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As time goes by
Am I alone in thinking that recent years have borne witness to a level of nostalgia that suggests we have simply run out of ideas? Cinemas bombard us with the film versions of programmes that we only watched first time round because we had just two or three channels to choose from. Their original charm, where there was any, seems to have been lost in the moneymaking machine that is Hollywood.
Unfortunately, any lack of charm doesn't stop the endless churning out of pale imitations of former ratings winners such as Starsky and Hutch, Dukes of Hazard and Bewitched to name but a few. Even The Magic Roundabout has been exposed to the detrimental effects of the 21st century. The results have been devastating. Zebedee is reported to have lost the spring in his step, Florence is apparently struggling to make ends meet and Dylan is destined for rehab. It shouldn't be allowed.
It is clear that a huge part of the appeal of nostalgia is how we remember it. We don't want our memories modernised, sanitised or enhanced. Sometimes a trip down memory lane will bring yearnings of the past and a desire to spend time with the people we have loved and lost. Other times it will bring a wave of relief that we managed to come out the other side relatively unscathed. Whatever the emotional impact, nostalgic indulgences are about the real thing, not lacklustre imitations.
Earlier this week, I rediscovered a part of my history in the form of Frogger. For those of you who missed this revolution in computer games back in the eighties, Frogger was, somewhat predictably, a little amphibian who goes on a perilous journey across a busy motorway and a snake-infested river to get to safety. He is also my much missed college friend who failed to take the rap when my Art History papers were not in on time. Those were the days.
After realizing that Frogger's appeal was more to do with an aversion to essay writing than computerized charisma, I went further down memory lane in search of nostalgic satisfaction. And I think I have come up with something that will hold more appeal for you than a suicidal frog.
Francis Frith was a pioneering photographer of the nineteenth century. After returning from his travels abroad in the late 1850's, Mr Frith decided to photograph every town and village in the UK. It was an unimaginably difficult task - this was a time when horsepower was a literal term - but Mr Frith, apparently, was not one to shy from a challenge.
Today, the Francis Frith Collection, having been closed, bought, sold and bought again, is now in safe hands and contains over 365,000 photographs of some 7,000 towns and villages throughout Britain. The photographs were all taken between 1860 and 1970 and are a truly beautiful representation of our history.
The Collection is now attracting a wider audience than ever before via the Internet with over 120,000 photos available as high resolution digital scans. It may be that you want to take a peak at your hometown, the place you got married, the venue of your first kiss or your last goodbye. Whatever the reason, whatever the location, the chances are you will find it at francisfrith.com.
And just to prove that the company has continued its philosophy of being right in the midst of technological evolution, the site has gone interactive. You are invited to share your recollections of a particular place with the rest of the world. I noticed that Henley-on-Thames is sadly lacking in this department so someone needs to put the record straight and share their memories of our little piece of England.
Prints of the 120,000 digital scans are available to buy, either mounted or framed. I don't think I need to point out the potential for gift-buying here especially when I mention the jigsaw puzzles and calendars that are also available. But the true value is found in the sheer enormity of this archive and the way it walks us through our history. It is priceless. And it's one trip down memory lane worth taking.
http://www.francisfrith.com/
Jacqueline Alexander
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