1965: When MOTORWAYS didn't have TRAFFIC JAMS | Blue Peter | Retro Transport | BBC Archive
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- Опубліковано 10 тра 2024
- There aren't many children's programmes which would make a film about a motorway and the workings of a multi-storey carpark, but Blue Peter did just that in 1965. Presenter Christopher Trace took a quick drive to London Heathrow Airport on a newly opened section of the M4 motorway where, at that time, you could drive "as fast as you like".
Clip taken from Blue Peter, originally broadcast on BBC One, Monday 14 June, 1965.
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When nearly every car on the road was British including that lovely Triumph sports car. I enjoyed getting home from school and watching Blue Peter in the 60's.😊
There were a few Renault Dauphines to be seen, although they were built at the Renault factory in Acton.
Lovely Aston DB on the top floor as well!
Imagine owning all those cars in that car park now?...quids in!
This is the best sc-fi movie of 2024, 15 minutes to Heathrow via the M4 :)
Indeed. 😄
The only way you can do London to Heathrow in fifteen-minutes these days, is to take the Heathrow Express from Paddington.
Ah the days of british drop-tops, bobble hats, jazz xylophone, and open roads.
And they have been digging it and repairing it ever since.
I loved this program as a child. Don't know why, but almost 60 years later, I still love it.
Depending upon one's age, most have a particular Blue Peter era. Mine is
Peter Purves, John Noakes & Valerie Singleton.
@@analogueman123456787Mine is Sarah Greene
I'll leave it there.
Getting back from school and after some cartoons and newsround it was blue Peter time 😊
@@jonathanperry4189 - Mind you, I recall some kids used to prefer Magpie over Blue Peter in the '70s.
@@analogueman123456787Teenage boys? 🤔😂
4:40 Notice that a) the car park is already full, and b) he parks outside a marked parking bay.
Yes, and he leaves the top down! 10/10 for having and wearing a seat belt though, something most of us never came to terms with until the 80's.
I love these films showing life in 1960s London. I also like how he's driving a sports car whilst wearing a bobble hat. An interesting style mix.
Bobble hat was sorry once. Alpine etc.
I still see girls/women wearing them every winter.
It was NEVER a good look for a bloke though, even then...
Bobble hat free with every MGB in those days it seemed! Christopher Trace was pretty tall, so he'd want a hat of some kind that didn't blow off in his little Spifire.
Everyone should have at least one silly hat..!
@@analogueman123456787 a wooden football rattle and bobble hat was compulsory in 60's Britain
That car park is full of classic cars! They'd be worth a fortune today.
"Every move I made was being watched." - It's still the same now...
That was a jolly super report!
Absolutely splendid😃
@@glenbetton3146 Also, if I may be so bold, unreservedly capital, wizard & corking.
Wonderful clip. I wish I could go back to the 60s, but at an age where I could drive. I only had a pedal car in 1965.
Well you were doing better than me. Any "car" I had was made out of wood and old pram wheels with a bit of string for steering.
@@algrant5293 Yes, and no ULEZ or congestion charging.
I grew up in London in the 60's, glad I don't live there any more, though. Was there over the bank holiday weekend a couple of weeks ago and it has changed too much. I don't want to be multicultural, as my dear old departed mum used to say, I want my England back 😿
"I found myself a parking space on the top floor" he says as he clearly parks on the end of a row that isn't a parking space. 🤣 That wonderul 1000 space mutli storey was full even then.
👌😂 Indeed, full to the brim.
Also he claims to be watching jets when they are clearly turbo props. Honestly, just can’t trust blue Peter presenters! 🙄😆
@W2APS - nowadays that abandonment would also require putting your hazard lights on before leaving your car
@antmerrit - yep, only one plane in sight and definitely not a jet
And he tosses his car park ticket into the open back seat… hope it hadn’t blown away when he went to leave 😊
And look at all the space between the cars, plenty of room to open the door and get out. No giant tanks like today
Incredible stuff - thank you
A traffic camera that can zoom in remotely, surely they must have been way ahead of their time in 1965. I am surprised the technology existed
Thats a 1965 Triumph Spitfire C Rego. .. My mate had a 1965 Triumph TR4a Surrey roof .. magnificent car... I was 21 in Nottingham .. then in 68 I Emigrated to Australia by myself with one suit case...
