Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
*Warning: Language and attitudes of its time.*
Five million people in England go dancing ever week, Ron Hitchens is just one of them - a cockney barrow boy with a passion for dancing in its myriad forms.
In Ken Russell's beautiful short film, Ron leads us through the strange and varied world of the dancers of England; from jive to ballroom, folk dancing to flamenco, morris dancing to modern and even the mysterious, centuries-old, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance.
Director: Ken Russell
Film editor: Allan Tyrer
Associate producer: Nancy Thomas and Humphrey Burton
Editor: Huw Wheldon
Clip taken from Monitor: The Light Fantastic, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 28 December, 1960.
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*Warning: Language and attitudes of its time.*
Five million people in England go dancing ever week, Ron Hitchens is just one of them - a cockney barrow boy with a passion for dancing in its myriad forms.
In Ken Russell's beautiful short film, Ron leads us through the strange and varied world of the dancers of England; from jive to ballroom, folk dancing to flamenco, morris dancing to modern and even the mysterious, centuries-old, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance.
Director: Ken Russell
Film editor: Allan Tyrer
Associate producer: Nancy Thomas and Humphrey Burton
Editor: Huw Wheldon
Clip taken from Monitor: The Light Fantastic, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 28 December, 1960.
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
