Fascinating look back at pictures from the past

Cinema-going during a large part of the 20th century was not a complete experience without the inclusion of the Pathe newsreels relaying the events of the time.
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In the early days they were silent but the introduction of sound in 1928 opened up the potential for wider coverage of the life of the nation.

The Pathe archive, containing more than 3,500 hours of filmed history, 90,000 news items and 12million still pictures, was digitised some years ago.

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Now, anyone can go on to the website www.britishpathe.com and browse for free.

You will find film clips like those represented in these images here, from the Midhurst and Petworth area.

Victoria Spiegelberg, from British Pathe, has found archive footage of canoe hiking in Midhurst for the 1950 Easter parade and of Fernley Parkhouse, the vicar of Elsted, and his wife, running a post office in their home.

The vicar is seen leaving the church after a service and switching roles to become sub postmaster in the vicarage, pressing a buzzer to summon his wife from the kitchen as the queue of customers gets longer.

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There is a clip of artist Paul Maze in his garden at Treyford in 1964, speaking about Winston Churchill, and a film of Florence Nagle, who fought the male-dominated horse racing world to win the right for a woman to hold a trainer’s licence.

The vicarage post office in Elsted in 1953The vicarage post office in Elsted in 1953
The vicarage post office in Elsted in 1953

She is shown at her yard near Petworth in 1966.

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Paul Maze sitting in garden in 1964Paul Maze sitting in garden in 1964
Paul Maze sitting in garden in 1964

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