Screenshot from a vintage Badminton newsreel uploaded by British Pathé.
These days there are a number of ways to stay abreast of the Badminton action as it unfolds: live streams, radio, social media, live scores, live blogs, online publications, and even good-old fashioned television. We highly recommend this website called Eventing Nation — perhaps you’ve heard of it.
Badminton’s bustling media center. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
Back in the day, however, coverage was a bit rougher around the edges.
Check out these six fascinating vintage Badminton newsreels, uploaded by the moving picture archive collection British Pathé. Badminton Horse Trials made the news for many years running, as evidenced by the following videos which cheerfully capture the spirit of the sport. Not much in the way of context is available for them so — I’m looking at you, eventing history buffs! — if you have any insight into their back stories, please share in the comments below.
1954
1957
1958
1964
1965
1968
Learn more about the British Pathé project here or check out the new YouTube collection here — there’s a lot more Badminton footage where that came from, much of it bits and pieces that didn’t make it into the broadcast. And keep it locked on EN for complete coverage of Badminton 2017!
#MMBHT Links: Website, Entries, Schedule, Course Preview, EN’s Coverage, Live Stream, EN’s Twitter, EN’s Instagram
