Spectator sports

I focused on the sporting aspect of the theme for Sepia Saturday today and found this card showing spectators at Victoria Park, 1961.  It doesn't actually say where Victoria Park is, I imagine vast numbers of towns have a Victoria Park, but I'm making a guess at Victoria Park in London's Tower Hamlets based on the fact that many of the cards in this series are of London.  You can still see similar informal football matches there.

I did in the end find a card showing a moustache...

Maintenance on the clock face of Big Ben, 1950-1960s.   In case you don't believe me about the moustache:

These postcards are from English Heritage, created from their range of images showing social history, as well as architectural and industrial heritage.

An entry for this week's Sepia Saturday on the subject of moustaches (for Movember).

Prague

A card that does justice to the beautiful city of Prague in the Czech Republic.  It shows Tyn Church or Týnský Chrám, and the Town Hall with its astronomical clock in the Town Hall Square.  The twin spires of Tyn Church are not identical, a characteristic of the architecture of the time - 14th century.  The Town Hall dates from the same time, the clock from the 15th century, though the lower dial with the signs of the zodiac is a later addition in the 19th century.

It's well worth the climb up to the top of the tower, though I seem to remember there is a lift at least part of the way.  Either way, there is a magnificent view over the entire square and beyond.

Palais de la Dynastie

The Palais de la Dynastie, also known as the Musée de la Dynastie, is in the Royal Quarter of Brussels.  This clock  above the archway is a 24 bell carillon.  The dial is decorated with 12 figures representing important people from history or folklore.  These figures move when the figure high above strikes the bell each hour. 

It is a Jacquemart clock or bellstriker clock.  The oldest known Jacquemart clock is in Dijon, France but there are many examples.  All have a human-like figure which moves, striking a bell to tell the time.

Astronomical clock in Prague

This is a slightly different view of the Prague astronomical clock from the one I posted over a year ago.  Since then I've been lucky enough to see it for myself, on the Old Town Hall Tower.

Sundial in Wlodawa

The sundial shown is carved on one side of a block of flats in Wlodawa, a small town in the east of Poland.  It shows summer time and winter time and local time.  The chart at the bottom gives the number of minutes to be added or subtracted each month.  It all sounds very accurate.  I wonder if it is.

Harold Lloyd

A scene from the 1923 movie "Safety Last", a silent romantic comedy starring, of course, Harold Lloyd.  This is probably one of the most famous scenes of the time.