Were you a £10 Pom then?
@@hermanmunster3358 I was a famous ten pound Pom ...I;d never had a holiday and within three weeks I was passing through the Panama canal ..my eye was so big .We stopped at Cristobal Atlantic side for refuel so me and a couple of lads from Liverpool went ashore ... Wow..
@@dodgeboy9052 You travelled to Australia via the PANAMA canal?
Not the usual route one would expect.
Very cool! This is going to save me so much time on my commute!!! I can’t wait to drive on it Monday morning!!! 🥳👏🏻
That was jolly interesting.
At 1:57 "when you are on the motorway you can go as fast as you like" we will be lucky. Those days are gone. Now it's 70MPH if you are lucky.
if nothing else look at all those cars, what a fantasic film, there must be loads more, bring it on
When TV Programmes did not assume children were just dimwits and had the capacity to understand something a little more interesting. This period of Blue Peter and programs like How? were some of my favourites, along with the Flintstones and Top Cat of course.
I had no idea tgat "Top Cat" was so intellectually challenging!
I learnt a lot about life from watching "Rainbow" and "The Sooty Show" Those two shows alone really helped to bolster my emotional strength.
After leaving Blue Peter under something of a cloud, Christopher Trace had a rather chequered career. I was at Art College in Norwich in the late 1970s and had something of a shock when I discovered him working behind the bar of a hostelry on the edge of town. Later he worked as a taxi driver in that city.
What on earth is a hostelry
Do you mean pub? Just call it a pub
@@handsoffmycactus2958 I chose to employ the word hostelry. If I’d wanted to use pub, inn, boozer, tavern, watering hole, then I would have. English is an infinitely rich language.
BBC insider culture is incredibly clicky.
Looks like you've offended a they/thems @@markshrimpton3138
*_Jolly good view_*
Ah. 2.15 the ubiquitous 1960s jazz combo pointing towards a bright future .....
Yeah, love that kind of music. Very evocative of the 60s.
I remember when the M11 opened it was empty. Now it's horrific.
Quite strange that anyone believed that that it wouldn't be very crowded sooner or later. Same in many countries. Rather shortsighted concept especially in cities where you can not add another lane.
I remember speeding on my motorcycle down a partially built M25 towards the Dartford Tunnel in the early 80s with very light traffic. A distant memory.
I remember the M1 being opened around Leicester, which made the trip to Nottingham a lot quicker with hardly any traffic.
That is a lovely Mk 2 Spitfire!
My parents had one just like it
So many nostalgic things in this film report.
Interesting that Chris mentioned there was no speed restriction on the motorway. Ironically, they introduced a national 70mph limit at the end of that year (albeit on a temporary basis), which became permanent a couple of years later.
Not irony.
@@noplace82 - The irony being, that as the speeds went down, the roads filled up. And you needed that explaining? How ironic. 😄
@analogueman123456787 Well, yes - since you didn't mention that in your first comment. Introducing a 70mph limit at the end of year, by itself, isn't ironic.
I was wondering about that. Clearly having been born in 1976 I have only ever heard about the 70mph speed limit myself
@@Ravendarkwytch - Oh, there are still some (increasingly elderly) folk around who remember the new motorways before the national restrictions came into force. Mind you, the average family car back then wasn't exactly 'nippy'.
Of course, if you were minted with an E-Type, you could just let rip! 😄
Ironically that elevated section is now having to be strengthened/repaired 15 to Heathrow from Earl’s Court via A4 it takes that now to get from Hammersmith flyover to the Hogarth 😊😊
That kid had the right idea at the end, making model signs out of the government leaflet.
He was 37 and still living at home !
I wasn’t even born then and I still find this very nostalgic 😂
I had just obtained my Agricultural Tractor licence, aged 15.
Ah yes - all the excitement at the time about the new road signs.
Nowadays I feel nostalgic for the old ones!
There are just a few of the old ones in use around the country. They need to have a preservation order placed on them as they're so iconic.
