Absolutely fantastic work Ricky. Could do with some music maybe if you can’t add sound?

@@welshlad6427 Most of my (275+) videos have music...

The Tea House at 3.32 is now an Indian restaurant.

Well yes and no, being able to drive from London to Edinburgh in 7 hrs is pretty useful.

You probably don’t if you really knew, like me, how sh*t the 1950s actually were

Yes me to I used to get a lift back from London most weeks 😅

Maria Stevens I agree, bless you England. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of it left.

We love what you once were - now it is a broken land with despair and no hope. Due to corrupt governments, individual idiots at the top, corrupt councils, greed and control freaks - not to mention the EU. I can still remember Great Britain as she once stood proud - but let's not forget - it was the PEOPLE that made this country what it was and those people and their values have been beaten down, driven out and can only hang on to glorious nostalgia. It's so sad. BTW: I am 52 years old. Call me what you like.

@@oz1902 Ahh, the bitter irony of people getting all nostalgic about the A1! There isn't much of the English countryside left because it has been carved up with far too many busy, soulless roads like the A1! Wherever you are in the south-east of England, you are always within a few miles (and earshot) of a ridiculously busy and ugly A road. It was the increase in motor vehicles that ruined the English countryside for ever.

@@portcullis5622 A fair point. The motor car has been nothing but a scourge and blight upon the landscape. And no doubt many people many people will agree but are they willing to give up driving . . . ? I can drive but I don't drive because one more car is one more too many. On a wider but related note. Climate change is happening and Mother Earth strikes back. Whatever the consequences, the human species can have no complaints. We will get what we deserve. Cheers

Yes plenty of Greasy Transport Cafes where you could get a big fry up for half a crown that's 2/6 old money

Ah yes, no vaccinations or nhs, the great depression starving our working classes and keeping them off the roads and genocide raging across Europe. Simpler times!

🤦

@@stevecarter8810 Community spirit, hard workers, a proud native people, enjoying local seasonal produce which is nicer for the environment and animals, religion was respected and not mocked, family was important, English culture was alive and well, less pollution, enjoying the simple things in life and being grateful, less crime...i could go on. It would be much nicer to live back then. Death and illness is awful but it's a part of life sadly and vaccines aren't going to change my mind when I look at society now. It's a sick and dying society and the NHS is on the brink of collapse, more and more people becoming homeless nowadays.... Yeah it's great today

@@pennyb22 What laughable ignorance, utter naivety and pitiful lack of understanding. Apart from your complete lack of functioning knowledge of society at the time, only 21 years earlier the world had been at war in which millions had died. A year or two later and by some estimates, over 70 million more people were killed by a global flu pandemic. A month after this film, the second World War started - yes, they were great times weren't they?

@@Tinker1950 I am aware this happened so I'm not sure where the ignorance and naivety comes into it? We have more murders in our streets now, grooming gangs, rapes are at an all time high, suicides at an all time high and the white British will be a minority by 2050, we have just had another pandemic... Yes John times were slightly better back then. I'm pretty sure another war is looming in our future sadly

If only she'd stayed there..........

Don't forget that there simply wasn't as much packaging, and what little there was was paper or cardboard and thus degradable. Furthermore, people tended not to eat and drink in public to the extent they now do. My father always said that people would have thoughtlessly discarded packaging, had there been packaging to thoughtlessly discard.

@@robertcook2572 Didn't see any biodegradeable paper packaging floating around at the side of the roads.

@@ostraadt That's because, as I said, there wasn't much packaging anyway, and eating and drinking in the street was largely unknown.

No graffiti or vandalism, great to see road signs free from paint daubs. Britain before the social sickness.

@@robertcook2572 Maybe the street sweepers heard about this guy filming his trip and decided to sweep all the litter away (that's the newpapers we used to wrap our chips in - no styrene then) before the camera arrived. For the most part, people didn't shit on their own doorsteps and took responsibility for their environment. Please note 'for the most part' - not everywhere! Clearly the inhabitants of the Great North Road had entered the competition for 'Cleanest Road in Britain'.

Quite true - people often make similar comments about the 1970s.

