Reel History of Britain — Season 1, Episode 16: Long to Reign Over Us
Documentary • 30 min • 1 season, 20 episodes • ★ 6.0/10
Episode synopsis
Melvyn visits London's Horse Guard's parade to look back to the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and remember an event when the nation celebrated and television took off. Lady Jane Rayne shares her memories of being one of the six young women chosen to carry the royal train. Sandra Reekie is transported back to coronation day, when she watched the event live on television with twenty people crammed into the same room. And Ron Bygate recounts his memories of being one of the thousands of military troops lining the parade route as the Queen passed by.
About Reel History of Britain
Reel History of Britain is a 20 part series being shown on BBC Two, presented by Melvyn Bragg and about the history of modern Britain; through the eyes of people who were there. It was shown from 5–30 September 2011. The programme is a social history documentary, charting the course of the twentieth century through archive film, plus interviews and recollections of key events that have taken place in the last one-hundred years, since the advent of moving film. In each episode, Bragg goes to a different place in the UK and shows people film in a 1950s Ministry of Technology mobile cinema, then gauges their reactions and captures them on film.