The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Christmas Expense
People are interviewed about that perennial question - the cost of Christmas.
In partnership with:
Overview
Reporter Lawrie Quayle is on the streets of Plymouth in a report that shows the city centre and New George Street before extensive redevelopment and pedestrianisation. He is asking media’s most sought-after questions about Christmas: Is it too commercial and has it lost its meaning? Whether you opt in or opt out of Christmas, it’s definitely here to stay and along with it, the annual press reports about meaning, money and make believe.
The high street department store is Dingles which was rebuilt in 1951 and became part of the House of Fraser Group in the year of this film, 1971. It retained its Dingles branding until a fire in 1988 when the renovated store took on the House of Fraser name. Today it is still fondly referred to by locals as Dingles. Enjoy watching the old tills ting and remember as a child what your must have Christmas present might have been? A push along dog on wheels, a blackboard or an item of toy transport? The toy of choice for Christmas 1971 was Mastermind, a codebreaking game for which some years later American computer scientist Donald Knuth invented an algorithm! Spoilsport.
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