PAGE'S IN HISTORY - A LONDONER'S DIARY SEPT 3 1939 TO ? [Main Title]

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  • Title: PAGE'S IN HISTORY - A LONDONER'S DIARY SEPT 3 1939 TO ? [Main Title]
  • Film Number: MGH 6666
  • Other titles: AMATEUR FILM BY NICHOLAS PAGE [Alternative Title]
  • Summary: Black and white and colour amateur film shot and titled by Nicholas Page, an auctioneer living in Highgate, North London, recording the impact of the Second World War on the daily life of his family and post-war holidays.
  • Description: Reel 1: (10 mins 17 seconds) Opening titles "PAGE'S IN HISTORY - A LONDONER'S DIARY - SEPT 3 1939 TO ?" Highgate, London. A still of Adolf Hitler and the caption "11am at War with Germany" followed by shots of Patricia, Mary and Lily Page listening to a radio. After a brief montage of stills showing Hitler, one of the Page girls tries on a gas mask (respirator) assisted by Mrs Lily Page. Mr Nicholas Page applies adhesive paper to the glass panes of the French doors as bomb blast protection. He has difficulty with the sticky paper and is assisted by his wife and watched by their spaniel dog. Dark interior shot of Mrs Page using a sewing machine. Contingent of sailors marching down a shopping street. Contingents of the Royal Navy and the RAF marching along a shopping street, probably in Highgate. Title "Evacuation we visit Pat and Mary at Barnstaple". Mrs Lily Page and her two stepdaughters walk arm-in-arm towards the camera along a narrow alleyway. Title "This island fortress. We shall defend our island, at whatever cost. We shall never surrender" followed by photographs of Churchill. Mr Page in his garden inspecting and aiming a rifle and making stabbing motions with a knife. Title "The Front Line 1940-41 Blitz on LONDON. Action Stations" Mrs Page, wearing a fur coat, and Mr Page sheltering in the doorway of their house standing with sandbags and a stirrup-pump. Title "7th Sept 1940 Sirens announce attack on London Is this a prelude to invasion ?" brief montage of stills showing searchlights, bombing and bomb damage. Mr Page looking through a broken window. Title "All Clear after a night of Hell" Mr Page wearing a tin hat and SFP arm-band (Supplementary Fire Party) standing drinking tea with his wife who is wearing a fur coat and carrying her steel helmet. Title "Defence is reinforced. We join voluntary fire fighters" Mr and Mrs Page take delivery of a stirrup pump from a Civil Defence Warden and are given instructions in its use. Mr Page, holding the pump hose crawls along the ground into a garden shed (?) whilst Mrs Page pumps the stirrup pump in an exaggerated manner. Title "Neighbours join us in the exercise London Shall Not Burn" a man directs the hose of the stirrup-pump whilst Mrs Page, and later a teenage boy, use the pump. The boy and Mr Page use the hose to tease a small terrier dog in a garden. Title "Rob transfers to warden's service" the same warden as seen earlier delivers a uniform to Mr Page who tries on his gas mask. Title "Off for a nights during at Warden's Post" Mr Page puts on his new boots, uniform with CD badge, warden's steel helmet and goes in to a bedroom to kiss his wife goodbye. Title "Lily becomes Street Captain" Mrs Page receives her steel helmet, arm band and papers from the same warden as seen previously. Title "Fight for Life. If you could, you carried on. If gas etc works, dinner is served" Mrs Page at work in the kitchen slicing runner beans, removing a roast joint from the oven, rolling out pastry, making an apple pie and removing the cooked pie from the oven. Mr Page, smoking a cigarette, carrying a kettle and a large metal can walks to side of the house (?); he then pours liquid from the can into a large enamel jug. Title "The Milk comes and the Post goes" good shots of an Express Dairy milk float ('silent electronic delivery' registration no JJ 872), the milkman delivers milk to Mrs Page who then walks with him to the float to pay her bill. Postman collects mail from a pillar box painted white on top and around base for visibility in the blackout. Title "St Pancras provides" good exterior shot of the 'St Pancras war time Travelling Library' vehicle followed by a brief interior view of the mobile library. Seated audience watching an open air boxing tournament with brief views of several bouts between boys. Title "50,000 HE and millions of fire bombs fell on LONDON 1940-41" roof top view over London. Various shots of small fires, and fires in gardens and woodland, being extinguished by men and women using stirrup-pumps and Civil Defence Wardens manning hosepipes. National Fire Service fireman arrive in their vehicle (registration number FYY 228) unravel their hoses and assist volunteers to put out a fire in a small outbuilding. One