Highly unlikely to happen.
@@briansaiditsoitmustbetrue4206 True!!
He's driving a beautiful car
Mk II Triumph Spitfire
Love the hat ❤
The niaevty of my childhood guardians . Bless
Love it! Seat belts optional, no air bags, very few collapsable steering columns, very basic crumple zones, no speed limit for another couple of years... but it's ok, they are watching you! 😁👍
"It's easy to think you're still on the Motorway." ...as he passes a massive "End Of Motorway" sign. 02:33 😀
"Found a good spot to park" - Full on every level and by the painted lines, I don't think that's a parking space! 04:39 🙃
The motorway speed limit was introduced as a trial in December 1965 actually and the trial continued into 1966. The speed limit was formally introduced then
You’re wrong
@@handsoffmycactus2958 I'm Wrong!! 🤣 Yer, thank God we got that sorted, can't imagine the confusion my comment must have caused 😂
@@handsoffmycactus2958 It wasn't just the motorway, it was for all class of roads that the 70mph limit was introduced. Once you were outside a speed restricted area there was no limit prior to the introduction.
So privileged to have started driving in the early 60s.. wonderful years. After the M4 opened we would regularly drive out to Henley.. a couple of decent pubs out there..amazingly we noticed that due to the length of time it took to get there prior to the M Way being opened, many people spoke with a faint country accent.. :>) When about to sell my first E-Type Jaguar (3.8 Mk 1) I had never managed to get it above 130mph.. it got there quickly enough but accelerated relatively slowly after that and there would always be a car or two getting in the way.. then, a few days before I was due to swap it for the 4.2 Mk 2, coming out of London in the early hours it occurred to me that I had a completely deserted M Way to play with.. I used my stop-watch to check the speed on the Slough West 1 mile sign, 147 mph.. the revs were still building and I was intent on checking at Slough Central when I noticed a car in lane 2.. couldn't risk passing it at 150 mph with only one lane to play with.. still.. wonderful wonderful years.. Damned lucky to have been around back then.
One of the things we would do in the 60s was drive out to London Airport have a coffee.
We used to do that at Newcastle Airport during the 70's too. It was a spectacle to see all of those planes carrying all of those people to where they wanted to go. And on special occasions, we got to see Concorde, relatively close up, which was usually a much hyped event.
My grandfather told me about organised crime in London. He said that if they dug up any of the fly overs on the “ motorways “ they would find a few gangster’s bodies. Hounslow is just down the road from where we lived. He connected the story to the East end of London…incredible man !!!
I've heard that urban legend all my life, and it is utter codswallop.
There won't be much left of any bodies now, due to the lime in the concrete. There will probably just be a void, where a body once lay.
@@hermanmunster3358 yes he told me about the lime and the Pig farm that was used in west London. Great stories that have credibility. Loved me old pops !
@@jdb47games sorry to hear that.
Very interesting, I was born in 65' and it feels like a million years ago. Amazing that they were following your every move even back then! I'm totally digging the Spit and the hat!
One of the most beautiful little British Roadsters ever created.
But my dream car has to be the Jensen Interceptor, I love a nice GT. Closely followed by a LATE model Jaguar XJS. We did produce some stunningly beautiful cars here in the UK.
It took me years to find the BBC TV newsreel theme and I finally got a copy on 78rpm record from if I remember correctly the girl guides association "The girls in Grey"? I guess they had Grey uniforms at one time? Or they just used the music maybe.
Jolly good show old boy
Gorgeous little Triumph Spitfire he was driving there!
The fact that car park cost less to build than to build the average 3 bedroom house in the uk now
Big brother 1965 style😮
"A Splendid Motorway" - indeed, although we love to hate them now.
I'm always amazed at this type of footage and just how similar things are, 60 years later!
The 1950's started the modernisation we know today and by the mid-60's, a HUGE amount of what we have now had already become common place.
Motorways, multi-storey car parks and ... plastic! - plastic had already become so prevalent.
I was watching another BBC archive about supermarkets - and the produce on the shelves - so much was wrapped in plastic as it is now.
