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

Video of the Top 5 Olympic Scandals

Another British Pathe video, this time about the Top 5 Olympic scandals. There have been so many scandals over the years, that I’m really not sure these are the top 5. More like the top 5 unknown scandals – as I hadn’t heard of most of them until watching the video. Once again the video is designed to promote their more extensive list of 17 Olympic scandals.

Some other scandals in include: secret professionals (in the days before they were allowed), boycotting (but doesn’t mention the 1980 or 1984 games), questions of gender, political statements, murder and massacres. Overall a decent overview but fails to mention some of the more famous doping scandals (such as Ben Johnson), probably because there are too many to choose from.

Video Of The Top 5 Unaccepted Olympic Sports

The video of the Top 5 Unaccepted Olympic Sports comes courtesy of British Pathe. It is part of wider series looking at some of the ridiculous Olympic sports that have been proposed or even tired over the years. My personal favourite is the Tug of War, which was a sport until the 1920 Olympics. Since Britain was the last to win the medal, they remain reigning Olympic tug of war champions.

You can see the complete list of unaccepted Olympic sports here. Some other gems include Ballooning, Pigeon Racing, Gliding, Water Skiing, Boules, Angling and American Football.