after the events it captured. RW Paul's partner Birt Acres had been at Epsom a year earlier for the 1895 Derby, but by this time the two had gone their separate ways. Paul's increasingly professionalised operation rose to the challenge of not only shooting the race, but processing the film overnight, in time to present it to paying audiences at his regular public screenings in London's West End (at the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square and the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly) on Thursday 4 June 1896.

The race was won by Persimmon, owned by the Prince of Wales.