Interesting Postcards

I’ve been to Hunstanton a couple of times and never noticed it’s resemblance to Portmeirion or, indeed, how much the beach looks like the irradiated coast where David Bowie filmed the ‘Ashes to Ashes’ video. I’m not as observant as I used to be. Bloody Coalition.

I also like the distinction between Hunstanton and New Hunstanton, and the inclusion of the cliffs in the latter category, as if they are a relatively recent addition.

Portrait Of A People

010: A young couple enjoying a typical British summer.

Smile! You're In Southend

Happy people, many of whom are now dead, in Anthony Simmons' 1953 short 'Sunday By The Sea', filmed in Southend, or Sarfend as we Essex folk would have it.

I went to Southend last year. It's a bit too far west for me in many ways, so I didn't enjoy it half as much as the people in the pictures above. My twin and I did pose around in our trunks though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. 

It's A Small World

Bungalow Estate,
Model Village,
Southport

Two young punks lap up the incredible wonder of some massive model bungalows that dwarf a nearby rail suspension bridge. It's all to cock, innit? Tsk.

End Of The Pier

Ghost Train scenes from 'The Vanishing Earth'. The invented effects were much more elaborate than the real and rather clunky thing, but it had a certain charm.

Clackers

Some more shots of 1973 Clacton On Sea.

FYI, you can no longer ride your motorbike onto the pier; the Ghost Train is long gone; the Steel Stella rollercoaster burned down only a few months after the show was filmed, and the Dolphinarium closed in the nineteen eighties. When I went last year, I sought out / trespassed into the abandoned Dolphinarium and found it slowly decaying, barred to the public but still intact, concrete seats,  half-empty pools and all, although I believe they have plans to do something with it this year.

Here's an aerial shot of how it looked a couple of years ago. I didn't take it: I don't like heights. The green square is the pool.

Thank you for your attention.

The Tomorrow People: The Vanishing Earth

'The Vanishing Earth' is a 1973 story from the second series of 'The Tomorrow People'. The four episodes take place during a time of increased natural disasters, which turn out to be aftershocks from illicit 'magmanite' mining activity conducted by aliens Sandor and Spidron, a ruthless dolly bird and a sibilant root / humanoid hybrid dressed in a Torquemada outfit respectively.

It's all pretty silly, but I find it irresistible simply because much of it was filmed in Clacton On Sea, exactly sixteen miles from where I was brought up. In the seventies I'd go there to pick up sweets from the grabbers and shells from the beach; in the eighties I went to try and pick up girls; in recent years I've taken my own family and picked up the cost.

The pier and the beach surrounding it is one of my favourite places, so it's great to see it recorded in this way, especially at a time when I was getting to know it and it still seemed like one of the most exciting destinations on Earth.