Hastings Calling

Town criers test their vocal mettle and there's a comic knees-up in this curious tinted newsreel item

Oyez! Sussex town criers show off their vocal prowess in this curious newsreel item. Assorted chaps take to the stage but it's the lone female competitor who really gives it some welly. There's also a great crowd relaxing in deckchairs, watching an odd competition in which women have their legs judged - the results of which we sadly never learn. Perhaps most intriguing about this short item is the damage to the blue tinted sections of the nitrate film stock, which gives the subjects a rather beautiful, ghostly shimmer.