fireman climbs on to the roof of the building and inspects the damage. Mr Page inspects an incendiary bomb fragment. Tile "Everything All Right?" Brief shot of Mr Page and a colleague, both in Civil Defence uniform, walking towards the camera and then opening a door and briefly inspecting a low brick-built building (shelter?). Title "Some of our colleagues in Civil Defence": various views of men and women in Civil Defence uniform, man washing a table, watering tomato plants and mopping the pavement outside of their building. Titles "Blitz was aimed at the people, 3 great raids April 16 & 19 May 10. Londoners will not forget." "The enemy did not cripple our CIVIL DEFENCE service, nor destroy its spirit." Three civil defence workers playing darts outside of their building. Reel 2: (16 minutes 21 seconds) Title "Peaceful Afternoons before returning to what night may bring" Mrs Page and two women playing darts in a garden. Dark shots of two rabbits seated on a table in the shade. Women feeding and playing with rabbits near their hutches in a garden. Mrs Page and one of her step-daughters walking along a woodland path, Mr Page walking arm-in-arm with his wife along a woodland path, possibly in Highgate Woods.Devon, 1941. Brief views of passengers onboard a sightseeing boat. Shots in Devon Zoo, Paignton, including a polar bear, a pelican, a leopard, lions, tiger and bears and also visitors riding on the miniature railway. Unidentified man and several women (including the Page daughters) walking in the grounds of the zoo.Devon 1941. Title "Eventually the lull came. Raider beaten back by the RAF" Brief still (postcard?) of RAF fighters. Title "Dec 1941 Pat leaves school, and with Mary returns home" Mary and Pat walking down a country lane towards the camera with two school friends. Shot of Pat, Mary, the two schoolgirls and Mrs Page.Barnstaple 1941, Pat and Mary walk up to the open door of a small white painted terraced building and a cobbler comes out and gives them two pairs of repaired shoes and then the three pose for the camera. Bhajan Singh Benning, a young Sikh man resident of Barnstaple, standing on a doorstep in Azes Lane, smiles for the camera and then shakes hands with Pat, Mary and the cobbler. Pat and Mary shake hands with an elderly man (probably a car mechanic) and offer him a sweet from a paper bag. He takes a sweet (dropping one on the floor) and is then seen briefly with Mrs Page, Pat and Mary.Highgate, London probably 1942, Pat and Mary in the garden of their home. Pat and Mary playing with their spaniel dog. Title "Pat joins our office" dark interior shots of men and women working seated around a large table. Shot of Pat at work seated at the end of the table.Highgate, London 1943, Title "March 1st 1943 Pat joins the Land Army" Pat in her Women's Land Army (WLA) uniform, Mary and an unidentified older woman, playing with a small terrier dog in their garden. Various shots of Pat wearing her Land Girl uniform, Pat playing with their spaniel dog. Mrs Page and Pat picking flowers in their garden.Battle Farm Dairy, Oxford, probably 1943, unsteady shot of Pat pointing at the wooden sign for the dairy "Battle Farm Dairy tuberculin tested milk butter eggs cream". Dark interior shot of a calf being fed from a bucket. Pat in the farmyard carrying a small bucket. Pat holding a bottle of milk and another member of the Women's Land Army getting in to a car. Pat and another Land Girl walking towards the camera in a walled garden. More shots of cattle, a calf and Pat at work in a windy farmyard and a brief shot of the farmer loading pails of milk in to a car. Mrs Page cycling, rather unsteadily, through a village with Pat walking alongside. Pat and Mrs Page walking in the countryside, both wearing summer dresses and carrying their gasmasks. Pat herding cattle and then watching the farmer chop down a large branch of a tree. Mrs Page and Pat with a spaniel dog and a litter of spaniel puppies by the side of a river. Groups of young men (students?) on the river in punts. Long shot of three punts on the river.Title "May 12 1943 Uncles and Aunt return from North Wales", Three women and two men walking arm-in-arm towards the camera, Mr Page and two of the women and the two men in front of some large shrubs. Mrs Page talking with the two men and two of the women. Titles "Wedding Bells" "Summer Wedding Aug 21 1943 Edith's marriage with Percy" Dark interior shot of Mrs Page and two men in a railway carriage, Mrs Page seated next to the window in a first class train carriage reading a newspaper. Brief shot of a large detached house. Shots of the wedding party, the wedding cars, well-wishers, the bride and groom (a mature couple), dark interior shots of the wedding breakfast and Mrs Page with two women and a