London to Brighton in Four Minutes

The BBC Film Unit's London to Brighton in Four Minutes is a short film about a London to Brighton train journey, produced in 1953.{{refn|group=note|Sources differ – the BBC and the British Film Institute give 1953{{cite web |title=London to Brighton in Four Minutes (1953) |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c220e64 |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814220034/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6c220e64 |archive-date=14 August 2019 |url-status=dead }} whereas IMDb and some other sources give 1952.{{cite web |title=London to Brighton in Four Minutes |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1472532/ |publisher=Internet Movie Database |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210153909/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1472532/ |archive-date=10 February 2017 |url-status=live }}}} It was mostly filmed from the driver's point of view looking straight ahead{{refn|group=note|The driver was at the front of the first carriage – the train was an electric multiple unit with no separate locomotive.{{sfnp|Jeffs|2013|pp=10–11}}}} with the filming done so that the journey was spectacularly fast, lasting only four minutes instead of the real travel time of about one hour. The ride was aboard the Brighton Belle, a Pullman train, along the Brighton Main Line from London Victoria to Brighton on the south coast of England.

The film was made by Don Smith and the first version was narrated by David Lloyd James for an edition of BBC Television's Children's Newsreel regular weekend programme.{{cite web |last1=Dungate |first1=Arthur |title=BBC TV from AP – TV Newsreels |url=http://www.bbctv-ap.co.uk/newsreel.htm#lonbri |website=www.bbctv-ap.co.uk |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814105820/http://www.bbctv-ap.co.uk/newsreel.htm#lonbri |archive-date=14 August 2019 |url-status=live }}

{{external media|title=Video of the film and subsequent history|headerimage=|caption=

|video1=1953: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130902003455/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtiWQkW0v0o London to Brighton in Four Minutes] London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.{{cite web |title=London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtiWQkW0v0o | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902003455/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtiWQkW0v0o|publisher=BBC South Today | others=Film produced by BBC Film Unit|date=1953 |access-date=14 August 2019| archive-date=2 September 2013 }}

|video2=1983: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahabRHUYO4A London to Brighton in 3½ Minutes] London to Brighton Train Journey: 1983 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.{{cite web |last1=Haunch |first1=Nigel |title=London to Brighton Train Journey: 1983 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahabRHUYO4A |access-date=14 August 2019 |publisher=BBC South Today| others=Film produced by BBC|date=27 August 2013 }}

|video3=2013:[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1jSDzTDcxg London to Brighton by Train in 3 minutes 18 seconds] London to Brighton Train Journey: 2013. – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.{{cite web |title=London to Brighton Train Journey: 2013 | date=27 August 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1jSDzTDcxg |publisher=BBC South Today |access-date=14 August 2019 }}

|video4=1953–2013: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGTwSNPqAqs London to Brighton Side by Side]

London to Brighton Train Journeys: 1953 - 2013 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.{{cite web|title=London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953–2013 side by side| date=27 August 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGTwSNPqAqs|publisher=BBC Productions South|access-date=14 August 2019}}{{refn|group=note|See also on BBC News.{{cite news |last1=Clifton |first1=Paul |title=How the London to Brighton train ride has changed in 60 years |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-23857210/how-the-london-to-brighton-train-ride-has-changed-in-60-years |access-date=15 August 2019 |work=BBC News |date=28 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815115230/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-23857210/how-the-london-to-brighton-train-ride-has-changed-in-60-years|archive-date=15 August 2019|url-status=live}}}}

|video5=2013 BBC report: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGUD4DvY3IY London to Brighton Train Journeys: 1953 - 2013] – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.{{cite web |last1=Clifton |first1=Paul |title=London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953 - 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGUD4DvY3IY |publisher=BBC South Today |access-date=14 August 2019 |date=27 August 2013 }}{{cite news |last1=Clifton |first1=Paul |title=London to Brighton non-stop: Tracking the changes to a seaside rail journey |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23853863 |access-date=15 August 2019 |date=28 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108025326/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23853863 |archive-date=8 November 2017 |url-status=live|publisher=BBC South Today}}

|video6=Active map and 2013 film [http://webvmt.org/webvmt/demos#youtube Active map synchronised with embedded YouTube video] – video content uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.{{refn|group=note|name=gps|The active map is similar to the display on a GPS device.}}{{cite web |last1=Clarke |first1=Keir |title=Maps Mania: London to Brighton in Four Minutes |url=http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2018/10/london-to-brighton-in-four-minutes.html |website=Maps Mania |access-date=16 August 2019 |date=2 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207113621/http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2018/10/london-to-brighton-in-four-minutes.html |archive-date=7 December 2018 |url-status=live }} fails to link to the synchronised map and video which is now at {{cite web |title=WebVMT linked to an embedded YouTube video |url=http://webvmt.org/webvmt/demos/youtube |website=webvmt.org |publisher=Away Team Software Limited |access-date=16 August 2019|others=Video produced by BBC South }}

