London's Outer Ring

Part of Wonderful London, the BFI National Archive’s programme of restored London travelogues, filmed in the capital in the 1920s.

A cockney Coster exhorts his ‘moke’ (the donkey who pulls his cart) to take a trip to the outskirts of London to see the model home at Kennington Park, a windmill at Brixton, the Crystal Palace, Woolwich free ferry, Richmond, Strand-on-the-Green, White City with its old Olympic stadium, and the Old Kent Road.

Based on a successful magazine, the film series Wonderful London captures the life of the capital in the 1920s. These simple travelogues contrast different aspects of city life; East End and West End, poor and rich, natives and immigrants, looking beyond the stereotypes to show surprising views of the city. These six restorations by the BFI National Archive reintroduce the films' original colours, with new piano accompaniments by John Sweeney.