leisure and entertainment in the 20th century
TRANSCRIPT
LEISURE AND
ENTERTAINMENT IN THE
20TH CENTURY
Cinema, Television, Radio, Music, Football and Holidays
The early years
The first moving pictures were demonstrated in
Paris in 1895, much to the amazement of the
audience. London got to see moving pictures
the following year. The very first film lasted 46
seconds and showed workers leaving a factory
in Lyon in France. At first, films were very short,
sometimes only a few minutes or less. They
were predominantly shown at fairgrounds and
music halls. Subjects included local scenes and
activities, views of foreign lands, short
comedies and events considered newsworthy.
The early years
The first cartoon was produced in 1906.
The first proper movie, which lasted an hour, featured the story of
Australian outlaw Ned Kelly and was also released in 1906.
In 1906, the first cinema opened in London. By 1909, there were
9000 cinemas in America. At first, films were silent and the film
was accompanied by a pianist or in larger cinemas an orchestra.
Stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd
became famous household names.
The twenties and thirties
In 1925, the first inflight movie was shown on a flight from
London.
The first ‘talkie’ (a film with speech), The Jazz Singer, was made
in 1927 and by 1929 nearly all films were talkies.
During the 1930s (referred to as the golden age of cinema), most
people went to ‘the pictures’ at least once a week.
In 1911, London had 94 cinemas providing 55,000 seats. By 1930
numbers had increased to 258 cinemas with 344,000 seats.
New advances in cinema
During the 1930s, some films began to appear in colour.
In 1937, Walt Disney released his first full length film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was followed in the following years by other animated movies such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, (which featured the first surround sound), Dumbo and Bambi.
In 1939, two of the most famous films of all time, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind, were released.
Following the outbreak of world war 2, cinemas were closed but soon reopened two weeks later.
Experiences at the cinema
Cinemas became known as ‘Dream Palaces’ as they offered people an escape from everyday life. People were welcomed at the door and then shown to their seats by an usherette.
When people went to see the cinema, they were treated to 4 hours of entertainment. This was normally a B Movie (a low budget film lasting approximately an hour), the main movie and then the news was shown. On Saturday mornings, there were special showings for children.
The closure of cinemas
By the 1950s, television had become more popular and cinemas declined in popularity, which led to many closing down. Video recorders became widely affordable for most homes in the early 80s which allowed owners to watch Hollywood films. Video recorders were another factor in helping see the closure of more cinemas. By 1996, most households in Britain owned a video recorder.
Gradually, video was replaced by DVD (launched in 1995) and in turn this was replaced by streaming sites such as Netflix (launched in the UK in 2012) or Amazon video (launched in 2011).
The early years of television
1926 was the year that saw the first demonstration of television. This
demonstration was given by John Logie Baird in London, England. The
following year, he successfully transmitted pictures from London to
Glasgow using telephone wires. By the end of 1928, he transmitted
pictures across the Atlantic. This amazing technological breakthrough
led to televisions beginning to appear in shops during the 1930s.
In 1932, the BBC began to broadcast television programs and in 1936
launched regular television broadcasts across the country. During
World War 2, programmes were suspended due to fears that the
broadcast signal would be used by German bombers to target British
cities. Television programmes began to be broadcast again on 7th June
1946, nearly a whole year after the war had finished.
Increased ownership of televisions
During the 1950s, television sets became more affordable and saw
a rapid growth in the number of people owning one. A lot of
people bought a TV set to watch the coronation of Elizabeth II in
1953 and a survey at the end of the that year showed that about
one quarter of households in Britain had one. People who didn’t
own one, crowded around neighbour’s television sets to watch.
By 1964, around 90% of homes had a TV set. This meant that visits
to cinemas were less frequent.
Advances in television over the decades: For several decades, television owners could only watch one TV channel. However, this eventually changed and by 1955 ITV began to broadcast a channel. Over the next few decades, more channels were broadcast by various companies. By 1997, Britain officially had 5 television channels.
Channels were broadcast in black and white for many years. Colour TV sets were an expensive luxury. Eventually, British broadcaster started to broadcast in colour. By 1969, both the BBC and ITV were broadcasting in colour.
Video recorders became common in the early 1980s, meaning people could record television programs and watch Hollywood movies.
The 1980s and 1990s
Most television programmes didn’t start until 9.30am. The content shown between 9.30am and 11:30am was often for schools. This all changed with the launch of Britain’s first breakfast show which launched in January 1983 on the BBC. It started at 6.30am Monday to Friday.
New technology in the 1980s led to portable TVs becoming popular and more people signing up to satellite TV channels. By the mid 90s satellite and cable TV services were common in Britain. Now nearly 70% of people receive their television via satellite, cable or the internet.
The rise of radio
Before the invention of television, for most people radio and
cinema were the main forms of entertainment. The BBC
opened the first regular public broadcasting station in the
world on 14th November 1922. Broadcasts began locally in
London, but by 1925 it had spread to most of the United
Kingdom. The station aired played classical music and a
variety of programs. By 1933, half of all houses in Britain had
a radio. When the Second World War began, all the television
stations shut down and people listened to the radio to get
news on how the war was progressing.
Entertainment
Following the war, radio became in demand not only for news but
also for the entertainment, music and children’s broadcasts. Some
programs that began in the 1940s and 1950s are still broadcast
today e.g. The Archers.
Many illegal pirate stations began to broadcast in the 1960s. They
broadcast the latest pop music that was often absent from the
BBC. The most famous of these pirate stations was called Radio
Caroline which broadcast from a ship.
Changing faces of radio
In 1967, Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 were launched by the BBC. Each one of these radio stations broadcasting different types of programs. BBC radio 2 became the first station to broadcast 24 hours a day. The government allowed the first independent radio stations to launch in 1974.