I think it’s very unlikely that 2020 will be remembered as the good old days

me too, would love to go back in time especially if I could bring a Cosworth with me

Nostalgia, it’s not what it used to be...

@privatise the NHS not really, actually it’s a very old but rye observation about misty eyed revisionism...

@@GuitarandMusicInstitute There's a lot of things we dont have now they had in those days, like...."rickets"...Tony Capstick

@@antonycharnock2993 lol, I’m old enough to remember that, brilliant!

@@GuitarandMusicInstitute Enjoy! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fOCpa6SEspanlJ8.html

Very interesting, is a copy available? So much has changed over the decades, makes me wonder sometimes,have we really progressed or are we just kidding ourselves.

We should not forget than millions of Indians volunteered to fight for the British Empire in WW II, despite their being "downtrodden"!

Brian Pearce the footbridge between Queensgate and the railway station has been named afte this family.

Thank you Brian.

But What Make is the American Car . The most popular makes in 1938-9 were Buick as the Royal Family had Six, followed by Packard , (Much more Expensive). This looks like a Chrysler Kew . Anyone know for sure ?

Interesting how you aren't looking at London at all in this film, or any other highly populated city. This is home town, and cross country. It's amazing how in your head you have the past made up, you see the film right in front of your dumb eyes and all your brain is telling you is "sad, black cars, little vehicle amount." Self manipulation

yeah but they could actually go faster without traffic. difficult to die in a traffic jam

Today it isn't British enough to be worth defending with the same mentality

My dads rover 12 took us from Nottingham to Carbis Bay in 1951 and 1952! 343 miles to Carbis bay hotel. Through the Cotswolds, Exeter, Taunton etc. 12 hour trip! Behind a commercial vehicle, then limited to 20mph, was a bit of a trial! But gosh happy days. Peter Rabbits

I had the unfortunate experience of travelling from West Yorkshire to Carbis Bay in 1969 - seven of us in a Morris Minor. It took us 20 hours. Awful.

What about the people who could not afford a car and who lives from hand to mouth and died early from preventable diseases because there was no NHS? Are you a bit simple or just selfish?

'Indigenous architecture'? LMFAO

Ooga booga!

@@davidcarey6133 😂

I know what you mean Its so sad to see what we become

Why, what does it look like now?, ugly buildings everywhere i'm guessing?

dislexic landlord And foreigners taking over the country...

dislexic landlord you mean the fact we all now have a higher standard of education, living standards, cheaper food and better opportunities

You are living out a fantasy in a low tech past while ignoring the grime and the poverty

Absolutely agree. Well said!

@Tricky Tricky The UK is 88% white skinned, you thick arse.

@@probinson4383 I think his skull is thicker than his arse tbh.

@@probinson4383 how much?

@Abu musab Al Zarqawi What?

I was born in 1965. My problem with this country and its policies is also the erosion of living space.

population then, 46 million, now 61 million, but Britain is still almost all countryside. You should get out more.

66 million actually. Fine if you live in the more rural or remote areas, but most of us need to live close to where we can work and would like easy access to the countryside.

David Hussell yes , It's very clear that we now have a problem with too much signage and lighting.

David, I was born in 1948 and conditions in large swathes of rural Britain, at least, remained very little changed in the 1950s from those that had obtained as far back as 30 years earlier. Yes, the welfare state was starting to make inroads into endemic poverty -- and thank "God" for that! -- but mains water and electricity were still far from universal in rural areas , and "the squire" retained much of his traditional influence (even if it was by now only a blocking power) over the lives of ordinary people. I nevertheless rejoice in the fact that post-war we were on the move towards greater social justice (despite the setbacks to come, post 1979). I can't therefore join in with the "everything was so wonderful then; why can't we just turn back the clock?" sentiments expressed in so many reactions here. We have indeed lost many things (just as we've all lost the vigour of our own younger days) -- especially the idealism of the immediate postwar years -- but let's not kid ourselves that most ordinary people, most of the time, are not now far better off than they have ever been.

My parents had just bought their first and only house. It was new and had an upstairs bathroom, they lived in it until they died in 2001. You are describing my paternal grandparents life though.

