Topical Budget's coverage of 1925 began with a look back at the wettest year since 1859, with inland and coastal footage of spectacular flooding. The title was anything but nostalgic - 1924 Passes Unrepentant (697-1) - and the mood for the forthcoming year, as so often with Topical's coverage, was one of upbeat cheeriness, occasionally interrupted with tetchy political comment. The latter aspect was particularly apparent whenever the thorny issue of German war reparations raised its head. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles had established repayment terms that proved impossible to meet, and following a default on payments the German economy had been crippled by hyperinflation in 1923. Accordingly, in 1924 the US-backed Dawes Plan attempted to make things easier, or at least more realistic. However, Topical Budget was distinctly unsympathetic - Why Should Britain Bear All The Burden? (698-1), it demanded, over otherwise unexceptional footage of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, setting off for a European finance ministers' conference. The title of an item about the French finance minister was equally forthright - M.Caillaux of M. Caill-I-O-U? (731-1), and the gloating when German gold finally arrived at Croydon airport was almost palpable - Germany Comes Up To Scratch! (731-1). Other political stories included Real Russian 'Reds' Arrive (711-1), the wide-eyed title leading in to coverage of a delegation of Soviet trade unionists arriving in London for a conference with their British counterparts. Much more domestically (in every sense), Mrs Baldwin and the Babies (726-1) showed the Conservative Prime Minister's wife visiting Mile End in East London. Another important news story was First Peeps of the Opening of Tut-Ankh Amen's Tomb (702-2), though Topical's coverage was unusually meek, firstly assuming a great deal of prior knowledge ("No need to re-tell the story of the finding of the Tomb of the Great Pharoh... the story is on the lips of all men") before delivering an advance apology ("No need to recount the extraordinary difficulties which have attended the taking of Cinematograph pictures of the Tomb... They are not of the high quality ordinarily associated with Topical Budget. But if they are crude - they are vital."). But the resulting footage was nothing to be ashamed of - unlike many far less apologetic Topical efforts, it did actually show coverage of the tomb itself and assorted treasures emerging. A major centenary, of the founding of the railway system and the ensuing transport revolution, was marked by 100 Years of Railways (723-2) and Transport Through The Ages (736-1), while another transport milestone was recorded in Another £1,000,000 Highway (719-1), namely the opening of the Great West Road from Chiswick to Bedfont. The demonstration of a gyrocopter led to a vocabulary crisis, resolved by the inventive title Towards The Stars - By Windmill (739-1). Other engineering achievements were showcased in London's Own Skyscrapers (735-1), which were being erected in Piccadilly. The Royal Family predictably got the lion's share of the coverage. The King's 60th Birthday (719-1) was naturally commemorated, as was a march past his London residence in First Court at Buckingham Palace (717-2) and his annual garden party, apparently The World's Most Democratic Function (726-1). The Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) embarked on a world tour, in which he visited South Africa (Prince as Empire's Ambassador, 710-1), Sierra Leone (Prince in Africa, 714-2) and even Uruguay (All The World's Prince, 733-1), before returning to help open the hunting season in Prince with Whaddon Chase (741-2). On the domestic front, Princess Mary opened a hospital extension in West London (703-2), and a home for nurses at the Royal Berkshire Hospital (711-2). Less regal celebrity coverage included a great Victorian actress finally receiving a Damehood in Ellen Terry: Dame of Grand Cross (697-2). The equally legendary actress Lily Langtry was caught on camera in The Jersey Lily (703-2). The sculptor Jacob Epstein, not for the first time in his career, saw one of his works angrily denounced in Art Is Long - But Oratory Is Longer! (721-1). Obituaries of the great and the good included The Passing of Marquess Curzon (708-2), Passing of Lord Ypres (1925), and Sam, London Zoo's popular polar bear, in Tragedy of Sam (731-1), "shot at Dawn to put an end to his Infirmities". More generalised tributes included the self-explanatory Remembrance Day 1925 (742-1), The M.1's Gallant Dead (743-1), with the citizens of Portsmouth paying tribute to the inhabitants of a missing submarine, the unveiling of an Aldershot memorial To The 'Old Contemptibles' (708-2), the re-gilding of the flames on the London Monument, established to mark The Great Fire of London (734-2), and To the Glory of the Gunners (736-2), not a