This page contains links to newsreels and historic movie clips made at Greenwich by British Pathé and other professional film makers.
| Event | Partial Solar eclipse of 8 April 1921 | |
| Content/About | Film shows: Meridian Building roof, South Building dome opening, Thompson 26-inch Refractor and photoheliograph | |
| Source | British Pathé | |
| Type | Black & white (silent) | |
| Running time | 1 min 42 seconds | |
| Click here to view |
| Event | Royal Visit to commemorate the Observatory’s 250th anniversary on 26 July 1925 | |
| Content/About | Film shows: External view of South Building with the dome open and Airy’s New Library to the left. Interior of the 28-inch Telescope Dome with the Astronomer Royal Frank Dyson showing King George V the telescope. Royal Party exiting South Building |
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| Source | British Pathé | |
| Type | Black & white (silent) | |
| Running time | 1 min 25 seconds | |
| Click here to view |
| Exterior view of the Observatory in 1926 |
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| Content/About | An extract from Claude Friese-Greene’s The Open Road. This is the earliest known colour footage of the Observatory |
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| Source | British Film Institute via YouTube |
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| Type | Colour (no sound) |
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| Running time | 27 seconds |
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| Click here to view |
| Event | Visit of the King of Afghanistan on 22 March 1928 |
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| Content/About | This film which is titled Visit of the King of Afghanistan to England consists of 7 reels (videos) in total. The King’s visit to the Royal Observatory is on reel 4. This reel starts with the Royal Party travelling by boat downstream to Greenwich. Observatory footage starts at 3min 15 sec. The King and the Astronomer Royal Dyson are seen entering the 28-inch telescope dome and examining the telescope. They are then shown examining the telescopes in the Thompson Dome in the South Building. The footage ends with the royal party on the South Building roof |
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| Source | Government sponsored production from the Imperial War Museum Archives | |
| Type | Black & white (silent) | |
| Running time | 3 min 18 seconds | |
| Click here to view reel 4 |
| Event | 1928 |
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| Content/About | Greenwich Clock and Observatory (modern title) |
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| Source | BFI | |
| Type | Black & white (silent) | |
| Running time | 1 min 03 seconds | |
| Click here to view |
| Visit by the astronomer Andrew Ellicott Douglass in 1931 |
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| Content/About | An extract from Douglass’s home movie of his visit to various observatories |
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| Source | Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries | |
| Type | Black & white (silent) | |
| Running time | 2 min 3 seconds (starts at 3 min 42 seconds) |
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| Click here to view |
| The Greenwich time ball in 1953 |
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| Content/About | Shows the winding mechanism and the Ball dropping at 1 o'clock following a recent restoration |
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| Source | British Pathé | |
| Type | Black & white (with sound) | |
| Running time | 50 seconds | |
| Click here to view |
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Except where indicated, all text and images are the copyright of Graham Dolan