View Of London By Helicopter…. From 1967


Click on image above to watch video

The video above by British Pathe from 1967 is proof that Jason Hawkes isn’t the first Londoner to take videos of London by helicopter. Titled ‘London Landmarks’ it features:

Aerial shots from helicopter flying along the length of River Thames from Tower Bridge to Battersea. Among landmarks seen are Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, Vickers Building, Battersea Fun Fair and Power Station.

Well worth a watch.

Found via @MrTimDunn

Why don’t we do it in the Road? – Abbey Road Zebra Crossing

Why don’t we do it in the Road? is described as “A lyrical portrait of one of London’s most peculiar tourist attractions – a humble pedestrian crossing in St John’s Wood.” Why is a pedestrian crossing a tourist attraction? Because it happens to be the Abbey Road zebra crossing made famous by the Beatles in the album of the same name.

Not being a huge Beatles fan means I’ve never bothered to make it over to Abbey Road despite now living just over a mile away. Yet, after watching the great camera work of Chris Purcell and being hypnotized somewhat by Roger McGough’s narration I feel I should go make the effort.

Why don’t we do it in the Road? has won ‘Best Super Short’ – NYC Independent Film Festival… and ‘Best Documentary’ – UK Film Festival and well deserved too. In the mean time if you can’t make it to Abbey Road itself, you can always watch the live webcam of people making the famous crossing.

Secrets of the Central Line By Geoff Marshall

Geoff Marshall returns to show you the secrets of the Central Line. For example do you know which station is the least used on the entire network? How about where you can find a Grade II listed bus shelter? Or a clock made up entirely of roundels? If you’re a tube nerd like myself I’m sure you’ll want to watch.

As a bonus you’ll learn a whole bunch of facts about escalators.

Finally, be sure to watch out for the secret echo room at Tottenham Court Road station. Last month Geoff did a very secret tube tour and showed it to me and others on tour. While he claims the sound effects don’t come across in the video, most of us on the tour thought this was one the highlights.

The only solution is for you to go experience it for yourself.

You can watch other videos in this series here:

You can also follow Geoff on twitter @geofftech and visit his website for more trivia.

Found via Londonist.com

Aerial Footage of The City of London At Night By Jason Hawkes

In this 40 second video Jason Hawkes shots The City at night. Pay special attention to the Walkie-Talkie and the Cheese Grater, both of which are still under construction.

Jason is arguably one of the best aerial photographers in the world and has certainly photographed some of the most iconic and exciting aerial shots of London in the past decade. He’s documented the enormous changes that have taken place to London in that time.

For more of his videos watch:

Visit his website: http://jasonhawkes.com/

Lies on the London Underground – More Tube Secrets

Matt Parker and Tom Scott share a few secrets about where and when it’s faster to avoid signs at various stations and go against the flow of people. Nothing new for tube junkies.

They also given an example when it’s faster to walk above ground than trying to use the tube to get between certain stations. Something I’ve learned during many of my tube walks.

The London Underground lies for a few reasons, but the main ones are to control large crowds to avoid crushes of people and because of the design of the tube map for easier reading.

Found via Hacker News

The Secret Bits of the Northern Line By Geoff Marshall

Want to learn the secrets to a few of the Northern Line stations? Well Geoff Marshall, best known for his 23 attempts to break the world record for the fastest time traveling around the entire Tube network shares them in this video. Learn about the highest & lowest points on the underground, secret exits and the one station where you can leave only to arrive back where you started.

I’m sorry to see that I missed several of these when I did my Northern Line station visits a few months ago, perhaps an excuse to revisit them.

For more videos watch:

Found via Londonist.

Watch The Secrets Of The Victoria Line By Geoff Marshall

The video above is by Geoff Marshall a former world record holder of the Tube Challenge and also creator one of the best pages of tube trivia on the internet. It looks at the hidden side of the Victoria Line, something I may know a thing or two about as well. Enjoy!

To learn even more secrets read: Victoria Line Underground Stations – Facts, Trivia And Impressions

For more secrets watch:

Found via Londonist.com.

Watch London Timelapse By Mattia Bicchi

The second timelapse film from Mattia Bicchi this week, this one is simply titled London Timelapse. It features footage from November 2012 to February 2013 and includes locations such as City Hall, Covent Garden, Liverpool Street Station, Piccadilly Circus, Tower Bridge, London Eye, Westminster and Canary Wharf.

The shots of the Millennium Bridge and Battersea Power Station are particularly good with latter likely no longer possible in a few years time. Overall a really enjoyable timelapse, but I don’t think quite as good as his previous films: London Architecture Timelapse and Is Christmas Time. That said this is still miles ahead of most other timelapse film makers.

You can follow Mattia’s work on his website, Facebook, and Twitter.