London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Hope Springs Eternal: Mr E. Winter of Richmond Park Displaysthe bird-like Machine with Which He Hopes to Achieve Flight
A Richmond inventor shows off his flying machine in the park before news cameras and some unimpressed spectators.
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Overview
There’s a tragicomic quality to this short, in which Mr E Winter takes to Richmond Park with his “bird-like machine”- a bicycle with giant flapping wings – in a bid to take flight. He doesn’t make it, and instead finds himself cycling rather slowly around the park while passers-by watch in bemused disbelief. After the demonstration, Mr Winter poses alongside his contraption in a local yard. One wonders what happened to it afterwards.
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