Kids in the Machine
While I await a new blog entry from Another Nickel in the Machine (the best blog about London in case you didn't know), I made the happy discovery today through Morrissey Solo that the BFI has quite a few documentaries available for free on its website (maybe films too?), especially early ones about London.
We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959)
Morrissey's “Spring Heeled Jim” features several samples from "We Are the Lambeth Boys", a 1959 British documentary by Karel Reisz about the daily activities of members of the Alford House Youth Club, Kennington in late 1950s London.
The dialogue excerpted in the song is from two different conversations, one about a fight between young men and another about abolishing of the death penalty. In the song the two conversations are spliced together to make it sound like one.
There's also a channel on YouTube - OpenFlix - with old films and documentaries.
This is what the internet was made for.
(This doc might be of interest to you fj, since it's about your neighbourhood!)