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8 votes
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Darwin's Barometer
3 votes -
The evolution of Father Christmas
5 votes -
Swedes from across the north-east of England have celebrated the traditional Scandinavian festival of Sankta Lucia at Hexham Abbey
4 votes -
The horrifying Public Information Films of 1970s Britain
As far as I can make out, every country has public information films. They rarely pull punches, which is pretty important as their messages are usually important. I remember being terrified by...
As far as I can make out, every country has public information films. They rarely pull punches, which is pretty important as their messages are usually important. I remember being terrified by Monolith as a child. I still think about It's Thirty For a Reason whenever I drive in suburban areas, and I've seen similar things from New Zealand, Canada and so on. Creative agencies love PIF gigs because you can do so much more than a normal advert/TV spot would allow. People can, and do, go all out on them. They're also ripe for parody
However, back in the seventies, that's when the UK government went a little... well.. overboard. Imagine showing Lonely Water to actual children. Or Stand Steady, or even Frisbee? I remember being shown films like these at school, from scratchy old VHS tapes on clunky old school TVs. I remember them being broadcast during children's programming time. I remember being irrationally terrified of old fridges even though I've never see a fridge with a lock in my entire life.
But sure, they're scary topics and sometimes you do need to scare people into not doing stupid stuff that might kill them. There are plenty of examples of scary short PIFs aimed at all ages from their invention right up to the present day. But then there are the longer form movies about safety for children. That's what this post is really about. Let's call these the "unholy trinity" of PIF terror:
There's the weird time-loop slaughter fest of Building Sites Bite (unfortunately the only copy I could find was a 'reacts' video but it's worth watching)
Ignoring the of-it's-time but now recognised as problematic "Cowboys and Indians" conceit, Apaches is utterly horrifying.
Then there's the dystopian awfulness of The Finishing Line
These films were rated PG (aka safe for kids). They were shown in schools. Not just high schools, but primary (elementary) schools. Although to be fair, someone did get a clue fairly quickly and The Finishing Line was banned and withdrawn in under a year because holy shit.
I'd be interested to see some of your favourite public information films, please do link them if you have any.
9 votes -
The tiny US island with a British accent
11 votes -
A Modest Proposal: For preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick (1729)
17 votes -
Letters from the loneliest post office in the world
4 votes -
London pirate radio adverts 1984-1993, vol. 1
6 votes -
Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship, lost in 1915, is found in Antarctica
18 votes -
When hundreds of vampire-hunting children invaded a Scottish cemetery — and helped spur a comic book ban
5 votes -
Mers el Kebir 1940 - Britain attacks her ally
5 votes -
Stealing Britain's history: When metal detectorists go rogue
9 votes -
The town where holding fireworks over your head is a tradition
6 votes -
The melancholy decline of the semicolon
17 votes -
The name for Britain comes from our ancient love of tattoos
6 votes -
The SAS Iranian Embassy siege, 1980 - Animated
5 votes -
Part of a Spitfire which was shot down over Norway during World War II has gone on display after being restored
5 votes -
The enduring mystery of Jack the Ripper
5 votes -
Why Hitler was obsessed with Iceland
5 votes -
Climbing the carillon bell tower in Queen's Park, Loughborough and taking a behind the scenes peek at how it all works
3 votes -
Uyghur tribunal
6 votes -
The secret of how Roald Amundsen beat Captain Robert Falcon Scott in race to south pole? A diet of raw penguin
7 votes -
The legendary Commando raid at St. Nazaire | The greatest raid of all time
4 votes -
What each nation wanted from the scramble for Africa vs what they got from it
3 votes -
Germany's plans to win WW1
4 votes -
The paradox of progress
7 votes -
Why does Russia have the best maps of Britain? | Map Men
12 votes -
Why didn't Canada join the American Revolution?
5 votes -
The Mexican American border: A tale of two colonies (Part 1/2)
3 votes -
In 1814, British forces burned the US Capitol
9 votes -
The tale of a World War II British submarine that shot down an enemy plane with a torpedo
7 votes -
Brexit fishing row evokes memories of 'cod wars' with Iceland – four Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready from 1st January to help protect UK fishing waters
7 votes -
This is neoliberalism
17 votes -
The curse of the buried treasure - Two metal-detector enthusiasts discovered a Viking hoard. It was worth a fortune—but it became a nightmare.
5 votes -
Life during wartime: How west Belfast became the frontline of the Troubles
5 votes -
How hedges became the unofficial emblem of Great Britain: The ubiquitous boxy bushes have defined the British landscape since the Bronze Age
11 votes -
Edinburgh Philosophy – Voices on Hume
3 votes -
Scottish nitroglycerin and one legged stools
10 votes -
Two Vikings from the same family are to be 'reunited' – DNA evidence has linked the skeleton from Oxford with another skeleton excavated in Denmark
7 votes -
A battle of lies: Fake news in the Grear War
6 votes -
The scandalous decision to pickle Admiral Horatio Nelson in brandy
11 votes -
Is the University of Edinburgh right to rename its David Hume Tower?
9 votes -
Black troops were welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow wasn’t: The race riot of one night in June 1943
15 votes -
Annotated digital archive of historic books
6 votes -
Postcards from St Kilda arrive ten years later after washing up in Norway – archaeologist Ian McHardy built a waterproof replica of the mail boats a decade ago
5 votes -
The village that the Luftwaffe bombed by mistake
9 votes -
How to deal with a racist past: A Bristol pub leads the way
5 votes -
Vast neolithic circle of deep shafts found near Stonehenge
7 votes -
An Oxford professor, an evangelical collector, and a missing gospel of Mark: A scholar claimed that he discovered a first-century gospel fragment, now faces allegations of theft, cover-up, and fraud
11 votes