People didn’t miss what they had never known. Did you miss your iPhone in 2001?

Stamford looks the same as it is now (thankfully).

I love Stamford. Passed through last week on a day out. Traffic levels are pretty busy even though the A1 now bypasses.

end of empire

Reap what you sow

Not all manners were observed back then, and not all people were polite: notice the selfish jayparker at 1:58.

The jayparker is the cameraman !

I assumed so, since it's always the same vehicle. But that only adds arrogance to his selfishness.

Some people will moan about anything!.One car parked on a quiet road(,as most roads were then) .doesn't compare to today's inconsiderate and selfish motorists.

Funny you say that when mosr of these drivers didnt know the highway code - they just went to the post office to fill a form and walk away with a driving license!

Just depends, in terms of safety and science yes

Well, WW2 started the same year as this video ... so progress has been kind.

@@_B.M_ I'm talking about the planet, not it's human inhabitants. Our progress is killing us. Since WW2 half the number of the world's animals have disappeared and we have destroyed enormous amounts of land and waterways.

mixwizard2310 actually, I think it looks archaic and dreadful. Thank heavens we've moved on.

I was around in those day's, did you experience just how it was??

Not much different..

No health service...no penicillin...ruled by aristocrats...etc

It is the A1 mind, but then again it's also before Beeching ripped up the majority of the country's railways.

P D ....NO...BRITAIN WENT "DOWNHILL " FROM THE MOMENT THE BEATLES SPLIT!?...(from the 70s onwards).....

@Fred Bloggs scary!

It was

Life was hard tho, people worked their asses off.

@@pete3816 my grandparents seemed happier than we all are now though;).

@@pete3816 i am the first to admit, we have never lived in better times, humanity is at its most comfortable for sure.

So very well said!

What a stupid comment, this is Stamford area, not shit hole Manchester, Yorkshire, Newcastle and all other dump industrial places, yeh it's the immigrants who have done it lol , Britain is and always has been an enslaved Country, this is also pre Bread and Circus' Council housing sprawling it's ugly everywhere.

phaasch Yes and even those with not a lot kept it clean and orderly.

phaasch 2:36 piece of litter on the bottom right, sorry mate

@@neonskyline1 Dear me, look at your videos you complete, pitiful loser. You're like a pound shop David Brent, only worse! You're one of these twats who refuses to accept in any way that fifty years ago or more might be better than today because you know that it's the perverse political ideology you support and have swallowed hook, line and sinker that is responsible for making things worse today. There is a thing that money can never buy and its called living in a civilised, cohesive and relatively safe society, something none of us can claim today which we had back then. And it's all thanks to liberal leftist twats like you. Go back to making your delusional videos in your bedroom, bellend. You're no good for anything else.

Its tatty because they let in the scum of the earth.

I lived in St Martins filmed here on the way into Stamford as a child in the sixties. The pretty houses are owned still today by the Burghley Family. Most of the people commenting here would have no idea what it was like to live in a feudal society. It might look pretty but it was suffocating and l couldn’t wait to leave! Incidentally I have lived in a lovely diverse area of Bristol for nearly 40 years and wouldn’t swap for anything! These racists don’t now what they are talking about the British empire was the cause the most terrible bloodshed and inhumanity. We should be ashamed!

Love Stamford , wish i lived there .

@@shelleydavis1040 Feudal society ? The Cecil family live in Burghley house and while they do have some rental properties they do not own most of Stamford !

Yep, I'm 73 and emigrated to Australia with my wife at the end of '74. We see the difference every time we come back for a holiday. The way it's gone down hill is such a shame.

Ah, the good old days, when the house was freezing cold in winter, when people died from polio, whooping cough, tuberculosis, etc., when only the very well-off could afford cars, when you (72) and I (69) would almost certainly not still be alive at our age. Yes, it looks lovely on silent film, and some aspects were much better than today, but for most people, despite all the bad attitudes and the selfishness of today, we're in a better place now than our parents in the 1930s.