reference to Arsenal football club, but instead the completion of a memorial to fallen First World War heroes. But the death that got most coverage was, unsurprisingly, that of Queen Alexandra (1844-1925), the (then) Queen Mother and widow of King Edward VII, towards the end of the year. The Passing of the 'Gentle Lady' (744-1) led to a more considered tribute a few days later in Queen Alexandra (744-2). Much attention was given to displays of British prowess. Our Air Fleet at Air Drill (719-2) showed preparations for an aerial display at Hendon, and the Services' Wembley Torchlight Tattoo was shown under the awestruck title Magnificent! (731-1). Most lavish of all was the British Empire Exhibition at the then-new Wembley Stadium, shown in King and Queen as Sight-Seers (716-2) and Stadium as a Cathedral (717-2), the last title a reference to the Empire Day Thanksgiving Service that was held there. Much further north, the Highland Gathering at Braemar was recorded by In A Scotch Mist! (733-2). 1925 sporting achievements got off to a good start with Hooray! England Wins Something At Last! (700-1), a rare instance of the English rugby team beating the Welsh, though The Boat Race That Wasn't (710-1) recorded a far less successful event - at least for Oxford, whose waterlogged boat dropped out of the race at the two-mile post, handing victory to Cambridge. Henley (723-2) captured Henley Regatta in glorious sunshine, while Riding the Whirlwind (721-2) was the evocative title of coverage of the T.T. motorbike races, held annually on the Isle of Man since 1907. Not to be outdone, the five-year-old John Mann, "the Infant Hercules of Deepcut", performed for Topical's cameras in Samson Junior (717-2). Female athletes seemed to be all the rage, starting with French tennis legend Suzanne Lenglen, who was shown preparing for what would become her sixth Wimbledon trophy in Suzanne! Suzanne! We Love You To A Man! (721-2). Wonderful Women Athletes (725-1) were also celebrated, and the Drama of Channel Swim (729-1) turned out to be an all-female one - "Three Heroic Women's Struggle with the Sea!". Meanwhile, in Woman Motorist's 90 Miles an Hour! (737-1), Miss H.M.Lister took on 17 men at motor-racing at Brooklands, and finished a very creditable second. Egg-collecting might not seem in the same league, but the dramatic footage of the Pudsey Sisters abseiling down a sheer cliff face at Bridlington in Heroines of the Cliffs (743-1) tells a different story. There was also a trip to America to see some log-rolling women in Ladies, Do You Want To Reduce? (748-2). There were many more excursions across the Atlantic - Winter On Way from U.S.A.? (706-2) was an excuse to show Americans being snowed under (the less dramatic British equivalent was Nothing Like This For Years, 745-1, showing tobogganing on Hampstead Heath). Topical also paid a visit to an American lion farm in And How Ladylike These Lions! (740-1) and a zoo where a jazz band entertained the polar bears in The Spell of Jazz (747-1). But the most memorable US-sourced image was that of two steam trains in apparently genuine head-on collision (734-2), one representing 'Fundamentalism', the other 'Evolution', a reference to the notorious Scopes monkey trial which had established a legal victory for Creationism over Darwinism. Topical Budget wouldn't be the same without examples of great British eccentricity. These started with the bizarre London's Own Cross-Word Puzzle and 'Fog', Of Course! (both 699-1), which combine evocative footage of the fog-shrouded capital with an acrobatic upside-down crossword-puzzle stunt by a man who performed as 'The Incomparable Mentalist'. What's Wrong with Fish? (704-1) turned out to be the title of 'The Official Fish Song Fox-Trot', part of a campaign to "urge a piscatorial diet on the Public", and presumably keep the Billingsgate porters who are shown singing the song in gainful employment. On With The Furry Dance! (715-2) preserved a "weird in and out the houses 'hop' at Helston, Cornwall" for posterity. And finally, there were numerous examples of that ever-popular newsreel standby: the cute animal story. Some were clearly padding - Tiger Tim (701-2) merely shows a new arrival at the zoo, while Wants To Be A Film Star (735-1) tried to divine meaning in otherwise disconnected footage of a frolicking bear cub. Other items had some actual narrative content. Elephant's Extra Trunk (698-2) showed Indarini the elephant helping to remove gigantic tree trunks, while John Daniel II Leaves England (737-2) recorded a wistful farewell by the world's only living human-reared gorilla, The year ended with Our Advice This Festive Season (747-2) a charming Christmas vignette involving two nuzzling camels, an image that neatly summed up the cheery cosiness that characterised Topical's impression of the whole year. Michael Brooke
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