Twentieth Century in Pictures
2009
Press Association Images
Published by Ammonite Press
Capricorn Link (Australia)
Reviewer:
Bob Estreich
The
motor car changed our lifestyles and our cities. The changes were not always
for the better. The car caused as many problems as it cured. Although we now
had faster transport, in return we got speed limits. Although personal
transport was now in our reach, it was in everyone else’s reach as well and we
got traffic jams. Every time the motor car changed history a photographer was
there to record it. This book’s three hundred photos are selected from the
archives of the British Press Association and they are a tribute to the cars
and those who drove, designed or photographed them. The photos are of high
quality, especially considering their age. Without a book like this the photos
would still lie ignored and unknown in an archive somewhere. Thanks to the archivists
of the Press Association these wonderful photos can again be enjoyed.
What
a rich collection it is ! From the first photo of an electric tram alongside a
new “trackless tram” (basically an omnibus powered from the tram power lines,
but not running on tracks) we can see that the book will explore many of the
byways of the motor car. A 1904 photo shows the electric trams running along
the Victoria Embankment in London. There is not a horse in sight but there are
many of the earliest motor cars, including a glorious little three-wheeler that
would be an attention-getter today. Famous figures were always a good excuse
for a photo, and we have a younger, slimmer Winston Churchill alighting from
one of the new petrol powered “Taximeters” in 1908. The taxi is interesting.
The passenger sits in the “saloon” at the back (built with a very high roof to
cater for a gentleman’s top hat) while the menial cabbie sits in an open and
roofless front compartment. Ah, the class system at its finest.
A
1915 photo shows a motor car alongside a horse-drawn cab (they survived in
London until 1947). A weakness of the horse is shown in the picture – a pile of
horse dung under the cab. Londoners eventually traded horse dung for air
pollution. That’s progress.
If
two cars are driving in the same direction one driver is going to try to go
faster than the other. It’s just one of those laws of human behaviour. By 1905
the Automobile Association was formed to help stranded motorists and to advise
on a new evil, the speed trap. Car racing soon caught the public’s imagination
and as usual there were photographers there to record it. After World War I
there were plenty of surplus aero engines lying around, so what was more
natural than to build one into a motor car and see how fast it would go? The
300 mph mark was reached in 1935 by Sir Malcolm Campbell. The cars were huge
and achieved heroic speeds. The brakes were tiny and did nothing much to slow
the cars down. Motor accidents became more common. I wouldn’t be at all
surprised if someone somewhere started to mutter “speed kills”. We also have a
photo of a 1929 motor ambulance and another of that new motoring evil, the
policeman on a motorbike.
After
the restrictions of World War II were lifted the industry took off again. So,
apparently, did the motorists. A 1956 picture shows a sign urging motorists to
“Take Your Foot Off !” - not an attempt
at self-mutilation, but trying to persuade motorists to slow down through the
city of Lancaster.
The
post-War period spawned a number of interesting cars and once again the
photographers were there. Three-wheeler cars and microcars had their day. It is
interesting that some of these concepts are returning as our cities become more
congested. Following the Suez crisis and resulting oil shortages fuel economy
suddenly became important. Engines got smaller but clever design got the
maximum horsepower out of them. This was another sign of changing times ahead
and was typified by the Mini in 1953.
In
spite of the fuel costs people liked their mobility. Scattered throughout the
book are photos of caravans ranging from little compact fibreglass ones that
could be towed behind pushbikes to monsters that looked more like railway
carriages.
The
huge Earl’s Court Motor Show catered for the motor car passion by featuring
just about everything with an engine. For some reason the photographers seemed
to prefer the cars with nubile bikini-clad young ladies draped over them. There
may be a negative side to this, but I haven’t been able to think of one.
The
photos now take a sombre tone. Speed limits, radar guns, the Breathalyser,
parking meters and petrol shortages were all sent to try the patience of the
British motorist. There is a lovely but disturbing photo of a farmer with his horse
drawn buggy parked in front of a petrol bowser at his local service station.
The attendant appears to be wondering where he should stick the hose.
That
iconic British motor vehicle, the London double-decker bus, gets its share of
photos. In one of the first colour shots in the book we see thirteen of them in
their natural environment – being jumped over by Evel Knievel on a motorbike.
As
for the future, who knows? The motor car as we know it must disappear, but what
will replace it? What will we use for fuel? And how can I make mine go faster
than yours? Perhaps these and other important questions will be answered in
another hundred years when the next edition of this worthy book is published.
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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and
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