man drinking champagne by the French doors of the house. The bride and groom shaking hands with the Vicar and shots of various members of the small wedding party in the garden of the house.Highgate, London, Home Guard (?) sergeant pushing a large pump on its barrow accompanied by Mrs Page. Mrs Page and several others inspecting the pump. Mrs Page, wearing her fur coat and her white ARP Fire Guard (FG) steel helmet, with a group of women all also wearing FG tin hats, assembled outside of a building. The women practise the use of stirrup-pumps and hoses, taking protective positions behind walls, bins and in doorways to angle the hoses toward their targets. One shot shows a small woman enthusiastically working a stirrup-pump by the side of some brick built air-raid shelters, another includes a close up of a scrap paper bin as well as a longer shot of the same scrap paper bin standing next to a "pig" bin for food waste (brief shot of Highgate Cemetery visible in the background). Group crowded round a man listening to him speak. Shot of the large pump seen earlier being set up and in use in the front garden of suburban house (sign on garage door "Fire Guard Assembly 154 Point C"). Further shots of the group.Highgate, London, Interior shots of a young man talking on the telephone by a window. Portrait shot of the bespectacled young man. Mr Page enthusiastically shaking the young man's hand. Pat and the young man walking towards the camera. The young man walking towards the house and opening the garden gate (includes a reversed sequence). Brief shot of Mrs Page stroking the spaniel dog. Reel 3: (13 mins 12 seconds) Colour (Kodak stock date 1941 and 1942). Highgate, London, Mrs Page and Pat in a rose arbour in their garden. Mrs Page, Pat and Mary picking flowers from the garden. Mrs Page and girls tending their sweet peas. Close up shots of clematis and sweet peas. Mrs Page, Mary and an unidentified lady setting out an impressive collection of bottled home grown produce on a white cloth-covered table in a garden. The preserved produce includes blackberries, gooseberries and other fruits. Mr and Mrs Page posing on the steps down to the garden with the spaniel dog. Mr Page working in the garden with his tomato plants. Shots of some rose blooms.Colour. Pleasure boats on a river, small group standing on the bank of the river, including Pat and Mary. Large formal lake with fountains, brief shots of several flowers.Colour. Devon Zoo, Paignton: brief shots of a leopard pacing in a cage and a male and a female lion in a cage. Views of a bed of irises. Brief shots of the zoo including a pair of goats, cattle feeding in a field with a haystack in the background, chickens, a peacock, zebra, close-up shot of a chimpanzee in a cage, group of crowned cranes, the miniature railway, Mrs Page looking at a tiger seated in a cage, Pat and Mary in a small paddle boat on a crowded boating pond, female lion in cage and a pair of lions being fed.Colour. Highgate, London, Pat, Mary and Mr Page posing in their garden with their spaniel dog. Shots of a bunch of chrysanthemums and further shots of the dog.Colour. London, RNVR Lieutenant and RNVR Warrant Officer with a small group of naval cadets training on the flat roof of a building: semaphore, rifle drill and physical exercises. The small group of naval cadets undergoing physical training on a roof. Brief dark shots of a naval band on the steps of a building and on the march along a wide central London street (possibly the same naval cadets as seen earlier).Colour. Mary and an unidentified older woman (probably an Aunt), followed by a large grey cat, walking in trees by a lake. The pair walking towards the camera in the garden of a large house. Mr Page and the woman walking along the path by the house. More shots of Mary and the woman in the garden of the house.Colour. Highgate, London, young RNVR Air Branch Sub-Lieutenant (Fleet Air Arm) greets Mary and Pat in a mock formal manner in the garden of the Page's home, the three of them then walk towards the camera and the Sub-Lieutenant salutes. Pat, wearing her Land Army uniform, cycles in the road outside the family home (brick built air-raid shelters and Highgate Cemetery visible in the background). Pat at work in the garden followed by several shots of her with their spaniel dog. Pat, Mary and an unidentified older woman play with a wirehaired terrier puppy in the garden. Mrs Page, Mary and an unidentified young women pick lupins, and roses in the garden. Mrs Page, Pat, Mary and the young man seen earlier (no longer wearing spectacles) walk through the rose arbour in the garden. Shots of the family picking apples, including Mr Page. Brief shot of Mr Page, wearing his Civil Defence uniform, seated outside of the house, smoking his pipe