Tag Archives: England

Long Before Inline Skates Were a Thing, There Were Ritter’s Aptly Named Road Skates, ca. 1898

Like inline skates, they were meant to free skating enthusiasts of those pesky iceless roads. As an advertisement reads, “Ritter Road Skates allow anyone to practice the graceful and healthful pastimes of speed and figure skating on any road or other suitable surface.” The skates were sold by the Road Skate Co of Oxford Street,Continue reading “Long Before Inline Skates Were a Thing, There Were Ritter’s Aptly Named Road Skates, ca. 1898”

Attendants Packing Up Some of the 3000 Human Skulls to Be Transferred to the Natural History Museum in London, 1948

Attendants from the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons packing up some of the 3,000 human skulls stored in a shed in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, before their transfer to the Natural History Museum on July 1, 1948. The skulls include those of Chinese pirates, Eskimos and Maoris. The nucleus of human skullsContinue reading “Attendants Packing Up Some of the 3000 Human Skulls to Be Transferred to the Natural History Museum in London, 1948”

Mods on Scooters in London, 1979

Mod is a subculture that began in London and spread throughout Great Britain and elsewhere, eventually influencing fashions and trends in other countries, and continues today on a smaller scale. Focused on music and fashion, the subculture has its roots in a small group of stylish London-based young men in the late 1950s who wereContinue reading “Mods on Scooters in London, 1979”

The London to Calcutta Bus Service, the World’s Longest Bus Route.

The bus service from London, England to Calcutta, India (now Kolkata) is considered to be the longest bus route in the world. The service, which was started in 1957, was routed to India via Belgium, Yugoslavia and West Pakistan. This route is also known as the Hippie Route. According to the reports, it took aboutContinue reading “The London to Calcutta Bus Service, the World’s Longest Bus Route.”

Rare and Amazing Vintage Photos Showing London in the Late 1940s

Photographer Ernst Haas (1921–1986) is best known for his color saturated images of post-war America, where he moved in 1951. Born in Vienna, Haas suffered under the Nazi occupation, turning to photography after being kicked out of medical school for being Jewish. His big break came after his photographs of prisoners of war returning toContinue reading “Rare and Amazing Vintage Photos Showing London in the Late 1940s”

Rare Historical Photos of the Titanic Disaster Taken by 17-Year-Old Girl Bernice Palmer on the Morning of April 15, 1912

Sometime around her 17th birthday, Canadian Bernice Palmer received a Kodak Brownie box camera, either for Christmas 1911 or for her birthday on 10 January 1912. Luck would have it that she was traveling on the Carpathia the day the Titanic sank. Bernice and her mother were traveling on the Carpathia to the Mediterranean withContinue reading “Rare Historical Photos of the Titanic Disaster Taken by 17-Year-Old Girl Bernice Palmer on the Morning of April 15, 1912”

Amazing Vintage Photos of Anna Pavlova With Her Pet Swan, Jack

Anna Pavlova (1881-1931) was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. She was a principal artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev. Pavlova is most recognized for the creation of the role The Dying Swan and, with her own company, became the firstContinue reading “Amazing Vintage Photos of Anna Pavlova With Her Pet Swan, Jack”

In 1952, Georges Monneret Built an “Amphibious Vespa” for the Paris-London Race and Successfully Crossed the English Channel on It

In 1952, French motorcycle racing champion Georges Monneret leaving Paris, France for for Calais, where he was met with a crew who installed a pair of custom pontoons to scooter. It was an amphibious craft powered by a 1952 125cc Vespa Douglas. From there, Monneret went about crossing the famed English Channel aboard the waterborneContinue reading “In 1952, Georges Monneret Built an “Amphibious Vespa” for the Paris-London Race and Successfully Crossed the English Channel on It”

37 Photographs of the Seaside Resort at New Brighton, England in the 1980s

New Brighton is a seaside resort in Wallasey, Merseyside, England, at the northeastern tip of the Wirral peninsula. It has sandy beaches which line the Irish Sea and mouth of the Mersey, and the UK’s longest promenade. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,859. (Photos: © Martin Parr/Magnum Photos)