COI

Ernie tells Eric to ‘be wise’ and not drive home after their Christmas party.

An African tribe in the Eastern Nigerian village of Umana work to build a maternity hospital, with the aid of government officials, and against the opposition of some tribal members.

The Green Cross Code Man teaches kids how to cross the road safely.

In the middle of a six-week tour of the Indian sub-continent between January and March 1961, the Queen and Prince Philip visited Pakistan and East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

A former Doctor Who returns to Earth to deliver a road safety message.

Michael Palin guides us on suicide in this humorous public information film on motorway safety.

An account of the state visit to Britain by the President of India, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, in June 1963. In London he accompanied the Queen on a State drive, visited the Commonwealth Institute, attended a Guildhall luncheon and visited the country.

Britain and Turkey had not always enjoyed the ‘special’ friendship referred to in the commentary. Their armies were on opposing sides in the First World War and there had been disagreementt over the future of Cyprus in the run up to the settlement of 1960. In the 1960s relations improved and this reciprocal tour (the President of Turkey, Cevdet Sunay, had paid a state visit to the United Kingdom in November 1967) was regarded as a milestone in the bilateral alliance between the two countries. The camera affords the viewer a prime vantage point by which to marvel at the splendour of the pageantry and contemplate every nuance of gesture and sartorial detail. As we linger on the bejewelled Queen waiting patiently at the British Embassy in Ankara to greet her guests we wonder what it might be like to be in her shoes.

Meet Charley, your jovial cartoon guide to Britain’s changing towns and cities.

No man is an island, but Charley represents his nation in this economical cartoon tale of Britain’s economics.

Watching Sierra Leone Greets the Queen gives one a flavour of the hectic nature of royal tours; in just one week (from the 25th November to the 1st December 1961) the Queen and Prince Philip covered an exhausting array of sights, zooming around the country to take in the capital city Freetown, Bo, the Guma Dam, digging for diamonds (Sierra Leone’s biggest export), Hangha and observing the iron ore works at Marampa. The visit was politically significant - Sierra Leona had become independent from Britain in April the same year. Colonialism’s influence is felt throughout the film, and not just in the place names (Victoria Park, Queen Elizabeth II Quay) - the ‘day in the life of a Bo schoolboy’ seems not radically different from the British equivalent, while the ‘children’s rally’ consists of boys dressed impractically in boaters and blazers, and girls marching in gymslips.

This film tells the story of Ronald, an intelligent boy who wants to become an architect or surveyor. His cousins Paul and Jane cannot believe that Ronald has any awareness of building sites. In Paul's imagination, he and his sister set Ronald in a number of typical sites, to see if he can survive the hazards that kill and maim many children each year. Ronald eventually learns the hard way that he did not know as much about building sites as he thought.

On an English farm, six reckless children play at being a fierce band of Apache warriors, unaware of the many dangers to which they are exposed. (Public information short film produced on behalf of the British Government to warn children living in rural areas about the risks of playing near farm machinery.)

Queen Elizabeth's younger and only sibling, Princess Margaret, went on a 5-week tour of Mauritius and East Africa in September-October 1956.

A docu-almanac about British sports personalities.

Central Office of Information profile of actress, Glenda Jackson discussing her roles in Sunday, Bloody Sunday and Women in Love, as well as views on the profession.

The President had been due to visit twice before, but on both occasions the trip had to be cancelled. The first time was in 1963, the same year as the Commonwealth visit by the President of India. The second cancellation occurred in 1965 when a longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan over the sovereignty of Kashmir boiled over into full-scale war in September of that year. However, as one might expect from a film made for international diplomacy purposes no reference is made to ongoing political problems either at home or abroad. Like the Indian presidential visit of 1963, the film was for screening to domestic audiences (both in the UK and in Pakistan) whose main interest would be in the pomp and ceremony of the visit, and the reception and status afforded to the President by the Queen and royal family.

Warning children not to play near 'dark and lonely' water, a horror film style look and voice-over is used in this film to highlight the dangers.

Dover made over: this quirky and pointed public information film reveals how the heavily-bombed and shelled Kent town was being replanned after the war. The filmmakers cleverly and entertainintly capture our attention by opening on travelogue cliches that they quickly undercut. It's not white cliffs and rolling hills they want to tell us about. It's present-day Dover - remaking itself in the crisp freshness of a postwar spring.

A shadowy man in black warns viewers of the perils of forgetting to follow the simple two second rule - that is, keeping a sufficient distance from the car ahead when driving. Directed by John Krish, who made numerous similarly macabre films, this is one of three public information films produced as a series on public road safety. The images from the series may no longer be familiar to everyone, but the slogan is still in use today.