Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"We haven't prepared any script, we're at the moment discussing a list of places we thought we'd take you to."
In a London still visibly recovering from the effects of World War 2, an intrepid BBC news team - including Phillip Doherty and Monty Redknapp - set off from Alexandra Palace to spend the day visiting the capital's main attractions and speaking to the people they find there. With most of London's residents away to the seaside for the August bank holiday, there is an eerie lack of traffic. The devastation around St Paul's Cathedral is very pronounced in these quieter conditions.
It is only when the team reach Hampstead Heath fair in the evening that there is a sense of people really letting their hair down and getting into the bank holiday spirit.
Clip taken from Flashback: August Bank Holiday, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 1 August, 1949.
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"We haven't prepared any script, we're at the moment discussing a list of places we thought we'd take you to."
In a London still visibly recovering from the effects of World War 2, an intrepid BBC news team - including Phillip Doherty and Monty Redknapp - set off from Alexandra Palace to spend the day visiting the capital's main attractions and speaking to the people they find there. With most of London's residents away to the seaside for the August bank holiday, there is an eerie lack of traffic. The devastation around St Paul's Cathedral is very pronounced in these quieter conditions.
It is only when the team reach Hampstead Heath fair in the evening that there is a sense of people really letting their hair down and getting into the bank holiday spirit.
Clip taken from Flashback: August Bank Holiday, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 1 August, 1949.
You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of TV to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic clips from the BBC vaults.
Make sure you subscribe so that you never miss a single stop on our amazing journey through the BBC Archive - youtube.com/c/BBCArchive?sub_confirmation=1
You can also dive into plenty more BBC Archive on our website - bbc.co.uk/archive
