Guaranteed to make you smile and appreciate winter a little more, London in the Snow curates a collection of black and white photographs of Londoners enjoying frosty days in the capital over the years. From Trafalgar Square snowball fights, to makeshift sledges, here’s a selection taken from the book by Vintage Britain and published by Hoxton Mini Press…
Photo: Vintage Britain/Hoxton Mini Press
1 Betty Mason, an ice skater from Sunbury, Middlesex, is seen trying to drive the swans to open water, where a keeper had broken the ice for them on Wimbledon Common, London.
2 An Alpine scene on London’s Hampstead Heath, where heavy snowfall had these two skiers happy in the prospect of Swiss sports without the travel costs circa 1955.
3 Head keeper Buck Jones gets some willing assistance from Rusty the elephant, who joins him in a combined operation to clear some of the snow from the elephant enclosure at London Zoo, 1958.
4 A ‘bubble car’ with a ‘snowman’ face after a snowfall in London, 1958.
5 Children enjoy a snowball fight in Trafalgar Square, 1938.
6 Snow covered traffic on Farringdon Street, in London, 1951.
7 It isn’t every day one has the chance of riding along or over the River Thames. But that chance came to cyclist David Joel as he took to the frozen river near Windsor Bridge. At Windsor the Thames is frozen from bank-to-bank for a considerable distance, 1963.
8 Wintry scene in Trafalgar Square, London, when heavy snow fell on the city. The winter of 1947, from January to mid-March, was one of the coldest during the whole of the twentieth century. Temperatures reached a record low and there was persistent snow fall. Added to this severe weather was the fact that there were severe shortages of food and, critically, fuel (of all kinds).
9 Father and kids are sitting on a toboggan in the Hampstead Heath Park in London, February 28, 1937.
10 A milkman makes a delivery to Streatham Grammar school in London, 1939.
London in the Snow by Vintage Britain is published by Hoxton Mini Press. RRP £16.95; hoxtonminipress.com
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