The friendship amongst these kids is a thing of beauty - London in the 80s was a great place to grow up - Yes they lacked facilities but with a great imagination and great friends then you could have great fun - Sometimes less is more.
Let's be honest every point in history has wonderfully nostalgic moments for those in prime of life then. It equally has times and circumstances that are tragic and toxic .
That poem at the start was absoloutly beautifully written and to think it was written by a child. To me thats up there with Plath, Duffy and Dickinson. It made me cry.
I was born in the mid 60s, playing in the dumbs/bomb sites was amazing, lots of deserted houses & cars to play in. It was like Disneyland to us, full of of adventure & discovery. We were poor but so was everyone around us and as kids we never even realised we were poor, we were too busy having fun!
After 5 generations of my family living in the East End of London, we left in 1978 when my parents knew it wasn't going to go well for me if we stayed. We moved up the Midlands for about 7 years. We eventually came back to the city but we moved to somewhere just north of London and still with countryside. I love the city, it's my birthplace but I'm so grateful my parents decided to try to find a better life. I was 8 and moved out to the countryside and it blew my mind that I could go outside and play with other kids and there wasn't a single car or noise of traffic!
Kids who were probably much less anxious than young people nowadays. No phones, "making your own fun". Such an important point about children being alongside adults more often (like the smithy), watching and learning. Curiosity and a real empathic connection with their peers...
@@tommypresley6598 If it was a toss up between the 'hub and a "water damaged" copy of Razzle from the woods, I'm sure we can all agree "things" have "improved".
@@Dunbar0740weren't the only things in them woods people found either. Remember all them flashers about then? Not now camera phones are all about. They used to call them 'plonkers' for obvious reasons so I was amazed when Del-Boy was calling Rodney that when it came out.
Kids were better behaved and articulate back then than the cheeky stabby kids of today. You could have a great conversation with a kid back then better than you can with most adults now. Great kids.
8 วันที่ผ่านมา +4
That was an interesting read. It's true, actually. Despite children back then not having the same access to information as they do today, they seemed to be more articulate and capable of holding proper conversations. It’s becoming increasingly evident that instant access to information doesn’t necessarily equate to better quality of life or communication skills.
lol my mum was a teacher in the 1970s and would disagree! I'm sure kids were better behaved once (if only out of fear of teachers and parents) but I reckon you have to go back to pre-1960s to find that era.
@Nick-io9uk Agree, but remember the Cane was still in full swing up until about 1978 and completely outlawed by 1982. Many teachers lost control of the classroom after that ban came into force.
I went to nursery next door to Corams. Played football at Corams for School 70s, on the old gravel pitches before the astro turf days. Loved Corams. Then go to shops at Brunswick Centre. Played plenty of street football, too, in Ampton Street. Living in Australia nowadays.
Haha. Yup, I spotted that too and thought *their poor mums... having to wash their clothes clean with all that ground-in dirt when there's a perfectly open gate there ready to welcome them in.
Where was this filmed on the Isle of Dogs? ( I attended St Phillip Howard school,upper North St,off E,India Dock rd,E14 from 1976 - 1980.. kind of attended) But once I left school I rarely hung out in this area.( I was raised around the Clapton/ Hackney area)
I was born in 67, so about the same age as these kids. We were lucky, we had parks and commons near us in south London, but we still chose waste ground, building sites and derelict properties more often. In the summer holidays my mates and I would buy red rovers and go all around London on the tube and buses for 50p a day, I won't divulge how we got the money, I'll just say it involved refunds on "acquired" used drink bottles. After getting into trouble a few times, my parents and constable Savin of the Met police decided it was best I go to work with my dad, he was a foreman for a building firm. I learnt a lot of trades doing that, earnt a few bob, and it kept me out of trouble. Thanks dad and PC Savin for seeing my potential.
@@ianwhitehead691 This is the sound of The Jam: When you’re young Strange Town Dreams of children The sound of Madness: Baggy trousers Our house The sound of The Specials: Gangsters Too much to young Rat race Stereo type All these songs relate to that era 🤙🏾
Crazy seeing kids playing in some of these places now. It's the one thing that occurs to me when I go into central London these days, you hardly see children. The ones you do are tourists, but mainly it's just adults scurrying to work or such like. I see old photos of kids playing in the street with the BT Tower in the background and it's hard to imagine that communities and families used to exist in these places now, as it's all been handed over to businesses and commerce.
It’s because most kids are at home indoors playing videogames or on their phone. A lot of parents particularly single mums don’t seem to mind either as they tend to want their kids indoors and ‘safe’. Tbf to them, it is a dangerous world- with gang and drug dealer grooming and just rotten apples out there along with knife crime. Parks are run down it’s just not worth it for a lot of kids to go outside anymore, there’s no community centres and less places to go. The only time they get to develop their social skills these days is at school but all that time indoors and being sheltered increases mental health and anxiety issues with the youngsters. So you can’t win
What a great poem! I’m in Texas and was searching for poetry and this video popped up. I watched the entire video because I was eleven in 1980. I’m glad I had good places to play growing up. The places where those boys played were too depressing. I read through the comments and can say that my home is much different today too.
I grew up on a council estate in the 70s in the midlands,this film makes me so grateful to have had the countryside on my doorstep,somewhere to escape to.
My old Cockney London, when I was 14. Little girl said at the beginning in that lovely poem: 'Some-ink in yer Oieys...'I used to speak like that as a kid.