However, just 10 years before, that wouldn't have been common at all - and neither would the supermarket!
It just shows how short 60 years really is - that's a scary thought, isn't it!
It also sends out a lesson to the silly people with their rose tinted glasses, who look back on these times as being so much better.
They weren't.
However, give me a pair of those glasses, given the choice, I'd gladly swap my birth year of 1968 to 1938 and take a chance at it. Very risky, but if lady luck smiled, you'd have had the best life ever!
I think people, and communities were probably better back then. And people were proud of who they were, and where they came from.
We had immensely strong industries back then too, and British manufacturing was renowned for quality products.
Then the 70's came, and the wheels came off as we entered the EEC, and had many restrictions placed upon us "for the greater good of the French and Germans"
Didn't feel much like we were the Victors from then on.
On 22 December 1965, a temporary maximum speed limit of 70mph was introduced, shame it's still in use. Bring back the unlimited motorway speeds.
Too many IDIOTS on our roads to de-restrict speeds. Some don't even know what their indicators are for.
I am in favour of an increase to 80mph, but we cannot allow IDIOTS to treat the roads as a Race Track without repercussions.
Wish many years ago in 2019 it could have been temporarily unrestricted again, to celebrate 50th anniversary
LOVE the music at 2:10 & 4:00
"On the motorways you can go as fast as you like". Ah those were the days, when 60mph was probably as fast as anyone dared drive.
My father could reach 80mph in his MG, if you believed the sketchy speedo, but my mother's Triumph could barely manage 70mph flat out. May they Rust in Peace.
There weren't a lot of cars that would do much more than 60mph, unless you had a big Jag, or Rover P5/P6. Many ordinary cars would overheat if you sustained a prolonged high speed, so 50-60mph was a happy medium for most cars.
Wish i was around back in the mid 20th century, seemed like a much more refined life than we live now
Nice Spitfire , got a wee dent in the front sadly , I have a 66 and a 69 but think this will be a Mk2 being 1965
And they still haven't changed the sizes of the parking spaces in the Car Parks since 1965. Even though todays Mini's are over 18 inches wider.
Ahhhh back when Britain was moving forward as a nation 😢
Then we joined the EEC, and watched on as our empire, the greatest empire that has ever been, crumbled away to dust!
@@hermanmunster3358The empire had pretty much gone by 1973 when we joined the common market.
@@reddwarfer999 If you say so Cherub!
@@hermanmunster3358History says so, not just me. There was little left of the empire by 1973. Go look it up.
@@reddwarfer999 No need to be twisting your knickers over it petal.
That 1965 police traffic camera still has a better picture than my ancient tv
@ 4:43 wearing a seat belt in 1965 wow
Driving as fast as you like on the M4. 😂😂😂😂😂
No worry of cars catching fire in those days even though many leaked petrol..great clip of days gone by..
... what are you on about? Lots of cars used to catch fire back then!
@@Geshmaal he’s another idiot who follows the conspiracy theory that EV cars are always catching fire, ignoring the fact ICE vehicles catch fire too.
1:56 Tom Fraser has entered the chat. Merry Christmas everybody 😂
Would be enlightening to do a comparison journey today. And I bet he didn't have to wait long to get checked in. Didn't passengers walk out to the planes over the tarmac in those days? They were allowed to smoke on board as well. Different times.
Ha ha ha. Just six years before I passed my test and how it changed in those six years. Now driving in London is a nightmare...
The Hammersmith flyover. Built by Ernest Marples Road building company. The same Marples who got Beeching to shut the railways.
"And now for something quite different"....not quite
"And now for something completely different"!
"Driving as fast as you like" now we're an easy target to fleece.
Just drive sensibly and you won't get "fleeced".
The motorway speed limit was 70 mph in 1965. It's still 70 mph now. So no we couldn't drive as fast as we liked then anymore than we can now. Maybe you dreamed it?
You'll be doing well to have the opportunity to go fast enough to be "fleeced" these days. When the overhead gantries are displaying a 50mph limit, I'm usually looking at them thinking "if only"
I can't afford to drive fast, so much extra petrol is used at 70mph. TBH I'm quite happy to potter along at 50-55.
