Piccadilly Roundabout

About the film

Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Leicester Square and Soho during wartime.

Download this film

Details

  • Release year - 1943
  • Director - Richard Massingham
  • Production company - Everyman Films
  • Producer - Lewis Grant Wallace
  • Screenplay - Richard Massingham, Henry de Rochefort
  • Cinematographer - Alex Strasser
  • Unknown - Paul Merton
  • Running time (minutes) - 11 mins 33 secs

Original description

The centre of the world

'Piccadilly Circus, in peace or war, is the hub of the world. Today, the crowd is as large as ever; many men and women are in uniform. In Piccadilly there are bomb scars; the brilliant lights and neon signs have disappeared. Shots include several famous streets, clubs and restaurants, the Piccadilly tube, Leicester Square, and cosmopolitan Soho.'

(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1942-1943)

Did you know?

  • At 09:35 the narrator states 'these are the lights of London now', seemingly in reference to the 1939 TIDA film Lights O' London who's introductory shots are almost identical to those preceding the narrator's comment.
  • The date of the newspapers on the newspaper stand is the 12th February 1943.

All films are subject to the Creative Commons licence guidelines.

Learn more about how to use to the film archive.

You might also be interested in:

About the film archive

Learn about the history behind our documentary film archive from the 1940s.

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the latest updates and advice on applications, scholarships, visas and events.