Pure projection. I'm under 50 and have an accent similar to this, as do all my neighbours. There's also a bunch of scaffolders across my street right now who are all 20s/30s who are cockneys (as am I). This accent is still ten a penny in East London. Maybe don't believe the world that's inside your head 👍
Lived on a South London Council estate. We had square back greens the houses faced so would play here. Climbed the lamp posts, made sculptures from the mowed grass in Summer, made tents out of old sheets, ropes and pegs, played hide and seek, naughty knock down ginger, forever outside and playing or fighting 😊. Loved my youth on the Council estate❤
@@Mcfckinkladze What do mugs like you do all day, just go on TH-cam posting your prejudiced bollocks. Im from the east end which has always had immigrant communities.
It has indeed. Most kids now use American words and phrases - and raise their voice at the end their sentences as if asking a question. No one says fairy cakes, they say cup cakes, No one cares about bonfire night - its halloween. No one says "man" anymore, its "dude". Like it or not - the American Empire (at least in linguistic and popular culture terms) is marching its way here and slowly replacing whatever it was that was there before. I'm sure this has happened before when other empires were around - and will happen again in future.
Trouble today is kids are obsessed with fashion money I want I want mentality too much confusion no respect no sense or anything they live a life not taking personal responsibility instead it’s everyone else’s fault too much Mollycoddled no decency no respect morals state controlled everything kids scared of everything can’t take responsibility or look at life with reason a commercial life full of identity politics too much time on phones etc no sense of purpose everything on a plate and some parents haven’t a clue dragging their children up adults are now seen as children and broken families everywhere 😢
Plus dumbed down education system system is broken living in an ultra violent and dangerous society where no personal responsibility is given a vicious materialistic lifestyle view a me me me culture 😢
What a great poem this opens with! Would love to know what happened to this sparkling little girl, then aged 10, from and "deprived" background, but clearly with a bright and open life force. My hope is she made of her life what she wanted, proving that society, then, did enable these children to fulfill their potential.
'deprived'? looks like perfectly healthy, happy normal kid, this was the era of the hand wringing , social conscience hippy interloper, inner city urban blight, leafy suburb cliche, still around today
@@steveg2969anti hippie predjudice that I received was tantamount to racism. You have showed yourself up here for being nasty. Arrogance and ignorance such as yours is disgusting. Think! Rather than spout rubbish!
Watching this without a BBC TV licence. lol When I grew up in the 80s I played between a chain link fence and the wood fence of a city junkyard; another place was behind a Cash & Carry adjacent to the rail tracks, the C&C rubbish bins provided endless things for our "camp". The joy of living in a city.
The statue the kids are climbing on at about 6:40 is by Henry Moore! Officially titled "Draped Seated Woman" but nicknamed "Old Flo" it was placed in this estate in the 1960s until it was demolished in the 90s then after spending some time in a park in Yorkshire it is now back in London where it now resides in the more well off surroundings of Cabot Square in Canary Wharf. It was once in danger of being sold off and had an estimated value of £20 million...
@@alanhargreaves-thevoiceofr2361there was more than three children in the video but interesting how you could only focus on those three with your snobbery.
Absolutely loved this ❤ back when kids spoke properly ( no fam, blood talk) and were not glued to a smartphone & made their own fun..And more importantly didn't carry knives...
thats because the black and white kids back then were raised on new wave, reggae, soul, disco and punk music, not crappy rap and hip hop. Now its all fam and endz, and I see adults use that lingo. Its embarrassing. Started appearing the the mid to late 90s.
Born in 1985, and grew up in the 90s. We played outdoors every day after school and all weekend (especially in the summer). I pity today's children. Technology and social media are destroying their childhood. It's no wonder mental illness amongst children is rising. There is no denying many aspects of children's lives have improved, but they are certainly alot harder to please than previous generations, thus resulting in ungrateful adults that will never been satisfied with life and all the consequences that will follow as a result.
I work with a few of them. They are all under 25(born in 98 to 2002), and just seem bored with life. They constantly look at their phones for stimulation. I can take time out for a few hours and do other things.
It’s not technology but drugs and gangs that have done it. I’d happily let my kids run around like I did but I just can’t risk it. I live in Birmingham and had a childhood like these kids but my children can’t have that due to the violence and stabbings all around Brum.
@@dean7652 it was bad back in the 1980s mate. I wouldn’t hang around areas near the big council estates, and I grew up in one. Living in the inner city wasn’t that safe even back then
we were so lucky having a garden to play in, trees to climb, the council houses out of cities had lovely long gardens, city working class life was harder as there were, are less areas for playing.
I was a kid on a council estate in South London in the 80’s. We were all poor but had fun times. Lots of dark times too but we made things fun with what we had.
@@jonblazeinc im 41 now so born 83. the life children live today is actually sad to watch. they love to stay in and be in front of a screen like a zombie as online gaming is endless, so is social media. in our time you could only play so many games of a gaming title then u had to go out to play out with your mates. mainly kicking a ball around. or just jumping climbing, last generating to be super active as kids. That is something that will never return.
