Melvyn Bragg, accompanied by a vintage mobile cinema, travels across the country, to show incredible footage preserved by the British Film Institute and other national and regional film archives, and tell the history of modern Britain.
This episode comes from the Haynes International Motor Museum in Somerset, and looks back to the 1960s when dreams of the open road became a reality for the first time for millions of people.
Joan Wright remembers the impact on her family when her father acquired his first car, and Joe Moran talks about being one of the thousands of men who travelled from Ireland to build Britain’s motorways. And Anna Purkiss sees footage of her parents that evokes emotional memories of the time they were forced to make way for the motorway.
4 Comments
the days when peoples hearts and souls were lifted by common sence and a pat on the back,,,,,,,,,,now adays watch out don.t smile and don,t tell a joke in the street or its curtains for yah
When I was a child we shared a car with another family because 4000 Deutschmarks for a Volkswagen Beetle would have been too much for either family. When I hear this Irishman talking, it reminds me of Irish folk songs such as "Mac Alpine's Fusiliers" or "They call me crooked Jack". I still remember how it was when four people were travelling in a Morris Mini or an old Austin. The Austin offered more space. It was always a bit cramped, but everybody was having fun, and when it was getting too hot inside or the Oxygen level was close to zero, we simply opened the windows and enjoyed the fresh air.
£11 per week to build motorway in the sixties WOW
The Irish built Britain.