The British Pathé have recently uploaded over 85,000 films onto YouTube. In amongst reports of days that shook the world and newsreels of the weird and wonderful of the early to mid-twentieth century, there are plenty of football videos and some covering Swindon and the town’s football club. 

The first clip is of an FA Cup 3rd Round tie in 1929. Division Three South Swindon Town took on and beat Division One Newcastle United by two goals from Harry Morris.

Here a short mention for Swindon at the start of this 1948 clip titled “Giants Tumble in FA Cup Battles” following a 2-0 victory over First Division Burnley in the 3rd Round – Town’s cup run eventually finished in defeat at Southampton in the 5th Round.

The final football clip is the British Pathe newsreel of the 1969 League Cup final – when Swindon beat Division One Arsenal 3-1 at Wembley Stadium

Moving away from football and there are plenty of newsreels of the GWR Works, including this 1938 newsreel of various engines being broken up and scrapped…

An unusually titled ‘Queer Jobs’ includes various shots of railway employees with strange job titles at work. ‘Boshmen’ clean the grease off locomotive parts. A ‘Hair Carder’ prepares the hair for a railway carriage upholster, who stuffs a seat back with the hair – he is known as a ‘Trimmer’. The ‘Clothier’ applies heatproof plaster to an engine boiler…

An unusual newsreel is of the visit of the Royal Amir of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan visit to England in 1921 during which the Amir and his entourage visit the GWR Works…

Swindon is known as a ‘baby-boom town’ and this 1947 newsreel charts the new arrivals…

Finally, this newsreel from 1962 shows shots from of the Vickers VA3 hovercraft built in Swindon and how this will be used for ferry and farms…