In 1995, DAB digital radio was launched in the UK, however radios that were capable of picking up DAB were not really common until the late 90s.
As well as using a traditional radio, people can listen to radio in many ways including via their phone, over the internet and on DAB radios.
Gramophones to Rock ‘n’ Roll
In the early 20th century, listening to a gramophone at home was becoming
popular. The First World War raged from 1914 to 1918 and had a huge
impact on society. It was not until the 1920s, nicknamed the Roaring
Twenties, that people started to enjoy themselves again. Live music, with
bands playing jazz and swing, was very popular.
Rock ‘n’ Roll music arrived in the 1950’s with Elvis Presley leading the way.
His music was heavily influenced by African-American blues, Christian
gospel, and country music from the Southern states of America. The
powerful influence of artists like Elvis, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters
helped lead to the creation of bands such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
Concerts to digital downloads
The biggest crowd at a music concert in the UK was at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970. Bands such as The Who, Joni Mitchell and The Doors played there. It was one of the last live appearances by Jimi Hendrix before he died, aged just 27.
Over the century, people have listened to music in a range of ways. Early in the century gramophones and radio were most popular. These were replaced by cassettes and CDs and then by digital downloads and streaming services.
The oldest in the world
In 1888, the football league was formed. It had 12 members – 6 from Lancashire (Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers, Accrington, Everton and Preston North End) and 6 from the midlands (Aston Villa, Derby County, Notts County, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers). In 1892, a second division was added to the league.
Shocking transfer fees and international matches
1905 saw the football public being shocked by the first ever
£1000 transfer fee paid for Alf Common during his move to
Middlesbrough. The first £10,000 transfer came in 1928 and just
over fifty years later, in February 1979, Trevor Francis was sold
by Birmingham City to Brian Clough ’s Nottingham Forest for one
million pounds.
In 1908, England played their first match against a team from
outside the United Kingdom.
1914 to 1923
The football league was cancelled
during World War 1 with many players
going to fight for Britain in the trenches.
A number of these players were killed.
After the war, football resumed.
From 1920 to 1923, a third division was
added – third division north and third
division south. In 1923, Wembley
stadium opened and hosted the FA cup
final for the first time.
Huge attendance
The highest attendance at a sporting event in Britain was in 1937
at Hampden Park, when Scotland played England at football.
Official attendance was 149,415 but it may have been even
higher! The biggest crowd in England was also a football match;
in 1923, 126,047 watched Bolton Wanderers play West Ham at
Wembley.
Broadcasting football
The first televised football match was aired by the BBC when they
screened a friendly match between Arsenal and Arsenal Reserves
at Highbury on 16th September 1937. The match had been
arranged especially for broadcast. The first televised international
match was England versus Scotland on 9th April 1938. The FA Cup
final had a TV debut on 30th April 1938 when Huddersfield Town
played Preston North End.
War once again played a part in stopping football. With the
outbreak of the 2nd world war (1939 – 1945), football was
suspended.
Dates to remember
A significant event in English football took place in 1966. England
won the world Cup beating West Germany 4-2 at Wembley. To this
day, England has not won another world cup since.
In 1992, the Premier League was formed and quickly became the
most popular football league in the world.
Manchester united dominated football in the 90s. In 1999, they
won a unique treble: FA Cup, League and Champions League.
Negatives
In the 1970s and 1980s, English football suffered from a hooligan
problem. Gangs of fans fought each other inside and outside
grounds. One of the worst examples was at Heysel in Belgium
when English hooligans and poor stadium design saw 39 Juventus
fans killed. English clubs were banned from all European
competition for 5 years.
Sadly, there was more tragedy in 1989. The Hillsborough disaster
led to the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans. From 1988 onwards,
standing at football stadiums was banned.
Worker’s holiday rights
In 1900, the average working week was 54 hours (today it is
around 39 hours). Furthermore, most people had no paid
holidays except bank holidays. Regardless of their long working
hours, workers had some leisure time. Shop workers could look
forward to having Sundays and one afternoon off a week.
In 1939, a new law said that everyone must have one week’s
annual paid holiday. By the 1950s, two weeks were common
and by the 1980s most people had at least 4 weeks annual
holiday.
Popular destinations and ways to travel
At the start of the century, seaside resorts were popular and trains
were the preferred way to travel. Mills would shut down for ‘mill
weeks’ and sometimes whole towns went on holiday to the seaside.
Improvements in the cost and speed of transport (especially
aeroplanes), saw more people taking advantage of the chance to visit
destinations that would have been unheard of during an earlier period.
The very first commercial flight between Paris and London took place
in 1919. As air travel became cheaper, foreign holidays became
possible for more and more people. Still foreign holidays only really
became common in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, long
distance holidays to other continents became common place.
Holiday camps
The first holiday camp in Britain opened in 1906. Holiday camps
reached their heyday in the 1950s and early 1960s. However, they
declined once foreign holidays became common.
In the 1960s, camping holidays became common. So did caravan
holidays as more and more people could afford a car.
Skiing
In the 1960s and 1970s skiing
holidays became popular.
The Channel Tunnel opened
in 1994 making it possible to
travel from Britain to Europe
by car or train. This allowed
even easier ways to access
the slopes in Europe.
References
• http://daubneyagency.co.uk/images/History.pdf
• http://www.localhistories.org
• http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/
• https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/very-short-history-of-cinema/
• http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/History_Transmission.pdf
• http://buzz.bournemouth.ac.uk/2012/06/history-film-timeline/
• http://www.techradar.com/news/video/a-brief-history-of-film-1300905
• https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/chronology-british-television/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_years_in_British_television#1920s
• http://www.information-britain.co.uk/sporthistory/entry/Football/