Collections: Society and Welfare

Working Class Britain

From underclass to working class heroes, explore how lives and attitudes have changed

Hobbies

Popular pastimes, from model railways to matchstick men and women

Bank holidays

The unique ways in which the British celebrate their precious days off

The creation of the NHS

The planning and birth of the UK's cradle-to-grave healthcare system that began in 1948

Marriage in the 1950s and 1960s

What happens when love and marriage meets the Swinging Sixties?

Men and Money - The City in the 1960s

Series looking at how the City of London's great institutions operated in the days before the markets went global

Second Wave Feminism

Feminist thinkers and the issues faced in the fight for equality of the sexes

The gay rights movement

The long journey from decriminalisation towards equality

Coal mining in Britain

The story of coal from the early 20th century onwards, as told on BBC radio and TV

Panorama - Mods and Rockers

John Morgan interviews groups of mods and rockers about their lifestyles

Tuesday Documentary - The Block

Film about people living below the poverty line and their struggle to keep afloat

Rain in My Heart

Paul Watson's documentary on four alcoholics from the Medway towns in Kent

1940s

The 9th century art of wassailing, 1949

A note to quaff responsibly should this ye olde tradition ever pass your way

Modern Vikings recreate voyage to Britain, 1949

The Vikings invade Britain, again

Bell foundries, 1949

A visit to one of the few specialist foundries where bells are cast

1950s

The chair bodgers of the Chilterns, 1950

Newsreel goes to High Wycombe to explore one of England's oldest rural crafts

Electricity warning, 1950

Can British Electricity can keep up with demand? The tension is unbearable!

Atomic bomb drill in Bristol, 1951

Bristolians simulate the aftermath of an atomic blast in the city

Happy Xmas (Deliveries are over), 1951

This beautiful film documents the trials and tribulations of postal workers in remote areas at Christmas

One month to Christmas, 1952

BBC Newsreel goes out and about, looking at some possible Christmas gift ideas

The £1,000 House, 1952

Newsreel's Margaret Hubble gives viewers a tour of the first "People's House" to cost less than £1,000

Carmelite nuns build their own chapel, 1954

"We decided as the cost of building was so extravagant, we must do it ourselves"

The end of rationing, 1954

The BBC's first televised news bulletin brings details of a momentous development

New rifles for the Army, 1954

The British army gets new rifles, and they can't wait to show everybody

Special Enquiry: Teenagers introduction, 1955

What are they? What do they want? Denis Mitchell attempts to get to the bottom of these questions

Special Enquiry: the schoolgirl, 1955

Diane is a Dirk Bogarde fan from 'deserted' West Norwood, where everyone is either too young or too old

Special Enquiry: the debutante, 1955

Lynette is a teenage fashion model on the precipice between adolescence and adulthood

Special Enquiry: the teddy boys, 1955

Pat and Mike are teddy boys, with no ambitions other than to stay as they are, but have more money

Modern life in Sweden, 1956

Could Vällingby provide a blueprint for the future of the UK?

Wakes Week in Blackburn, 1957

A tradition where mill towns shut down and thousands of workers head to Blackpool

A visit to a tattoo parlour, 1959

Tattoos as a fashion may come and go, but lab coats are timeless

Berlin before the wall, 1959

A look at what life is like for people in both the east and west of Berlin

Vox pops on flu remedies, 1959

Feeling under the weather? Have a look at these flu remedies

New York juvenile delinquents, 1959

Panorama's Richard Dimbleby travels to New York to investigate the rise of youth gang culture

Nude mannequins are too sexy, 1959

Down with this sort of thing! A retired major rails against sexy shop mannequins in Eastbourne

1960s

Has Scunthorpe sold its soul? 1960

Scunthorpe is either brilliant or rubbish, depending on who you ask

Inside a hosiery factory, 1960

For no discernible reason, Tonight visits a hosiery factory and captures some excellent workplace chat

Looking At Australia, 1961

This just in from News Extra: Australia is not England

Martin Luther King interview, 1961

The civil rights leader speaks to John Freeman on Face to Face

Solo bell-ringer, 1961

Alan Whicker meets Mrs Martindale, church bell-ringer extraordinaire, who always gives it 400%

Royal Mint, 1962

Tonight's paean to money, accompanied with lovely footage of coins being made inside the Royal Mint

Manners maketh the man, 1962

The London Charm School for Men, where gentlemanly manners, etiquette and social conventions are paramount

Beeching report, 1963

Tonight pays tribute to some of the many railway stations earmarked for closure

Time on Our Hands, 1963

It's 1988, and humanity is at leisure. How did we get here? Don Haworth's clever mock documentary investigates

Haaf netting, 1965

Tonight goes to Cumbria to learn about a method of fishing unique to the area

Pillar boxes, 1965

A look at some of the oldest Post Office boxes across the UK

Blue lamps on police helmets, 1966

Derby police try out their fancy new helmets. This clip has no sound, so we can't tell if they had a siren

Equal pay for women, 1968

Fyfe Robertson reports on equal pay for women - there are some astonishing comments in this clip

Windowed city car, 1968

The newest, hottest city car hits the streets. Literally the hottest, as it appears to be a greenhouse on wheels

Decimalisation - new coins, 1968

"Don't give me that bloody new money 'cos I don't want it!"