and reading a newspaper. More shots of the family in their garden. Views of crocuses and other spring flowers in a park. Pat and Mrs Page hand-feeding a chicken in their garden. Mrs Page collecting eggs from their chicken coop. Various shots of their chickens. Reel 4: (14 mins 55 seconds) Highgate, London, more scenes of the women of local ARP Fire Guard in training in the street, including footage of the use of stirrup-pumps to extinguish fire-bombs. Brief shot of a chicken and her eggs. Brief shot of a young RAF pilot posing for the camera and in a garden with a young woman (not one of the Page daughters). Mr Page in coop feeding a chicken. Various shots of a hen and her brood of young chicks. Colour (Kodak stock date 1942). Highgate, London: Mrs Page feeding a hen and her brood of fledgling chicks. Shots of the hen and the young birds pecking food from the ground. Mrs Page picking raspberries or loganberries and walking through the rose arbour towards the camera. More shots of Mrs Page with the now almost fully grown young chickens. Mary talking with a tall young man.Highgate, London, repeated dark shots of a telegram being delivered to Pat by motorbike. Brief shot of a two-tier decorated 21st birthday cake. Various colour shots of the cake. Mrs Page and Mary watching Pat open her birthday cards and presents. Pat with a small group posing in the garden, wearing her 21st birthday key and being lifted up and down, given "the bumps". Colour shots of Pat being given "the bumps" and Pat and the group posing for the camera. Black and white interior shots of Pat lighting the candles on her birthday cake, the dining room table set for the birthday tea, brief shot of a long haired cat, a serviceman smoking on the balcony and shaking hands with one of the birthday guests.London, 8 May 1945, VE Day, brief shots of a British Army and Royal Navy band marching under a railway bridge along a wide London street. Trafalgar Square, shots from within the crowds of a large number of people in the square and around the base of Nelson's Column. "VICTORY OVER GERMANY 1945" hoarding clearly visible. Shots over the heads of the crowds around the Square including a long shot of the crowds on the steps of the National Gallery. Buckingham Palace, shots from within the crowds of the a large number of people around the Victoria Memorial, brief long shot of the Royal Family waving from the balcony of the Palace. Dark shots of a night-time bonfire.London, May 1945, dark shots of members of the Civil Defence, Fire Brigade, Home Guard and ATS assembled in groups. Shots of a large parade proceeding along a wide shopping street including contingents of nurses, WVS, a women's kilted military band, Fire Brigade and Civil Defence.Colour. London 8 May 1945, VE Day, Trafalgar Square, more shots from with the crowds massed in the Square. People singing, waving and clapping around the base of Nelson's Column. Views around the Square including the National Gallery. Views of the crowds (including Mary) walking along The Mall towards Buckingham Palace with Admiralty Arch behind them. View of crowds laughing and waving flags. Shot of the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace. Group marching arm-in-arm towards the camera with one member carrying a large Belgium flag. Brief over-exposed shots of the Royal Family waving from the balcony of the Palace. More shots, from within the crowd, of large numbers of people around Buckingham Palace, along The Mall, around Admiralty Arch, along Whitehall, in Trafalgar Square (including seated on the Landseer bronze lions) and brief shots of a night-time bonfire.Colour. London, 13 May 1945, Thanksgiving Sunday, London. Brief shots of crowds on Ludgate Hill watching the procession to, and from, the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral. The procession includes mounted police, very brief shots of an open landau containing HRH King George VI (partly obscured), HRH Queen Elizabeth, HRH Princess Elizabeth and HRH Princess Margaret Rose, various motor vehicles, a military band and a contingent of troops. Includes a brief shot of a camera crew working from a platform on the roof of a van.Colour. London, Highgate, presumably 1945. Mrs Page posing wearing her Civil Defence uniform and white ARP Fire Guard (FG) steel helmet, a further shot of her holding a black cat. Brief shot of Mr Page winding up the hose of a stirrup pump.Colour, views of an orchard of small fruit trees in blossom. Mrs Page and one of the Aunts seen earlier, stroking and being pestered by a horse and admiring trees in blossom. View of a Union flag blowing in the wind.Colour, London, probably 1945. Mounted Policeman leads a parade led by a women's kilted military band along a wide shopping street. The march past