@@AR-q8z agreed mate, I was born 78 im 46 .... agree with every point you made , even when Sky TV and cable became popular late 80s we wouldn't be stuck indoors all the time, also we had youth centres to go to back in the 80s and 90s...not sure if they still exist or operate in similar fashion. I remember when I was a kid , grown ups said treasure your childhood because you won't get it back....I thought they were chatting nonsense but they were spot on
Great memories in Enfield in late 80's, as a new Irish kid at that time it could have been tricky. But, I had great friends and great memories, we made our own fun.
i was born 1970 ' grew up on a rough council estate ' improvised playing ' using your head ' learning how to fight with your fist & not a knife ' im a far better man than the modern one
Fantastic! this is just what kids needs need today, what a difference it would make to their lives, also crime would be so much less etc, shame its all closed down by all the councils...
I like the graffiti at the start: "Mods" "Ska" Those late 70s Mod bands were appallingly bad except for The Jam, if you want to call that band Mods. The British ska bands were mostly great. Would that Britain could make great music again...Please do! The rest of the world has been waiting since the 90s!
I was like 2 when this was filmed was living In south london and am bk living there again I love london the grey skies and concrete there's something about london it's so multicultural and I prefer living that way love this doc nice look at the past
Dec 2024: I loved being a child back then. We were so mature in a way. I used to try to build things with whatever I could find. Feel sorry for the gamer kids of today ( no bright future for them)
My memories of being a teen and living in London around this time was of playing over the park and green spaces. As much as I love watching these programmes I do feel that they pick the worst of places to film. You definitely wouldn't of seen this were I lived, and I lived in council flat in south London. Maybe south of the border was greener in them days?
I was born in Poplar way before 1980 and later moved to Bow, both places were in the East End and there was very little green anywhere in either place and the bit there was you were not allowed to play on. Our play areas were bomb sights, abandoned houses and the railway lines. People today look back with rose coloured glasses, but in reality things were much poorer back then in the 1960s and 1970s. The East End of London back then was really the poorest part of London, mainly industrial with the docks and with factories pumping out all sorts of nasty smells into the air.
if your place of what you called home was being rippedaway from you and nothing was being done about it. This programme highlights it ..Why do you worry that is a representation of London as a whole.
Left school in 1983 to train as an engineer, honestly it was a laugh and I would not have it any other way. Things were tough , nearly three and a half million on the dole but you had a chance out there to make a good life , and the music was just brilliant. Like all things you look back and think of the good things but there there many bad things too . Now there’s no community, just a lot of very unstable people out there with strange ways of thinking, you might not agree but that’s what I see ……
Every generation says to themselves - simpler times when I was a kid or I had more freedoms My parents🙏🙏who were born in 1926 and 1929 used to tell me that as adults during WW2 you felt safe You could leave your back door open. You had nothing to steal and your neighbours had nothing either I look at today and have we lost our morals? 🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴🏴
Being from this area and growing up in this time period looking back at footage of it is "weird" as it wasn't experienced as such. Good times (subjective of course) as I know some of my pals do not have same sentiments of this time.
Simpler times, I'm 56 from Sheffield. We played in a small wood mostly, had swings, fires, dens etc, there was 14 tower blocks on our estate but lots of green space and fields, nowhere near like this environment. I just hope the "American" blokes intentions were only for good if you know what I mean, as we now know, kids were being exploited left right and centre in them days.
My folks would have beat me senseless if they knew about the kind of places we'd play as kids. Abandoned buildings, building sites at night and allsorts.
Great piece of tv from the archives, it might of been tough times, but kids seemed nicer and not so threatening, i grew up in the 80's in the south west of England, i had a great childhood, times seemed so much better, everything was, i might be married with kids myself now, but i miss the 80's and my childhood, i wish I could go back in a heartbeat.
Wow, few weeks out of the 70s into the 80s...I was 18 months old when this aired so unfortunately dont remember 1980 but was more or less the same world few years later i remember
They're not "well-spoken", come on now? They still speak with glottal stops, double negatives and slang - this is by no means regarded as "well-spoken English" by any stretch of the imagination. As for modern English sub-cultural street-slang (i.e. 'fam', 'blud' etc.) , that will also be there whether one likes it or not. At one point it was 'whizz-bang', 'firkytoodling', ' benjo', 'damfino', 'lollygag', 'nasty narking' etc.
@@pauladdae3130 I agree that vernacular always changes, but these kids are talking the London slang of the time which is clearer to understand than modern dialect.
This was my time as a kid, late 70s/early-mid 80s - the age of the adventure playground. Every neighbourhood had one growing up! One of the very last of them was closed down and redeveloped a couple of years back in Stonebridge NW London, having opened in 1975 but pressure from property developers and weak resistance (££££) from Brent Council forced it to close, even after local protests.. and they wonder why youth crime is up smh BTW I wonder what Yvonne is doing now? She would be up for a Booker Prize if she carried that on!
Another Brick in the Wall part 2 was filmed not long before this period. The opening shot of St Pauls Cathedral, and the local surrounding area of Goswell Road looks exactly like the London seen here.
@1:01 ... at least there's something in Poplar @ 1:11 Manorfield Primary School, Wyvis St, London E14 6QD These spots are identified and would be more enjoyable if same for all locations so some viewers can search the before and after! Either way, great to see old London city😀 Wonder what Yvonne Savage (poem) thinks of this old footage? [22Nov2024]
The friendship amongst these kids is a thing of beauty - London in the 80s was a great place to grow up - Yes they lacked facilities but with a great imagination and great friends then you could have great fun - Sometimes less is more.
Let's be honest every point in history has wonderfully nostalgic moments for those in prime of life then. It equally has times and circumstances that are tragic and toxic .
overwhelming majority being tragic and toxic.
