This film is one of many made by Robert Sharp, a textile retailer from Bradford.   The YFA holds over 30 films either made by, or on behalf of, Bob Sharp, dating from the late 1930s through to the late 1950s. The films cover  Sharp’s interests and hobbies, his work as a councillor, family films and the floor covering business he had in Halifax, Huddersfield and Newcastle.  It was with the films made during the Second World War however, especially of 'Holidays at Home' weeks – when...

This film is one of many made by Robert Sharp, a textile retailer from Bradford.   The YFA holds over 30 films either made by, or on behalf of, Bob Sharp, dating from the late 1930s through to the late 1950s. The films cover  Sharp’s interests and hobbies, his work as a councillor, family films and the floor covering business he had in Halifax, Huddersfield and Newcastle.  It was with the films made during the Second World War however, especially of 'Holidays at Home' weeks – when it was difficult to holiday by the sea – that his filming really took off.  Collectively they give a fascinating portrait of Bradford during the 1940s, and record important civic events and personalities. 

Bob Sharp also filmed more of the V.E. Day Celebrations in the centre of Bradford, with dancing in the streets and some rather eccentric behaviour.  The year before this film was made he also filmed Ernest Bevin visiting Bradford, when he was still Minister of Labour.

The inevitable surrender of Germany had been looming for a while when finally V E Day arrived.   From the moment that Operation Overlord was launched on 6th June 1944, D-Day, when 160,000 allied troops crossed the English Channel, it was just a matter of time before a German surrender.   The death of Hitler on 30th April 1945 was announced in the British press on the 2nd May, the day after his successor as Fuhrer, Karl Doenitz, announced it on German radio – supposedly falling in combat.  When the Red Army arrived at his bunker in Berlin shortly afterwards they eventually confirmed his death by suicide, with that of Eva Braun his wife of just two days, by checking his dental records.  Nevertheless, with the USSR removing his body, confusion continued to surround his death for a long time, and even now some still claim that he escaped to Argentina.  Hitler was joined by Goebbels and many other Germans committing suicide in the days leading up to surrender. 

Initially Doenitz tried to fight on, but there soon came a spate of surrenders.  German forces in Italy had already surrendered on 29 April.  This was followed by those in Berlin, to the Soviets on May 2nd, and on 4th May the surrender to allied forces in the Netherlands, Denmark and north-western Germany.  Hermann Göring surrendered to US forces on the Austria-German border on 6th May and General Hermann Niehoff, the commandant of Breslau, surrendered to the Soviets the same day.  Within hours of this last, Doenitz authorized General Gustav Jodl to unconditional surrender: signed on Sunday 7th May in a schoolhouse in Reims, north eastern France (although a few rogue German forces continued to fight in Czechoslovakia for a few more days).  V E Day followed on May 8th, and the following day was also a public holiday. 

The immediate celebrations that erupted across the country were to be expected given the severity of six years at war.  In total 50 million had been killed in the war: 15 million were soldiers, 20 million Russian civilians, six million Jews and over four million Poles; while in the UK nearly half a million had lost their lives as a result of the war.  The celebrations for those who had lost loved ones was therefore bittersweet, as it was for those who still had loved ones fighting in the Far East (which didn’t end until V J Day on August 15th).  The feelings of relief were allied to a will to change many things for the better, hence the landslide victory for Labour soon after in the July general election.

That the war wasn’t over for some was shown in the case of 16 year old Ken Russell (no, not the wild man of British cinema), who lost his older brother training in a Lancaster Bomber in July.  Ken, born in Idle, Bradford, was a keen cyclist, who went on to fame when in 1952 he won the highly competitive Tour of Britain, for the most part without a team to support him – something which is almost unheard of – and by borrowing a bicycle off a fellow Belgian rider who was good enough to swap with him when his own bike was giving way (the wonderful story is told by Joe Shute).   Ken didn’t compete in the cycle race in the film – although he did compete in the same race two years later – but he may possibly make an appearance watching the two cyclists take refreshments at the end of the stage. 

The cycle race in the film is undoubtedly the Victory Cycling Marathon, to celebrate the end of the war.   This was the first Brighton to Glasgow cycle race, the precursor of the Tour of Britain, as it passed through Bradford on August 8th/9th, 1945, organised by the British League of Racing Cyclists.  The riders stayed in cheap boarding houses, which may explain why it looks like it might be a local race.  Bradford Racing Cyclists Club had three competitors in the race (one less than the vegetarians).  One of them, Geoff Clark (in dark top), can be seen talking to the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Cecil Barnett, and lining up just behind Percy Stallard and Ernie Clements  at the start of the 4th stage of the race before setting off in front.  The National Cyclists' Union had banned road racing way back in 1890, and Percy Stallard, taking advantage of the quiet wartime roads, organized the first ever mass start cycling road race in Britain, 59 miles between Llangollen and Wolverhampton, on June 7, 1942 – this was unauthorised by the National Cycle Union, which then banned Stallard, who went on to found the rival British League of Racing Cyclists.  Geoff Clark completed the 5 day race over 542 miles in 25 hours, 33 minutes and 18 seconds, finishing second.  As well as a successful cycling career, Geoff also achieved some fame with the cycle frames he built in Bradford. 

References

The German surrender, Tom Topol, ‘The very last Nazi passport‘

Ada Petrova and Peter Watson, ‘The Death of Hitler: The Full Story with New Evidence from Secret Russian Archives’

Washington Post

Joe Shute, The Telegraph, ‘Going Solo: how one Yorkshireman conquered Britain’s greatest cycle race’.

1945 Britain’s Victory Cycling Marathon:  Brighton to Glasgow

Geoff Clark - racing cyclist and frame builder