Abstract

Northamptonshire is well known for its shoemaking industry which grew from the rich local countryside that provided cattle for leather manufacturing. The importance of rural life in the county of “spires and squires” is shown in many of the films in this DVD compilation, from home movies made on a farm in the 1940s, to a thrilling aerial view of the county aboard a plane in 1964.

Snobs and Clowns*, researched and edited by Emily Wilczek from the University of Lincoln’s School of Media, chronicles over fifty years of filmmaking in the county through a series of rarely seen and newly restored 20th century films that are preserved at the Media Archive for Central England (MACE).

Amongst the films are Focus on Northampton, a 1965 documentary by Anglia Television which looks at Northampton’s livestock market, theatre, schools, colleges and places of work. In a 1964 film from ATV’s Midland Montage programme, British Formula One racing driver, Jim Clark takes a drive in a Triumph Spitfire over the newly resurfaced track at Silverstone. The Days Out section shows fascinating glimpses of the county at play, circus elephants arriving at the railway station, a 1950s synchronised cycling display and a 1930s trip to Wicksteed Park.

You will also see a variety of films from the regional news programme ATV Today which ran from 1964 to 1981, including reports on shoe making at Long Buckby (1964); Stoke Bruerne Waterways Museum (1968); tenants of Althorp Estate (1983); skittle making (1989) and a number of clips of the British Conker Championships in Ashton.

The DVD also includes a short film, ‘About MACE’, a behind the scenes look at the work of the MACE team and the services they provide.

The production is a collaboration between MACE and the School of Media at the University of Lincoln and is one of a series 9 DVD titles celebrating the screen heritage of the Midlands. It has been made possible by the generous financial support of EM Media through the UK Film Council’s Digital Film Archive Fund.

*Northants dialect for a shoemaker and country labourer.