"Passed Along the London Road" [SIGN]

One of my favorite phrases as it relates to the Sherlock Holmes stories is from Edgar Smith's early Baker Street Journal essay in which he wrote:

We love the times in which he lived, of course, the half-remembered, half-forgotten times of snug Victorian illusion, of gaslit comfort and contentment, of perfect dignity and grace. And we love the place: the England of those times, fat with the fruits of her achievements, but strong and daring still with the spirit of imperial adventure.

Here then is a remarkable piece of video footage from 1927 - the year the last Sherlock Holmes story was first published - taking us on a tour through London in colour. What's particularly striking to me is that despite the obviously dated vehicles in the film, this is footage that could have been shot yesterday, as the buildings, uniforms, and daily activities of its inhabitants are all very much the same.

From the YouTube posting:

London is the last stop in an epic trip across Britain filmed in remarkable early colour.

London was the final stop in a marathon journey around Britain filmed as a series of cinema travelogues. Pioneering filmmaker Claude Friese-Greene brought these picture-postcard scenes to life with a specially-devised colour film process.

Is there anything that strikes you about this video? Leave a comment and share your impressions.

What are those four-letter abbreviations in the headlines?