"Now and Then" Photos from London

[Slim]

The Gerry Anderson TV series UFO has an episode with sepia-toned scenes filmed in Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus in 1969. One afternoon in 2001 when I still lived there, I set myself the task of recreating some of the scenes, as closely as possible from the original camera location.

A sort of "Then and Now" project, although it might better be called "Then and Then" now.

The composite images look a bit small now on a modern screen.

[Thenop]

I really enjoy watching these types of photos. Especially the Covent garden one, the older photo is such a period picture. It has the automobile (Vauxhall?) there right next to the pushcart (correct word?). The name on the window, Kamstra, feels like a Dutch name. Fantastic!

The city I live in, Rotterdam, was bombed in WWII, wiping out the city centre, which was since then rebuild. It is amazing how different, but yet the same it is and there are pictures to show that.

Come to think of it, would there be an AI application that would age (update?) photographs of the old, to resemble the modern day cities? Must go and see if that exists.

[Slim]

Covent Garden was the site of London's main fruit and vegetable market until the '70s. By then, traffic congestion had made getting the stuff in and out in wholesale quantities untenable, so it moved.

By the 1980s it was all shops, restaurants and bars, as it is today.

What gets me, looking at those pics I took nearly 25 years ago is that they could have been taken yesterday. Apart from the price of the Pizza Hut buffet in the last pic. There's nothing in the appearance of the people milling around that would look out of place in 2024. It's as though culture has stood still.

The pic of Piccadilly Circus was taken from a window upstairs at Tower Records (as it was then) and I'm sure that the UFO scene was filmed from there as well. The perspective is very slightly different - I think the camera in 1969 was set up at the next window along, but in 2001 that belonged to an office that wasn't accessible to the public.

Notice that the fountain in that photo, a famous London landmark, is in a different place than it was in 2001. That's because it was moved in the 1980s.

[Slim]

I really enjoy watching these types of photos. Especially the Covent garden one, the older photo is such a period picture. It has the automobile (Vauxhall?) there right next to the pushcart (correct word?).

The car is a Ford Cortina Mk II:

[Thenop]

I have been to London three times.
Third time was with my brother in I think 1997 or so. I bought a pair of Doc Martens.

Second time was in April 1981, around Easter. My mum was expecting, my brother was born a good 3 months later.
Standout memory were the posters everywhere for the movie Scanners.

First time was a little after my father had passed, perhaps 1978. Very little memories, but I recall making some photos.
Must see if I can find them.

[David L]

The girl in those pics looks like Pattie Boyd.

[Slim]

The girl in those pics looks like Pattie Boyd.

It's Tessa Wyatt, probably best known for being in Robin's Nest and for being married to Tony Blackburn.

[David L]

The girl in those pics looks like Pattie Boyd.

It's Tessa Wyatt, probably best known for being in Robin's Nest and for being married to Tony Blackburn.

Ah yes, now I see. Broke Tony's heart, she did

[Slim]

I took both these photos myself on Birdcage Walk in London. On the left, May 1979. On the right, October 2002.

[Thenop]

Those lamp posts are still there    Fantastic!

[Nickslikk2112]

I really enjoy watching these types of photos. Especially the Covent garden one, the older photo is such a period picture. It has the automobile (Vauxhall?) there right next to the pushcart (correct word?).

The car is a Ford Cortina Mk II:

My dad's third car was a Cortina Mk II, pale blue it was. He used to buy Dinky models of his cars then paint them up to match. He gave up at the third actually.

[Nickslikk2112]

Those lamp posts are still there    Fantastic!

I think they're gas lamps as well. London still has over 1,500 left.

[Slim]

Those lamp posts are still there    Fantastic!

Two of them, anyway

I remember both of those days very well. It's odd to think that as much time has passed between the second pic and the present day, as between the first pic and the second. Give or take a few months.

Just had a look on Street View, the lamppost on the right in the second image has been replaced by a set of traffic lights, the one on the left is still there.

[Slim]

The top image is from the 1966 film The Sandwich Man. That's Michael Bentine with the sandwich board. The lower image was captured to match it by myself sometime in late 2002.

The film image looks a bit rough. I recorded the film from a TV broadcast using an analogue method (down a SCART lead) to my old TiVo PVR, then did another analogue transfer (ie a SCART lead again) to a standalone DVD recorder. I do have that film on DVD now so I suppose I could redo it. But hey.

It's a wonderful old light comedy film, very much of its time. No plot to speak of. Lots of familiar faces from the British entertainment industry of the time - apart from the redoubtable Michael Bentine, there's Dora Bryan, Bernard Cribbins, Harry H Corbett, Warren Mitchell, John Junkin, Diana Dors, Terry Thomas, John Le Mesurier and even Norman Wisdom.

Bentine plays a character called Horace Quilby, and he also briefly browns up to play an Indian gentleman in a Fez called Gungadin who owns a jazz club.



Taken at the end of Lower Regent Street. The monument is just behind the camera.

[Slim]

Just found this: someone's gone to a lot of trouble to document the London locations used in the film, along with some modern day shots from the same places.

https://www.reelstreets.com/films/sandwich-man-the/