It was grim - imagine trying to grow up there - no wonder locals went to the suburbs asap
Well balanced objective comment there.
No froggy, 80s was the best.
@@froggy8030 evidenced by the blatant swastika graffitied on the wall by the boys play area that the editors didn't even bother to blur out lmao
That poem at the start was absoloutly beautifully written and to think it was written by a child. To me thats up there with Plath, Duffy and Dickinson. It made me cry.
I love that girl at the beginning with that amazing piece of poetry.
I was looking forward to hearing whose poem it was... I'm amazed it was her own!
@@george474747why?
Yeah that was pretty amazing I have to say.
I bet you did…
@@StephenHopkinsVaults what do you mean I bet you did?
I was born in the mid 60s, playing in the dumbs/bomb sites was amazing, lots of deserted houses & cars to play in. It was like Disneyland to us, full of of adventure & discovery. We were poor but so was everyone around us and as kids we never even realised we were poor, we were too busy having fun!
After 5 generations of my family living in the East End of London, we left in 1978 when my parents knew it wasn't going to go well for me if we stayed. We moved up the Midlands for about 7 years. We eventually came back to the city but we moved to somewhere just north of London and still with countryside. I love the city, it's my birthplace but I'm so grateful my parents decided to try to find a better life. I was 8 and moved out to the countryside and it blew my mind that I could go outside and play with other kids and there wasn't a single car or noise of traffic!
I was 8 years old in 1980 and living in SE London. This brought back so many memories 😊
Kids who were probably much less anxious than young people nowadays. No phones, "making your own fun". Such an important point about children being alongside adults more often (like the smithy), watching and learning. Curiosity and a real empathic connection with their peers...
I remember the boredom. The grinding, endless, boredom.
@@Dunbar0740 Does Tiktok keep you entertained now?
@@tommypresley6598 If it was a toss up between the 'hub and a "water damaged" copy of Razzle from the woods, I'm sure we can all agree "things" have "improved".
@@Dunbar0740weren't the only things in them woods people found either.
Remember all them flashers about then? Not now camera phones are all about.
They used to call them 'plonkers' for obvious reasons so I was amazed when Del-Boy was calling Rodney that when it came out.
@@Dunbar0740 i would sooner have 1980 than the social media of today, but then, we wouldn't be here lol
Kids were better behaved and articulate back then than the cheeky stabby kids of today. You could have a great conversation with a kid back then better than you can with most adults now. Great kids.
That was an interesting read. It's true, actually. Despite children back then not having the same access to information as they do today, they seemed to be more articulate and capable of holding proper conversations. It’s becoming increasingly evident that instant access to information doesn’t necessarily equate to better quality of life or communication skills.
Lol, the kids are now the adults you're talking about. These Kids are now in their 50s.😂
lol my mum was a teacher in the 1970s and would disagree!
I'm sure kids were better behaved once (if only out of fear of teachers and parents) but I reckon you have to go back to pre-1960s to find that era.
@Nick-io9uk Agree, but remember the Cane was still in full swing up until about 1978 and completely outlawed by 1982. Many teachers lost control of the classroom after that ban came into force.
@@truthbtoldwright6411 They are! I grew up in the UK at that time too. My skin was much smoother then.
Growing up in Holborn We had Corams fields and youth club.... Late 70s and 80s...growing up then was the best times. Great friends and great times.
The best times ever 😊❤
We had? It's not past tense as Coram Fields is still there providing a valuable space for kids
@grahamblack1716 Sorry, I meant we had Corams fields to play at.
@Ineedyoulou Long may it continue and bring the same joy as you had❤️
I went to nursery next door to Corams. Played football at Corams for School 70s, on the old gravel pitches before the astro turf days.
Loved Corams. Then go to shops at Brunswick Centre. Played plenty of street football, too, in Ampton Street.
Living in Australia nowadays.
Bloodyhell that little girl wrote that? What a talent! Goes to show the education was better back then 💯
I really wish they would fiind these children from 1980 again today in 2024 and see how their lives turned out
They will all be heroine addicts I suspect and that’s even if they made it to adulthood after the heroine took ahold at such a young age.
You know you're 11 and on an adventure with your friends, when you crawl under the fencing @4:08 but there's an open gate next to it @5:15 :-)
I noticed that! It was probably to save the poor film crew from having to crawl on their bellies, too 😄
Haha. Yup, I spotted that too and thought *their poor mums... having to wash their clothes clean with all that ground-in dirt when there's a perfectly open gate there ready to welcome them in.
@@frankasensale6788 That gave me Vietnam flashbacks of my mum scolding me after I'd been playing outside without a care for my clothes or my shoes.
@@playlist9980 Oh dear.
My mum was like that too, which is why I take really good care of my clothes and shoes now.
That poem was awesome
Little Yvonne Savage - take a bow! I had to listen to her fantastic poem twice - so good for such a young schoolgirl. I hope she is doing well 😊
Totally agree about the poem - fantastic! Had the same thought about her now. Wonder what she might be doing?!
Her mother wrote it.
@@AlexYoung-iq6by oh that's so cool, do you have a link to the place you found this information??
@@AlexYoung-iq6by Even if true, she still had the nous to read and relate it clearly to a national audience with ease.