}}

For the most part the camera was manually undercranked at about two frames per second for fast motion display at 25 frames per second. The film's commentator described this as "trick photography" and said the train was appearing to run the {{convert|51|mi}} at an average speed of {{convert|765|mph}}. 35 mm film was used and each time a {{convert|100|ft|adj=on}} film magazine ran out and was replaced, normal-speed shots of the engine driver were slotted in for continuity. The soundtrack of music and background noises were recorded magnetically for over-dubbing – the sound of the train was actually that of a jet engine and clapping was used for the noises at station platforms and through bridges and tunnels.{{cite web |title=An experiment in slow speed camera work by director Don Smith|url=https://www.huntleyarchives.com/preview.asp?image=1000604 |publisher=Huntley Film Archives |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814183319/https://www.huntleyarchives.com/preview.asp?image=1000604|archive-date=14 August 2019|url-status=live}} The music is "Sabre Jet" composed by David Hart.{{refn|group=note|David Hart is a pseudonym of William Granville Chapman.{{cite web |title=David Hart (3) |url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1023611-David-Hart-3 |website=Discogs |access-date=14 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814215743/https://www.discogs.com/artist/1023611-David-Hart-3|archive-date=14 August 2019|url-status=live }}}}{{cite web |last1=Ades |first1=David |title=Robert Farnon Society – Highdays and Holidays |url=http://www.robertfarnonsociety.org.uk/index.php/light-music-cds/up-to-december-2005/515-highdays-and-holidays |website=www.robertfarnonsociety.org.uk |access-date=14 August 2019 |date=27 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814184041/http://www.robertfarnonsociety.org.uk/index.php/light-music-cds/up-to-december-2005/515-highdays-and-holidays|archive-date=14 August 2019|url-status=live}}

Later, a version with a different commentary was made for the main Television Newsreel programme with a name change to Go Slow on the Brighton Line. Whereas the children's version only has narration at the beginning and end of the journey, in the revised version with a different narrator the names of some of the stations being passed are mentioned.

In the early years of BBC television the film was transmitted quite often as part of their normal schedule and became very well known to the television audience.{{cite web |last1=Emmerson |first1=Andy |title=405 Alive – Information – Interludes |url=https://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/info/prog_interludes.html |website=www.bvws.org.uk |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120213133240/http://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/info/prog_interludes.html |archive-date=13 February 2012 |url-status=live }}{{cite book|last=Craven|first=John|authorlink=John Craven|title=Headlines and Hedgerows: A Memoir|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REyTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP113|isbn=978-1-4059-3268-4|pages=113–114|date=25 July 2019|quote=One of its films ... became part of television history}}{{cite book|last=Redmond|first=Phil|authorlink=Phil Redmond|title=Mid-Term Report: From Grange Hill to Hollyoaks, Via Brookside|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5X5qAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|date=15 August 2013|publisher=Penguin Random House|isbn=978-0-09-956916-9|page=16}} As such it was a dramatic variation on the BBC's rather frequent "interludes" (such as the "Potter's Wheel") which were merely gap-fillers between programmes and which had a generally tranquil atmosphere.{{cite web |last1=Dungate |first1=Arthur |title=BbC Television from Alexandra Palace – Interludes|url=http://www.bbctv-ap.co.uk/interlud.htm |website=www.bbctv-ap.co.uk |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322215220/http://www.bbctv-ap.co.uk/interlud.htm |archive-date=22 March 2016 |url-status=live }}{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Andrew|title=Belles and Whistles: Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ij2eAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT89|date=4 September 2014|publisher=Profile Books|isbn=978-1-78283-025-2|pages=89–90}} The BBC still shows the film on rare occasions.{{cite web |title=BBC Two – London to Brighton in Four Minutes |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dttsc |website=BBC |access-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314201055/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dttsc |archive-date=14 March 2010 |url-status=live }} To show the changing conditions over two periods of thirty years the journey was also filmed in 1983 and 2013, again using time-lapse photography to show the journeys at high speed.{{cite web |last1=Cade |first1=D.L. |title=Time-Lapse Captures the Train Ride from London to Brighton in 1953, '83 and 2013 |url=https://petapixel.com/2013/08/29/time-lapse-captures-the-train-ride-from-london-to-brighton-in-1953-83-and-2013/ |website=petapixel.com |access-date=15 August 2019 |date=29 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170305010502/https://petapixel.com/2013/08/29/time-lapse-captures-the-train-ride-from-london-to-brighton-in-1953-83-and-2013/ |archive-date=5 March 2017 |url-status=live }}{{refn|group=note|The three films are 1953, 1983 and 2013.}} In addition, a version was produced showing the three films synchronised side by side.