@@davidw1518 Yep, I agree with what you say and I'm glad I wasn't around for WW2. It's also true that we have a better life expectancy now, but back in my younger days the place was less crowded and I like to wear my rose tinted spec's now and again. Having said all that, I eas driving lorries all over GB in the 60's and 70's. No power steering or A/C. Manual clutches with no air or hydraulic assistance, lucky if you had a heater/demister and even luckier if you had a working one. If you couldn't find a B&B and had to kip in the cab, it wasn't much fun, but I was younger than and knew no different. Even with all that, I'd still go back to the 60's & 70's because we had good music and the girls wore short skirts. :-)

Called decadence.

Lol, you're funny with your Belgian name.

And what would you still call "old England" nowadays?

@@Rick88888888 Well I think it speaks for it's self, somewhere that is still pretty much as it was, not overly changed by the modern age, ok so good things about living in this time are obviously the internet, cell phones and car's that don't break down every other week, and I'm lucky enough now to live somewhere fairly unchanged by developers and modern buildings.

Loads of these places still look identical to how they do in this film, Buckden, Stilton, Wansford, Stamford and Great Casterton are almost completely unchanged really. If anything there’s less soot on the buildings in Stamford and pedestrianised areas where cars are shown driving in this footage.

Recently relived the Biggleswade 'refreshment stop' on my childhood coach journey's in the 1960's from Yorkshire to London - and pleased to see the black and white timbered cafe where we'd go is still there!

They’ve been about since the beginning of time.. If anything it’s likely dampened down a smidge

It looks boarded up these days.

I wish modern life was as stylish as back then ! everything these days is watered down ...sad, mediocre, bland, cheaper ,culture-less, moral-less , style-less,......Oh god i'm getting depressed !

@@shakespeare_hall4788 result of Labour ideology and Conservative greed. If only we could have gone with Labour greed and Conservative ideology.

The past was really cr*p, really, really

The Kalergi Plan.

Simply Connected Please can the admin delete this ☝️ nonsense.

William Gruff racist detected.

@@georgerbuchanan Anti-white racist detected.

@@georgerbuchanan that's because you are looking for it!

atlantic1952 But there's a barrage balloon at 35 seconds. So the "phoney" war must have just started.

atlantic1952 Stamford is more or less the way it was, I was surprised.

Kount Five yes, they're still using a road sign from this period in the town centre!

atlantic1952 the buses have silver grey roofs and not the dark grey of the wartime years. This was to make the buses less conspicous from the air.

and its even more miserable now 13/2/2018

The film shows about 20 vehicles in total. The same film now would have 20,000. There are no ugly buildings, in fact very few buildings at all. No confusing, messy signage all over the roads. No telephone, electric and 4g masts No polluted skies. But was it gentle, slower perhaps, more civil.

Si Fi Even 20 years ago, life seemed a lot more easy going compared to now

What a wonderful poignant poem - thank you!

Glpi lpi I occasionally cross the carriageway of non-motorway stretches of the A1. Within Bedfordshire, Many very old Rights-of-Way still cross the A1 and there are very short overlapping gaps in the central crash barrier to let a pedestrian through.

I was born in a small area not far from Portsmouth, Hampshire. The A3 (main road Portsmouth to London) ran pretty close to the end of our street. In 1945 I was five years old and used to catch a double decker bus to school and back for one penny each way. Due to my delight at having that homeward penny fare in my pocket after I got off the bus and walked across the A3 I sometimes would spend it at the local shop and eat a penny bun walking the rest of the way to school. Come hometime I just walked along the A3 and crossed it to get home. Dad would come and look for me, once on a horse, once on a motorbike and sometimes in a taxi that he used to occasionally drive. Must have driven my parents mad with worry, but they never showed any anger, just relief that I had made it home.

There certainly was

@Zain staric no, I meant the second world war.......

Glad you enjoyed it

Tunsgate 2) Even more so these days!

Serfs were not really allowed to leave feudal societies or they would have became outlaws and been punished harshly if captured probably involving death or at best losing important body parts.

One of the plans I have is to go and follow the A1 and make a "Then and Now" video. Maybe I'll do it this summer when we will go on holiday in the UK. I live in The Netherlands.