Singing binman lands record deal, 1968

Frank Clarke, who previously made the news when he woke Prince Charles while emptying the bins, gets a record contract

Legs - a scientific study, 1968

A project of dubious scientific merit is afoot at Birmingham's Aston University: a female leg survey

Pipeman of the year, 1968

Alf Garnett actor Warren Mitchell is named Pipeman of the Year - but he's having none of it

Europe: Them and Us, 1968

A look at the role the English Channel plays in shaping English attitudes on the continent

The new 50p coin, 1969

The world's first seven-sided coin marks a big change for your small change

Metric loos, 1969

"All the more difficult to spend a penny"

1970s

Dungeness lady lifeboat launchers, 1970

Nationwide reports on a proud institution that Betty, Joan, Doris and company have made their own

Ajax and Rhyme, 1970

Shire horses are the most economical way to transport beer barrels through London

An Englishman's home, 1970

A Surrey solicitor takes on the mammoth task of renovating a Scottish castle

Fairy bridge, 1970

Nationwide visits a fairy bridge on the Isle of Man

The Principality of Sealand, 1970

Bob Wellings is winched up a platform seven miles off the Suffolk coast to meet the first family of Sealand

Police Box demolition, 1970

Some Doctor Who fans may be upset by this clip about the changing role of police

How to spend your pocket money, 1970

"Hamster food and Premium Bonds, and I put the rest in the bank"

Town borders - east or west? - 1971

Bordering on the ridiculous

Northern working men's clubs, 1971

Are you a southern Lord? Want to go to a Geordie Club? You'll have to get past Norman the doorman first

Weightlifting = weight shifting? 1971

Precious McKenzie is trying to make weightlifting the exercise of the future

Bottom pinching experiment, 1970

Nationwide sends Nicky Woodhead out to pinch men's bottoms, in the name of sexual equality

Rothbury address system, 1971

"You almost need a university education to be a postman in Rothbury"

Britain's (unofficial) egg eating champion, 1972

Not for the squeamish

Mind Over Matter, 1972

A lesson in how to be tough, using two towels, six volunteers, one giant beer can, a shovel and a positive mental attitude

Wilf Lunn's protest bike, 1972

Wilf Lunn protests against artificial foods in time-honoured fashion - by riding his homemade bike to Woburn Abbey, to feed a fake parrot to a lion cub

Eyesore - the law of ancient light, 1972

A strange case involving wooden boards, the law of ancient lights and the obstinate and reclusive Miss Day

Chocks away, 1972

Nationwide catches up with Jackie Smith, the first ever woman to join the Red Devils Parachute Team

Evans Oil, 1972

Suffer from rheumatism, lumbago, gout, backache or car problems? This will sort you right out...

Muddy road, 1973

"It's with a sinking heart that local delivery men face the daily prospect of wrestling with the mud on Dreadnought Avenue"

Three-day week horses, 1974

Is this the answer to avoiding sky-high petrol prices?

Photographing Byker, 1974

"Almost every photograph I took - the subject doesn't exist anymore"

What makes a perfect cuppa? 1975

Meet the professional tea tasters, who might just have the world's best job

Smallest house, 1975

Record Breakers visits a tiny house. Impractical, yes, but also strangely adorable

That's Life!: Snuff, 1976

"Makes you sexy, dunnit?"

Sailor Wilf, 1976

A puppet joins the Royal Navy and even gets his own phone number

Sack-racing pensioner, 1977

Surely Albert's 'Chinese Shuffle' isn't a legal move

Political disillusionment, 1978

The first ever edition of Something Else sees The Clash debate with Joan Lester MP

Nuclear-warning pub landlord, 1978

'When I hear my bleep-bleep, I get out the siren, run up to the green and crank the handle'

Miles to kilometres, 1978

People aren't too impressed at the prospect of making the switch

1980s

Shark cheque, 1980

A disgruntled fishmonger makes jaws drop with his unusual rates payment

The Irish in England, 1980

Nationwide looks at what life is like for Irish emigrants

On Childhood, 1980

James Burke (43) and Douglas Adams (28 and a few days) ponder if they were happier when they were children

The Hazard Bus, 1984

Children can rest easy, safe in the knowledge that everything is dangerous, thanks to the Hazard Bus

Tidy Up Walsall, 1986

Cartoonist Bill Tidy is on a mission from God, to make a light-hearted documentary film about "joke town" Walsall

More archive things

Arts and entertainment

The world of showbiz, from Shakespeare to Saturday night telly

Around the UK

The people, culture and events that tell the story of where you live

Food and Drink

Some of the very best slices of the BBC's past to get your teeth into