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What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?
Paul Kelly’s second collaboration with pop band Saint Etienne traces the hidden history of East London’s Lower Lea Valley before its Olympic makeover.
Documentary 2005 45 mins
Director: Paul Kelly
Overview
The second in the trilogy of collaborations between pop band Saint Etienne and director Paul Kelly traces the fascinating hidden history of East London’s Lower Lea Valley, before it was redeveloped to become the Olympic Park.
Framed around the daily journey of paperboy Mervyn Day (named after a 1970s West Ham goalkeeper), a variety of voices including David Essex and Linda Robson offer an oral history of a once-forgotten corner of the capital. This eastern fringe, at the time the capital's last remaining wilderness, represented an unruly, tumbledown beauty that has all but disappeared from the capital, offering a defiant last stand against London's inevitable gentrification.
Contains infrequent strong languageAccessibility
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