LEISURE AND

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE

20TH CENTURY

Cinema, Television, Radio, Music, Football and Holidays

CINEMA

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).

TELEVISION

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.

RADIO

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.

MUSIC

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.

FOOTBALL

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.

HOLIDAYS

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/