1954: Allan Prior's SLICE OF SEASIDE LIFE | THE BLACKPOOL STORY | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

A delightful slice of life from the seaside capital of the North West of England, as Allan Prior regaled audiences with The Blackpool Story.
Clip taken from The Blackpool Story, originally broadcast on Tuesday 3 August, 1954.
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[@repboy1]

Blackpool did have a magic about it when I was a kid going to the illuminations with my grandparents .

[@derekogilvie6942]

brilliantly written

[@macronencer]

0:35 "Jugs of tea for the sands". Fantastic. Actually there are many really wonderful signs and adverts in this film. Amazing stuff!

[@johnrobertson8263]

jugs of tea and bags of chips

[@madderfoulard]

Alan Prior has a famous daughter: Maddy Prior is the primary singer of the legendary folk-rock band, Steeleye Span.

[@anythingbootneck]

Very interesting fact!👍🏻

[@garryleeks4848]

9 years after world war 2 , and really start of rock n roll, different world then

[@heinkle1]

Imagine wearing a suit and tie to the beach

[@zaftra]

3:25 As somebody who has worked at children theme parks, I recognise that lip splitter

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

Theme parks are not just for “children”. What an odd description. Unless you mean you have worked on the children’s area of theme parks? Like CBeebies Land at Alton Towers?

[@zaftra]

@@handsoffmycactus2958 I mean precisely what i stated, I worked at a children's theme park - gullivers kingdom, Matlock bath

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

I'm assuming this is THE Allan Prior who later worked on Z-Cars, Softly Softly, Blakes 7 and Howard's Way? It's not on his IMDb entry, but it sounds Geordie enough to be him.

[@madderfoulard]

It is. He is also the father of Maddy Prior, lead singer of legendary folk-rockers Steeleye Span

[@JasmineSurrealVideos]

I remember going there as a child in the 80s, once, and it wasn't to my liking, too noisy, too many lights (we'd gone for the Blackpool lights) and it was a bit hairy to say the least. The strongest memory though oddly enough is going in a gift shop and getting a neon green tube necklace lol, and being made fun of as they thought I was posh with my Cheshire RP accent!

[@DarkSphinxx]

insert generic comment about how "things were better back then" .

[@w1o2l3f4i5e]

Not better, just different.

[@stephenguppy7882]

No, not better. Simpler times, maybe.

[@Smudgie]

I'd swap growing up back then to growing up now in a heartbeat.

[@stephenguppy7882]

@@Smudgie Well I agree. I was a child of the 60s/70s. We had very little really but, by goodness, we were way happier. Times were simple and srraightforward, nobody had very much of anything and people helped each other in times of genuine need or hardship. I would go back there in a flash.

[@danorthsidemang3834]

Well...they were. Gonna protest about that?

[@bill3641]

All of those well dressed people , fantastic .

[@handsoffmycactus2958]

Yes, but they were probably wearing their best clothes, of which they owned not many! They were probably not that clean and fresh smelling …

[@johnm2558]

RIP the kid on the dodgems.

[@johnrobertson8263]

THE KIDS TODAY...

[@JonHiddenColey]

I think that kid in the dodgem car at 3:26 lost their front teeth!

[@robbflynn4325]

Spoke a load of rubbish but enjoyed the footage. Since the 70s i have been to Blackpool many times, I'm guessing over 50.

[@matthewlawrenson3628]

If you think this is rubbish, you should see Allan Prior's episodes of Blakes 7...

[@andydixon2980]

Have we evolved as a society and as humans since this time, or devolved? Would be interested to hear what people think.

[@johnrobertson8263]

DEVOLVED

[@thecaveofthedead]

Very presumptious to imagine that working people didn't care about their job security.

[@hanktheblesseddeejay]

I think it’s the idea that they’re happy either way, although I doubt they were 😆

[@ltipst2962]

I'm not sure how hard it was to get a job then and how easy it was to get a weeks work to top you up, I assume neither are you too.

[@thecaveofthedead]

@@ltipst2962 turns out they keep records...

[@Arthur_King_of_the_Britons]

The good old days

[@hilaryepstein6013]

He says he's an outsider and will never belong and then he proceeds to be really patronising about the local community.

[@shandywarhol4444]

Blackpool is still EXACTLY the SAME.... Not!! Kx

[@w1o2l3f4i5e]

A lot changes in seventy years.

[@johnrobertson8263]

Nowhere is

[@theestimator]

anybody spot an illegal immigrant or someone from the Indian sub-continent ?
???????????????

[@johnrobertson8263]

Answers on a postcard

[@tsr207]

The BBC never changes - patronising interviews with the "little people"

[@MrJohnQCitizen]

It's a force for evil and MUST be stamped on