Youtube Documentary Sweepstake

The seventh edition and genre of my Sweepstake series.

Glasgow Transport 1980 - Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lIfubhHZDQ

This is a very interesting documentary produced by the old Strathclyde council(West of Scotland really) showing the modernisation of the underground system, which became known as "The Clockwork Orange", because of their gaudy orange colour. The Glasgow underground was one of the oldest underground systems in the world, and the Victorian-style trains and old format of lifting them off the tracks to be stationed, all came to an end in 1977. The programme, shows the sheer extent of the work involved in the city centre, demolishing old Victorian tenement slums and just giants areas of cement were carved up to extend and re-modernise the track system. Although, the finished product is nothing compared to the complexity of say, the London underground. This is still a fascinating documentary.

Jonathan Meades on J'accuse Vegetarians 1 of 3



"J'accuse" was a series of programmes made for Channel 4, in 1995, that featured on different subjects each episodes, chaired by different intellectual presenters. Johnathan Meades, although very intelligent, gives a biased right-wing account on how Vegetarians came into being. Also includes talking head bearing pro and con views, and some obscure celebrities from the time. It's rather in-depth and long-drawn for one issue, something you wouldn't see getting made today, in this suppoesedly shorter-attention spanning era, or would only be made on the backburner, for BBC4.

World In Action - Acid House Report PT.1



"World in Action" was an iconic investigative current affairs ITV programme that ran from 1963-1998. The format was taken to various countries, following it's success in the 1960s and 70s. Hard as it may seem but at it's peak it was watched by 23 million viewers. So this programme deals with the acid house culture that goes mainstream in the summer of 1988. Various teens (underage?) are interviewed, and only increased parents fears of what was going on.

Now, the coolest club venues are not seen as your typical Roxy nightclub, but in empty warehouses and open fields. Oh, and they're illegal as well. This followed with media hysteria over the drugs associated with the culture. This ran for years and years, but it was true to an extent, but the music itself wasn't the pre-dominating factor, it was based on the other people attending these parties. For the youth of the late-80s, with only yuppies having mobile phones at that time, and no internet, it was an achievement within iself to amass these unofficial conurbations, which is something the youth of today don't have. The complexity to organise in mass movements, and well, they wouldn't be seen dead in a muddy field nowadays.