Where was this filmed on the Isle of Dogs? ( I attended St Phillip Howard school,upper North St,off E,India Dock rd,E14 from 1976 - 1980.. kind of attended)
But once I left school I rarely hung out in this area.( I was raised around the Clapton/ Hackney area)
I was born in 67, so about the same age as these kids. We were lucky, we had parks and commons near us in south London, but we still chose waste ground, building sites and derelict properties more often. In the summer holidays my mates and I would buy red rovers and go all around London on the tube and buses for 50p a day, I won't divulge how we got the money, I'll just say it involved refunds on "acquired" used drink bottles. After getting into trouble a few times, my parents and constable Savin of the Met police decided it was best I go to work with my dad, he was a foreman for a building firm. I learnt a lot of trades doing that, earnt a few bob, and it kept me out of trouble. Thanks dad and PC Savin for seeing my potential.
So lovely awww
Lovely story
I was 14 in 1980 and living in the suburbs of my City. Just watching this and the clothes these kids are wearing brings back a lot of memories..
I had Blue Parker Jacket, my brother had a Green one.
Made me think of having a fire in the woods and putting potatoes in it!
This is the sound of the Suburbs/
The Members. 😁👍🏻
@@ianwhitehead691
This is the sound of The Jam:
When you’re young
Strange Town
Dreams of children
The sound of Madness:
Baggy trousers
Our house
The sound of The Specials:
Gangsters
Too much to young
Rat race
Stereo type
All these songs relate to that era
🤙🏾
@@ianwhitehead691 TOP TUNE! This was by many miles the best era for music. That's a fact - nothing to do with my age!
Crazy seeing kids playing in some of these places now. It's the one thing that occurs to me when I go into central London these days, you hardly see children. The ones you do are tourists, but mainly it's just adults scurrying to work or such like. I see old photos of kids playing in the street with the BT Tower in the background and it's hard to imagine that communities and families used to exist in these places now, as it's all been handed over to businesses and commerce.
But kids stay indoors a lot more now, glued to their phones etc!
It’s because most kids are at home indoors playing videogames or on their phone. A lot of parents particularly single mums don’t seem to mind either as they tend to want their kids indoors and ‘safe’. Tbf to them, it is a dangerous world- with gang and drug dealer grooming and just rotten apples out there along with knife crime.
Parks are run down it’s just not worth it for a lot of kids to go outside anymore, there’s no community centres and less places to go. The only time they get to develop their social skills these days is at school but all that time indoors and being sheltered increases mental health and anxiety issues with the youngsters. So you can’t win
Did you see many Asian Muslims in this throwback video also? No. The most beautiful thing about it was it was prior to the 'takeover'
@@nikkijackson2981 Which part of your life has been taken over?
@@tobleramone Have you been asleep whilst Islam have slipped one up you?
this was just great. was like a little glimpse into my past as a child and the feeling of this time washed over me for a moment.
these kids are little gems 💎💙
What a great poem! I’m in Texas and was searching for poetry and this video popped up. I watched the entire video because I was eleven in 1980. I’m glad I had good places to play growing up. The places where those boys played were too depressing. I read through the comments and can say that my home is much different today too.
This was such an eye opener. To see what inner city kids got up to in the 80's. I wish kids could do this today.
I grew up on a council estate in the 70s in the midlands,this film makes me so grateful to have had the countryside on my doorstep,somewhere to escape to.
Me too. It was a peculiar mix of urban grimness and countryside.
My old Cockney London, when I was 14. Little girl said at the beginning in that lovely poem: 'Some-ink in yer Oieys...'I used to speak like that as a kid.
I said gorblimey in front of my nan once, she snapped, "Your asking God to blind you" never said it again 😂
The girl is a natural poet.
shame poetry was replaced by 'Rap'....
The lost London accent. Now only heard in Londoner's over 50.
Pure projection. I'm under 50 and have an accent similar to this, as do all my neighbours.
There's also a bunch of scaffolders across my street right now who are all 20s/30s who are cockneys (as am I).
This accent is still ten a penny in East London.
Maybe don't believe the world that's inside your head 👍
@@TheMixCurator more like reality. Keep living in your bubble...
I’m a 42 yr old woman from London and I often get asked where I’m from! That’s no lie under 25s I don’t think knows what a London accent is. Ruby
..replaced with an african dialect .......
@@TheMixCurator mans like innit bruv
Lived on a South London Council estate. We had square back greens the houses faced so would play here. Climbed the lamp posts, made sculptures from the mowed grass in Summer, made tents out of old sheets, ropes and pegs, played hide and seek, naughty knock down ginger, forever outside and playing or fighting 😊. Loved my youth on the Council estate❤
I can’t believe how good that poem was 😂
For me, Watching these old documentaries about London, is how the accent has been completely replaced
The natives have also been replaced
@@Mcfckinkladze What do mugs like you do all day, just go on TH-cam posting your prejudiced bollocks. Im from the east end which has always had immigrant communities.
It has indeed. Most kids now use American words and phrases - and raise their voice at the end their sentences as if asking a question. No one says fairy cakes, they say cup cakes, No one cares about bonfire night - its halloween. No one says "man" anymore, its "dude". Like it or not - the American Empire (at least in linguistic and popular culture terms) is marching its way here and slowly replacing whatever it was that was there before. I'm sure this has happened before when other empires were around - and will happen again in future.
@@Mcfckinkladze But where did the natives go? They can't have just died out. Did they move away? Did they stop reproducing?
@@McfckinkladzeThat's the rest of England's fait if people don't wake up.
Keep the kids entertained and learn something and society drastically improves
... and learning something
Depends what they're entertained by, and what they're learning.
