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Mining Review 20/10: Conversion (1967)
 

BFI

Main image of Mining Review 20/10: Conversion (1967)
 
Mining Review 20th Year No. 10: Surrey - Conversion
35mm, black and white, 2 mins
 
Production CompanyNational Coal Board Film Unit
SponsorNational Coal Board

Young Alexis watches as her parents have their old, draughty Victorian house brought up to date, complete with a modern heating system.

Show full synopsis

This Mining Review item about converting large Victorian houses to meet modern living and heating requirements has only the most tenuous connection with coal-mining. Indeed, there are no verbal references to coal at all, with just a passing reference to "modern solid fuel appliances" and a close-up of a newspaper ad with the message "Going smokeless? You can still enjoy the comfort of a real fire!".

Since the passage of the Clean Air Act a decade earlier, conversions like these had become a major growth industry. Often the building would be converted into flats, but even if left intact (as seems to be the case here) the heating system would be one of the first things to be overhauled, as it would make the biggest difference both to the quality and the cost of living.

Michael Brooke

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Video Clips
Complete film (10:20)
GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO
SEE ALSO
Mining Review 20/10: Nova Scotia (1967)
Mining Review 20/10: Out of the Past (1967)
Mining Review 20/10: Track Rod (1967)
Mining Review: 20th Year (1966-67)