Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

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The Beatles Fifty Years Later
Written by Patricia Greenwood in Music

The Beatles Fifty Years Later

With the 50th Anniversary of the British invasion of America via the Beatles upon us, I thought it apropos to take a walk down Memory Lane, remembering the highlights of Beatlemania in my own life. When the Beatles hit the Mainland in 1964, I had just turned six years old and my whole world was getting through 1st grade without getting my knuckles rapped by...

Video
Written by Christopher in Roadtrip

Look at Life – Taxi! Taxi!

Another fun, goofy and kitschy episode of “Look at life” from The Rank Organisation. This one is dated March 1960 at takes a look at London Taxi cabs and how the drivers learn “The Knowledge”. Look at Life was a regular British series of short documentary films of which over 500 were produced between 1959 and 1968 by the Special Features Division of the Rank...

Video

Join us as we take a look at Piccadilly Circus, London at the height of the Swinging Sixties! Picadilly Circus underwent some major changes to modernize it for a changing world at this time, which destroyed a lot of what you see here. We also take a look at the underground life of Piccadilly to experience some rare sights that few people have ever seen....

Video
Written by Christopher in Travel

Look at Life – City of the Air

For those of you who are waiting to get away over the summer, here’s some inspiration. This “Look at life” video clip from The Rank Organisation dated May 1964, tells us about air travel in England from Heathrow Airport featuring classic BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) and BEA airplanes. Look at Life was a regular British series of short documentary films of which over 500...

Video

It’s Friday and the weekend is around the corner. So what could be better than taking a weekend trip to a vintage flavored past-time London with its vibrant and bustling city scenes? Join Ultra Swank as we take in the sights of 1960s London – grabbing coffee at one of the Moka Bars, checking in at a prestigious Hotel, trying our luck at the casino and to finish it...

A Visit to Swinging London in 1968

From Flickr user Arbyreed comes these wonderful photographs that captures the everyday life and style of “Swinging London” in the late 1960s. From Carnaby Street, to Picadilly Circus to a stylish Heathrow airport. Arbyreed explains: I lived in Oxford, England in the late 1960s and this collection contains some of the sights I took time to photograph. I wish I had taken more and more...

Destination London – Five Movies Where London is the Star

Sometimes, the city in which a movie is set plays a role more important than that of the main characters and, over the years, many filmmakers have been drawn to the old school majesty of London. Here are a few films where London—a city of striking contrasts— makes an appearance. Indiscreet (1958) “How dare he make love to me and not be a married man!” So...

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