Hope those kids grew up healthy and happy.
Probably not.
I do too
@@CARLIN4737 bet most of them left London a long time ago
We didn't 😂
They all became wideboys in the square mile and in sales
Speaks better than the kids today.
Kids were way more intelligent than today in this dumbed down era, fact.
Trouble today is kids are obsessed with fashion money I want I want mentality too much confusion no respect no sense or anything they live a life not taking personal responsibility instead it’s everyone else’s fault too much Mollycoddled no decency no respect morals state controlled everything kids scared of everything can’t take responsibility or look at life with reason a commercial life full of identity politics too much time on phones etc no sense of purpose everything on a plate and some parents haven’t a clue dragging their children up adults are now seen as children and broken families everywhere 😢
Plus dumbed down education system system is broken living in an ultra violent and dangerous society where no personal responsibility is given a vicious materialistic lifestyle view a me me me culture 😢
What a great poem this opens with! Would love to know what happened to this sparkling little girl, then aged 10, from and "deprived" background, but clearly with a bright and open life force. My hope is she made of her life what she wanted, proving that society, then, did enable these children to fulfill their potential.
I was wondering the same thing. Anyone know what happened to Yvonne Savage?
'deprived'? looks like perfectly healthy, happy normal kid, this was the era of the hand wringing , social conscience hippy interloper, inner city urban blight, leafy suburb cliche, still around today
@@steveg2969anti hippie predjudice that I received was tantamount to racism. You have showed yourself up here for being nasty. Arrogance and ignorance such as yours is disgusting. Think! Rather than spout rubbish!
@@steveg2969many hippies set up city farms and still work on them
that poem ! blew me away ,whatever happened to her ? what a talent
Watching this without a BBC TV licence. lol When I grew up in the 80s I played between a chain link fence and the wood fence of a city junkyard; another place was behind a Cash & Carry adjacent to the rail tracks, the C&C rubbish bins provided endless things for our "camp". The joy of living in a city.
The statue the kids are climbing on at about 6:40 is by Henry Moore! Officially titled "Draped Seated Woman" but nicknamed "Old Flo" it was placed in this estate in the 1960s until it was demolished in the 90s then after spending some time in a park in Yorkshire it is now back in London where it now resides in the more well off surroundings of Cabot Square in Canary Wharf. It was once in danger of being sold off and had an estimated value of £20 million...
'Yorkshire Sculpture Park'
@effess8698 What estate in London was it originally located?
@@JohnnyWeissmuller-iw4pl It was known as Stifford Estate on Jamaica Road, Stepney. About two miles away from Canary Wharf where the statue is now.
@@effess8698 Ok Thanks 👍
2 miles but another world away.
It would be interesting if the BBC can track these children down to see what became of them.
the little african went back ....the other 2 are in Wandsworth prison .
@alanhargreaves-thevoiceofr2361 The "little African"? Went back? Not a great way to word that but okay. The other two boys are in prison, got it.
@@alanhargreaves-thevoiceofr2361there was more than three children in the video but interesting how you could only focus on those three with your snobbery.
@@alanhargreaves-thevoiceofr2361lots a little Africans there now init
Looks like you've attracted the gammons to your comment .😊
Absolutely loved this ❤ back when kids spoke properly ( no fam, blood talk) and were not glued to a smartphone & made their own fun..And more importantly didn't carry knives...
or smoke 'green' .-another thing introduced by the Non-british 'invading 'culture' ...
thats because the black and white kids back then were raised on new wave, reggae, soul, disco and punk music, not crappy rap and hip hop. Now its all fam and endz, and I see adults use that lingo. Its embarrassing. Started appearing the the mid to late 90s.
wagwan fam 😅
@@bodytransporter1556 I can’t stand that lol
Kid 1 - "You better not bust that swing"
Kid 2 - "I’ll bust your face"🤣
Ahhh the good old days when harmless banter ruled the playground!😆
Born in 1985, and grew up in the 90s. We played outdoors every day after school and all weekend (especially in the summer). I pity today's children. Technology and social media are destroying their childhood. It's no wonder mental illness amongst children is rising. There is no denying many aspects of children's lives have improved, but they are certainly alot harder to please than previous generations, thus resulting in ungrateful adults that will never been satisfied with life and all the consequences that will follow as a result.
I work with a few of them. They are all under 25(born in 98 to 2002), and just seem bored with life. They constantly look at their phones for stimulation. I can take time out for a few hours and do other things.
Lool but when kids play outside people say they are a gang and call the police who tell them to go home. So what should they do
@@leonpalmer2429 wait until the police go, them come back out or hide lol
It’s not technology but drugs and gangs that have done it.
I’d happily let my kids run around like I did but I just can’t risk it.
I live in Birmingham and had a childhood like these kids but my children can’t have that due to the violence and stabbings all around Brum.
@@dean7652 it was bad back in the 1980s mate. I wouldn’t hang around areas near the big council estates, and I grew up in one. Living in the inner city wasn’t that safe even back then
Back in the day,always count my blessings been raised in Belgravia,London 😊🎉❤
Are you Lord Lucan?
@jonwesterby2254 maybe i am Lord Lucan.
I was 3 in 1980 and I lived through this but in Peckham and Plumstead and it was the best of times
Cats and pigeons in the kitchen! It was spotlessly clean too..
Don't worry lads, Duran Duran are on the way
Only 1 year until Planet Earth drops 😂
Also fashion wise, kids were turning their back on 70s fashion, flares were out the door thank goodness!
