Coney Island: Luna Park

Luna park Coney Island 1910-1915

Tour de France: A look back at the past

 Mountain stages used to be a little different on the tour , similar routes just the road conditions  might have resulted in a few punctures these days. Picturesque mountains in the background.


The 1928 Tour passing through a village, women waiting to cross the road.  Again the roads look in poor condition but the riders don't seem to be going too fast here.


Running repairs, bit of grease from a man hanging out of a support car. Health & Safety in full force.


Only a few years old the Tour was growing in popularity and as we see above the 1906 was attracting lots of spectators through a French town.

World Cup 1950: Brazil vs Uruguay



As another Football World cup takes place we look back at the 1950 match between Brazil vs Uruguay. An amazing photo showing so much detail of the players and crowd. Look at the shot seemingly goal-word bound with defending holding up their arms in protest.

Those were the days when the fans would pack in so tight. The legs of the people dangling down over the advertising signs. 

Ohh yes, this was the final. Just the 173,000 people in attendance.

WW2 Destruction: Caen & Saint-Lô France, Cologne Germany


Caen, France 1944. Ariel shot of the city showing the devastation left by WW2 and the German invasion.


Saint-Lô France 1944. American troops entering the town. Not often I use colour photos but this one seems to be untouched and natural. 


The German city of Cologne 1945, which was destroyed by Allied carpet bombing. In the center is seen the famous Cologne Cathedral

London 1900's: Kensington & Muffins


London 1901. Bangor Street was in the potteries district of Kensington, where a Rag Fair was held. In the early 20th century it was a more renouned street market than Portobello. The street was coloured lowest class black in Booth’s colour coded poverty maps of 1889-1902.  


A muffin seller in London early 1900s. Bell to help sell the muffins on the streets.

WW1 Planes: Australian Palestine, Salmson & British crash



A flight of bombing planes 1st Australians flying corpse, Palestine.

French Salmson plane.

A crashed British plane that looks in good condition - other photos show crumpled heaps - so it may simply have run out of fuel and made an impromptu landing. 

Flying planes in WW1 was an extremely dangerous task, more died in training than in battle. Given  flight being rather new and the very fragile planes they used meant  a pilots life was often short.
A Flight of Bombing Planes 1st Australian Flying Corps, Palestine - See more at: http://picturesofworldwar1.com/photographer-frank-hurley/a-flight-of-bombing-planes-1st-australian-flying-corps-palestine#sthash.RK9llAHU.dpuf
A Flight of Bombing Planes 1st Australian Flying Corps, Palestine - See more at: http://picturesofworldwar1.com/photographer-frank-hurley/a-flight-of-bombing-planes-1st-australian-flying-corps-palestine#sthash.RK9llAHU.dpuf
A Flight of Bombing Planes 1st Australian Flying Corps, Palestine - See more at: http://picturesofworldwar1.com/photographer-frank-hurley/a-flight-of-bombing-planes-1st-australian-flying-corps-palestine#sthash.RK9llAHU.dpuf

WW1 Liberty Bonds Rally: New York Charlie Chaplin


 Douglas Fairbanks holding up Charlie Chaplin in front of crowd to promote Liberty Bonds, Lower Manhattan, NYC , 1918. As you can see there was a rather large crowd here!

WW1 Movies: La Grande Illusion, The Road to Glory.



La Grande Illusion is a 1937 French film about a German POW camp. Always interesting watching non-english WW1 movies and their prospective on how things unfolded.

The Road to Glory - an interesting look at Trench life and relationships in WW1.

WW1 Battlefield & Trench: Somme


Spanish clearing up some of the mess left on the battlefield at the Somme. A few things we notice similair to many other Somme photos is the total destruction of the landscape, boggy, mud, awful conditions for anyone.


Sadly not the best of photos but it convays over to us the reality of the Somme and other battlefields in WW1. Wire fence behind the water filled trench where lancfusiliers are patrolling.