Nice car parking space
When you're driving along the motorway you can go as fast as you like..... The 70mph limit was introduced in 1967. This film was before then.
3 point seat belt in 1965. Who knew?
Optional extra. Not yet compulsory at that time, and neither were windscreen washers. There are too many gadgets on cars nowadays!
Why does he have a set of rotating death race blades on his wheels. Suppose that is one way to take out other possible drivers
That was the knock off type nut that retains the wheel. The bits that stick out are so you can knock it round. I think they were opposite threads to the wheels rotation.
@@TheCounty90 yeah I know but my joke wasn’t funny if I said that 😂
I have this habit of writing factual nonsense at the risk of humour, banter, conversation, friendships, marriages…. I mean I could go on.
Anybody else spot the TARDIS at 2.48?
You’d have to reduce your speed to get around the roundabout! Never mind the tunnel.
Lovely crossply tyres that would let go above 25mph on a roundabout. ❤
augh that high pitched whine is killing me
M4 ain’t like that today
Induced demand hadn't yet been identified.
Simply there was less people in 1965. This is the only way the car centric dream would have worked.
The multistory cost £350k to build in '65... equivalent to a 2 bed house in a cheap part of the country today. What a difference ~60 years inflation makes...
Interesting to see that everyone drives in lane 2! Even back then! Must have been in the highway code… 🤔😝
No they are just Londoners.
@@paulhellawell5920 - Whoah!! Chip on shoulder, much?
Drive as fast as you like 😂
As fast as you like…. Ah thems the days
2-4-6-8 "Motorway!"
Whole multistory car park cost less than a 2 up 2 down house today
These days the Architects office would earn £350,000........🏬
Even with the extra car parking spaces it appeared rather full at the airport. The allocation of parking spaces was clearly misunderstood by the planners. But what a life back then! Born in 1965 I do recall flying to Europe in the late 60s. Firstly from Glasgow airport to London and then onwards to our destination. Simple, more happy times?
When every car wasn’t the full width of country lanes and when every family didn’t own 2-3 cars. A cyclists dream.
Yes, back in the days when cyclists would actually cycle on the road, not the pavement.
Shame he couldn't find a space to park in the car park so parked anyway. Same now.
0:35 A “splendid motorway” is an oxymoron if ever I heard one!
in the days when they gave car park dimensions in feet ; not dumbed down to football fields or double decker buses ....
Um, I think you should put the roof up mate. Those looked like rain clouds on the horizon.
In the days of empty cardboard boxes and sticky-back plastic - and Valerie Singleton....
£350,000 for a multi-story car park. In other words, the same price as a tiny residential house in the provinces of ĥ England costs in 2024.
Eight and a half million in 2024 money… still quite cheap.
Of interest to all of those seven to fourteen year olds who wished to drive themselves to the airport…
You don't have to be old enough to drive to have an interest in cars and motorways!
Bunch of carburators
They even hired Joe Pesci to drive the sports car 😮
No speed limits or seat belts required (he is wearing one); lethally sharp projections on the wheels.. 😮
They're perfectly acceptable wheel fasteners. In any case, if you got that close to a moving car you'd have more to worry about, methinks.
All was jolly good then
The old bill were depending on cameras in 1965, so it's nothing new it seems.
you never actually saw him finding a parking space.....
£350,000 buys you a 1,000 car multi-storey park in 1965 or one house in 2024.
"On motorways you can drive as fast as you like". Thanks good to know. These modern day BBC informational films are full of useful info..... to the motorway 😂😂😂
Congestion problems.
Let's build more motorways 🙄
By 1981 things were a bit different
Once your on the motorway you can go as fast as you like 😂😂😂 , everything was better in the 60-70-80-90-2000s. Then all went wrong about 2005
And the rest is hell on earth and near term human extinction.
OMG! Who let the 'Just Stop Oil' lunatics in here? 😄
@@analogueman123456787 Have you not heard? The weather’s going to kill us all!
@@spamhead - Better invest in a robust brolly then...
Oh good, I was getting fed up anyway.
Hmmm something missing..........