Pink Floyd was number 1 at the start of this year, and Adam Ant arrived at the end. This still feels like the tail end of the 1970s.
5:11 these boys are about 52-56 today i was born 1983 and gew up around the corner westferry near limehouse police station i am now 42
Do you know them?
Even if you were born on 1.1.1983 you'd still be only 41. Why would you make up a lie like that you big far liar! LIAR!
That poem by that little girl is absolutely lovely wonder where she is now
Mid 50s, probably a grandmother now
The farm is still there!
Hi really is it still there what road and the area please and how old you think those kids are. I was 13 years old in 1980. I’m now 57.
@@joemorgan636 Just search for Spitalfields City Farm
I too would like to know where this farm is?
@@joemorgan636search for spitalfield city farm
@@joemorgan636 spitalfield city farm
fantastic poem
we were so lucky having a garden to play in, trees to climb, the council houses out of cities had lovely long gardens, city working class life was harder as there were, are less areas for playing.
Great Poem Yvonne Savage. Where Are You Now.
I had to go back to the beginning to listen to that brilliant poem again once I knew that she'd written it herself.
I was a kid on a council estate in South London in the 80’s. We were all poor but had fun times. Lots of dark times too but we made things fun with what we had.
3:40- Cricket next to the Shop Windows
Growing up in the 60's and 70's was the best and you will never get those days back.
kids growing up in the 90's were the last generation of a child living that life playing out in the streets
I feel the same about growing up in the 80s then in my teens in the 90s....good times
@@jonblazeinc im 41 now so born 83. the life children live today is actually sad to watch. they love to stay in and be in front of a screen like a zombie as online gaming is endless, so is social media. in our time you could only play so many games of a gaming title then u had to go out to play out with your mates. mainly kicking a ball around. or just jumping climbing, last generating to be super active as kids. That is something that will never return.
@@AR-q8z agreed mate, I was born 78 im 46 .... agree with every point you made , even when Sky TV and cable became popular late 80s we wouldn't be stuck indoors all the time, also we had youth centres to go to back in the 80s and 90s...not sure if they still exist or operate in similar fashion. I remember when I was a kid , grown ups said treasure your childhood because you won't get it back....I thought they were chatting nonsense but they were spot on
Great memories in Enfield in late 80's, as a new Irish kid at that time it could have been tricky. But, I had great friends and great memories, we made our own fun.
i was born 1970 ' grew up on a rough council estate ' improvised playing ' using your head ' learning how to fight with your fist & not a knife ' im a far better man than the modern one
Dammed right 💪
4:44 4:49 the pay full banter that makes you develop character and personality
I wonder what happened to those boys. It would be interesting to have a follow up.
They'll be in their early 60s now I imagine.
@@nickthelicklate 50s I’d say if they were 13 in 80 😉
1980s was amazing million miles from today 😩
Fantastic! this is just what kids needs need today, what a difference it would make to their lives, also crime would be so much less etc, shame its all closed down by all the councils...
Spitalfields City Farm is still there!
Filmed the kids scurrying under the fence, in the next shot you can see the gate wide open.
Well the camera crew had to get in there first lol
Kids will never use the gate when there's a fence adventure in store!
I noticed that, I thought they'd been made to look like they were "illegally" trespassing by the film-makers when they obvisiously weren't.
Growing up in the 80s we used to play in a abandoned dairy mill.
And warehouses, 90s London
Unity, Friendship, Cohesion, Banter, Respect, Appreciation ? they all sound the same - True Londoners
I like the graffiti at the start: "Mods" "Ska" Those late 70s Mod bands were appallingly bad except for The Jam, if you want to call that band Mods. The British ska bands were mostly great. Would that Britain could make great music again...Please do! The rest of the world has been waiting since the 90s!
Madness!
I was like 2 when this was filmed was living In south london and am bk living there again I love london the grey skies and concrete there's something about london it's so multicultural and I prefer living that way love this doc nice look at the past
My home town and my era miss it
Born in the 60s
We ddint have much, but we were happy!
I mean, its not entirely true that we were happy, as such, but it is true that we didnt have much!
😂
Dec 2024:
I loved being a child back then. We were so mature in a way. I used to try to build things with whatever I could find.
Feel sorry for the gamer kids of today ( no bright future for them)
My memories of being a teen and living in London around this time was of playing over the park and green spaces. As much as I love watching these programmes I do feel that they pick the worst of places to film. You definitely wouldn't of seen this were I lived, and I lived in council flat in south London. Maybe south of the border was greener in them days?
I was born in Poplar way before 1980 and later moved to Bow, both places were in the East End and there was very little green anywhere in either place and the bit there was you were not allowed to play on. Our play areas were bomb sights, abandoned houses and the railway lines. People today look back with rose coloured glasses, but in reality things were much poorer back then in the 1960s and 1970s. The East End of London back then was really the poorest part of London, mainly industrial with the docks and with factories pumping out all sorts of nasty smells into the air.
if your place of what you called home was being rippedaway from you and nothing was being done about it. This programme highlights it ..Why do you worry that is a representation of London as a whole.
This was the real London Town.
It was correctly a merry-go-round.
Gritty, Earthy and the People were mostly good folk 👍
4:35 The old car on the left was probably 'only' about 20 years old then, but it seems like a time traveler from a different era.
