1949 Home Events - London

An amazing film from 1949 that shows the colour returning to London's cheeks after six years of war - with Grenadier Guards, London Buses and the inevitable bombsites

This remarkable colour film starts on the Embankment - with an uninterrupted view of St Paul's in the distance. After a glimpse at the Houses of Parliament we see the South Bank -before any Festival of Britain development has even begun. Next, at Buckingham Palace, we see a band of Grenadier Guards begin their march down the Mall, holding up the traffic as they go. The film ends with a high-level view of St Paul's ringed by bombsites – a poignant reminder of the recent Blitz.