In 1953 Brighton Main Line was operated by the Southern Region of British Railways, then recently nationalised. The Brighton Belle operated using electrical multiple units running on the third-rail system previously introduced by Southern Railway.{{sfnp|Jeffs|2013|pp=10–11}}

In 1958 the small station for Gatwick Racecourse was enlarged and renamed Gatwick Airport serving the rapidly expanding Gatwick Airport. The 1963 Beeching Report led to steam locomotives being withdrawn from the line and the closure of many branch lines and nearly all goods yards.{{sfnp|Jeffs|2013|p=11}} The Brighton Belle named-train service was ended in 1972.{{cite web |title=Bringing Back the Brighton Belle |url=http://brightonbelle.com/about |website=Brighton Belle: iconic 1930s all-electric Pullman Train |publisher=5BEL Trust |access-date=18 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618114331/http://brightonbelle.com/about|archive-date=18 June 2019|url-status=live}} In 1982 Southern Region became the London and South Eastern sector and the following year all signal boxes were replaced by three rail operating centres. The express service between Victoria and Gatwick Airport was taken over by the InterCity sector in 1984 and rebranded Gatwick Express. The privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s led to six different rail franchises all running on the Brighton Line; Connex South Central, Connex South Eastern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink, Thames Trains and Virgin CrossCountry.{{sfnp|Jeffs|2013|pp=12–13}}

By 2013, while freight on the Brighton Line had almost disappeared and the complexity of branch lines had diminished, passenger traffic boomed with a new town at Crawley, expanded business at Brighton and Croydon, and increased traffic at Gatwick Airport. The 1988 Thameslink project opened the way for through trains to run between Brighton and Bedford, north of London – this route does not go to Victoria but branches off to cross the River Thames at Blackfriars Railway Bridge and reaches north of London via the reopened Snow Hill tunnel.{{sfnp|Jeffs|2013|pp=12–13}}

BBC South Today produced news reports in 2013 describing the changes on the journey between 1953 and 2013. Because of heavier traffic there were no longer any non-stop journeys between the two stations so the 2013 film had to be filmed on a special train running early on a Sunday morning. All the same, the fastest scheduled journey time had been reduced from 60 minutes to 47 minutes with the maximum train speed being increased from {{convert|75|mph}} to {{convert|90|mph}}. Ticket inspectors had been replaced by automatic barriers and by 2013 the railway staff were no longer nearly all men.{{refn|group=note|The 2013 reports variously say "In 1953 almost all rail workers were men. Today, the train dispatcher is a woman." and "In 1953 every railway worker was male. Today, many of the platform staff are women." Comment: in 2018 16% of the UK's Network Rail staff were women,{{cite web |title=A woman's place |url=https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/making-the-connection/a-womans-place/ |website=Network Rail |access-date=17 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817093951/https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/making-the-connection/a-womans-place/|archive-date=17 August 2019|url-status=live}} and in 2019 5% of train drivers were women.{{cite web |title=Only five percent of UK train drivers are women |url=https://www.thehrdirector.com/business-news/diversity_and_equality/five-percent-uk-train-drivers-women405/ |website=theHRDIRECTOR |access-date=17 August 2019 |date=7 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817090601/https://www.thehrdirector.com/business-news/diversity_and_equality/five-percent-uk-train-drivers-women405/|archive-date=17 August 2019|url-status=live}}}} In 1953 there were still steam trains running on the line although the Brighton Belle itself was electric. The number of railway branch lines had been reduced so there were fewer points and sidings but the number of trains had doubled and there were more than twice as many passengers. The railway line and train operators had both been privatised and the trains had become air-conditioned. In 1953 the return fare was 15/- (75 pence), that is to say £18.75 by 2013 allowing for inflation, while in 2013 the fare was actually £28.80 (${{to USD|28.80|GBR|year=2013}} in 2013).

The Brighton Main Line runs from London Victoria and terminates at Brighton. An animated map of the route, synchronised with the 2013 film of the journey has been produced on an external website using innovative software. A map showing the position of the train as it travels is displayed along with the film of the 2013 journey.{{refn|group=note|name=gps}}

File:London to Brighton Main Line locations.svg

• London to Brighton Veteran Car Run – rally for cars built before 1905
• Germany's Most Beautiful Railways – real-time, drivers view, German fill-in television series

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• {{cite book |last1=Jeffs |first1=Simon |title=The London to Brighton Line Through Time |date=15 May 2013 |publisher=Amberley Publishing |isbn=9781445609799}}

Category:1953 in British television

Category:British short documentary films

Category:1953 short documentary films

Category:BBC television documentaries

Category:Films set on trains

Category:1953 films

Category:Interstitial television shows

Category:1950s British films

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:English-language short documentary films