also includes contingents of ATS, Home Guard, Fire Brigade and Civil Defence. Passing the parade on the other side of the road is a Trolleybus no 639. Reel 5: (11 mins 25 seconds) Colour (Kodak stock date 1946). Post Second World War family and holiday scenes most probably Devon and Somerset. Mrs Page and an unidentified man and woman paddling on the beach at Minehead, Somerset (North Hill visible behind them). Mr and Mrs Page and an unidentified woman paddling on the same beach in Minehead. View of a sunset over the sea. Mrs Page collecting flowers from a hedgerow and then walking along the shoreline at Lynmouth Harbour. Numerous brief shots of of men diving from boards in to the swimming pool at Minehead Lido. Mrs Page and an unidentified man and woman picking sweetpea flowers in garden. Brief shots of Mr Page working on an outboard motor on a small boat on the water. Several shot of Mrs Page swimming in the sea. Various shots of Mr Page, and other men, working on, manoevering on land, launching and on the water in a small wooden dinghy. (Many shots include views of the Page's small seaside holiday chalet bearing the name "Sea Glimpse".) Mrs Page in the dinghy. Further shot of Mrs Page and a male friend swimming and various shots of Mr Page in his dinghy (many shots include long shots of a line of holiday chalets on the opposite bank of an estuary). Further scenes of Mrs Page swimming in the sea. Mr Page and an unidentified man repairing sash windows. Mrs Page admiring a bed of flowers in a garden. Brief shot of Mrs Page, with two older women, picking fruit(?). More swimming scenes. View of Mrs Page, accompanied by an unidentified man, walking through a field of small hay stacks. Mrs Page and the man walk through a church gate. Shots of birds feeding and enjoying a bird bath. Shot of unidentified castle ruins. View of a seafront and Mrs Page and two couples leaving the "St Helen's Private Hotel" (possibly Weymouth). Various very brief shots of Mr and Mrs Page's beach and sailing holidays on the south coast of England. Reel 6: (17 mins 55 seconds) Colour (Kodak stock date 1947). View of Pages' seaside chalet "Sea Glimpse" (possibly Dawlish Warren) . Mrs Page mows the lawn while smoking a cigarette. Mrs Page posing with relatives or friends in the garden of "Sea Glimpse". Country fire brigade deals with a grassland fire around chalet with families and children looking on. Views of their garden in Highgate and the brief views of the skiers and spectators at a ski jumping event in 1950 or 1951 at the Hampstead Heath ski-jump (snow imported from Norway visible on the wooden slope). Holiday in Devon, possibly also around Dawlish Warren. Mr Page and an unidentified man moving precariously between the wooden supports of a ruined jetty using a ladder. Shots of Mrs Page swimming. Mrs Page and two unidentified women climbing nervously from a jetty in to a small boat. Brief shot of a small motor boat moving across the water. Numerous shots of small boats in the water. Close-up shot of Mrs Page in a small boat. A queue of people waiting to gain entry to a stately home (?). A seated brass band playing watched by small children. Young child seated on the back of a goat. Several shots of dogs being led around a small arena as part of a Dog Show. Brief shots of Mrs Page and relatives walking in an ornamental garden. Various brief shots of Mr and Mrs Page enjoying holidays on the south coast of England. Further shots of Hampstead Heath ski-jump. Views of Sidmouth. Mrs Page picking sprigs of heather. Mr Page walking to his car with a bunch of heather in one hand and his camera case over one shoulder. Dark shots of a harbour and seafront. Car crossing a ford. Mr and Mrs Page collecting large bunches of heather. Mrs Page walking in a garden and sitting drinking tea. Close up shots of a bed of chrysanthemums. More shots of Mrs Page on holidays on the English south coast. Shot of Exeter Cathedral. More south coast holiday views. Highgate, London, film ends with a shot of vase of chrysanthemums and Mrs Lily Page tending to a bed of staked chrysanthemums in her garden.
  • Alternative Title: AMATEUR FILM BY NICHOLAS PAGE [Alternative Title]
  • Colour: Colour
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: MGH 6666
  • Sound: B&W
  • Access Conditions: NON-IWM
  • Featured Period:
  • Production Date: 1939
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details:
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: Colour Sound format: B&W Soundtrack language: Silent Title language: None Subtitle language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 6 Footage: 2099 ft; Running time: 87 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    MGH 6666

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