Was seven in 1980, remember all the 'dumps' were we as children used to play💯 crazy thinking about it now😳
Bless every single one of them, great times ❤❤❤
Left school in 1983 to train as an engineer, honestly it was a laugh and I would not have it any other way.
Things were tough , nearly three and a half million on the dole but you had a chance out there to make a good life , and the music was just brilliant.
Like all things you look back and think of the good things but there there many bad things too .
Now there’s no community, just a lot of very unstable people out there with strange ways of thinking, you might not agree but that’s what I see ……
Nice documentary.👍
That city farm looked like a lot of fun.
Every generation says to themselves - simpler times when I was a kid or I had more freedoms
My parents🙏🙏who were born in 1926 and 1929 used to tell me that as adults during WW2 you felt safe
You could leave your back door open. You had nothing to steal and your neighbours had nothing either
I look at today and have we lost our morals?
🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴🏴
How is not stealing because there's nothing to take having morals?
My grandad said the same about Salford
Being from this area and growing up in this time period looking back at footage of it is "weird" as it wasn't experienced as such. Good times (subjective of course) as I know some of my pals do not have same sentiments of this time.
Amazing ❤
Nice accent those boys - proper good lads. Hope they're all doing alright ☝️♥️
Simpler times, I'm 56 from Sheffield.
We played in a small wood mostly, had swings, fires, dens etc, there was 14 tower blocks on our estate but lots of green space and fields, nowhere near like this environment. I just hope the "American" blokes intentions were only for good if you know what I mean, as we now know, kids were being exploited left right and centre in them days.
My folks would have beat me senseless if they knew about the kind of places we'd play as kids.
Abandoned buildings,
building sites at night and allsorts.
Now aged fifty four, I remember that era as a then ten year old at junior school. These kids are probably the same age as me, so fifty four as well!
yeah i thought that when i saw him,, maybe he was a good guy.
Im from sheff too.
There was also alot of poverty.
Nice documentary. Where are they now I wonder?
Chances are that these kids are now around the fifty mark - I was ten at the time and now aged fifty four!
They could be anywhere.
@@angelacooper2661If they're still here.
They mainly canvass for Reform.
@@DT-rb7rowouldn’t blame them!
Great piece of tv from the archives, it might of been tough times, but kids seemed nicer and not so threatening, i grew up in the 80's in the south west of England, i had a great childhood, times seemed so much better, everything was, i might be married with kids myself now, but i miss the 80's and my childhood, i wish I could go back in a heartbeat.
Unlike today's kids, these were really innocent. I am an eighties kid so I can relate well.
Wow, few weeks out of the 70s into the 80s...I was 18 months old when this aired so unfortunately dont remember 1980 but was more or less the same world few years later i remember
Great videos , I was a kid in the 80’s Peckham SE London
What excellent people setting up the city farm ❤ love the arsenal song and jam butties 😊
Yvonne the 1st school girl would be 55yrs old now. Life flies by
interesting watch, great to see Spitalfields city farm in it's early days
Cheeky reference to pease pudding in that opening poem there.
Pease pudding hot, pease pudding cold, pease pudding in the pot 9 days old
03:24 - Something looks very off in this photo. Looks as if adult heads have been stuck on small children. Proportions don't make sense either.
😂😂
It's like someone paused a tiktok vid.
I thought the same thing 😂 the boy holding the bat in particular!
4:11 - Going under the fences and making fun of the fat friend that can get through. 😂😂😂 Those were the days.
Even though all the kids are working class compared to today they are so well spoken. Nowadays it's "innt" "brov"..
Don’t forget “blud”
@@stephenoleary5627 Yeah 'fam'
They're not "well-spoken", come on now? They still speak with glottal stops, double negatives and slang - this is by no means regarded as "well-spoken English" by any stretch of the imagination. As for modern English sub-cultural street-slang (i.e. 'fam', 'blud' etc.) , that will also be there whether one likes it or not. At one point it was 'whizz-bang', 'firkytoodling', ' benjo', 'damfino', 'lollygag', 'nasty narking' etc.
No one says “innit” or “bruv” anymore you dinosaur
@@pauladdae3130 I agree that vernacular always changes, but these kids are talking the London slang of the time which is clearer to understand than modern dialect.
This was my time as a kid, late 70s/early-mid 80s - the age of the adventure playground. Every neighbourhood had one growing up!
One of the very last of them was closed down and redeveloped a couple of years back in Stonebridge NW London, having opened in 1975 but pressure from property developers and weak resistance (££££) from Brent Council forced it to close, even after local protests.. and they wonder why youth crime is up smh
BTW I wonder what Yvonne is doing now? She would be up for a Booker Prize if she carried that on!
The wasteland and concrete football pitch are new flats, and the estate is soon due to be demolished.
Back in 1980 and every boy in my class had similar bowl hair cuts, anoraks and parkas with furry hoods like these lads. ❤
Another Brick in the Wall part 2 was filmed not long before this period. The opening shot of St Pauls Cathedral, and the local surrounding area of Goswell Road looks exactly like the London seen here.
Wonderful.
14:45 That's one clean goat
@1:01
... at least there's something in Poplar
@ 1:11
Manorfield Primary School, Wyvis St, London E14 6QD
These spots are identified and would be more enjoyable if same for all locations so some viewers can search the before and after!
Either way, great to see old London city😀
Wonder what Yvonne Savage (poem) thinks of this old footage?
[22Nov2024]
I was 17 years old when this film was made