English Heritage acquires film of the first Battle of Hastings re-enactment, held in 1966

Mixed · 2English Heritage has acquired rare colour footage of the first Battle of Hastings re-enactment, held on 14 October 1966 to mark the battle's 900th anniversary. 1 2 Left · 1The Guardian says about 500 students from Kent and Sussex universities took part on the fields outside Battle, East Sussex, with wooden and hardboard weapons painted silver, and that the Norman side arrived 20 minutes late after being held up in traffic on the A27 from Brighton. 1 Mixed · 2The footage was filmed by Alan Wootton, a Hastings electronics manufacturer, whom Hastings town council had asked to record the celebrations. 1 2

Right · 1The Daily Mail adds that Wootton and his wife Mary ran the business together and had developed a way to record sound with silent home movies. 2 Mixed · 2The film came to light when Wootton's son Cliff, who was 12 at the time and helped on the day, told a Battle Abbey volunteer he had 300 reels of film of the event. After Alan Wootton's death his wife had given the reels to Cliff, who has been restoring them. 1 2 Left · 1The Guardian says the reels have been condensed into a 12-minute film showing re-enactors hitting each other with fake weapons, horse riding and about 30,000 spectators. 1

Right · 1The Daily Mail says the film will be shown to the public for the first time this weekend. 2 Left · 1Peter Sampson, a Sussex fresher at the time, told the Guardian the clash became "a God-almighty punch-up" with real pushing and shoving. He said it ended after 25 minutes and that students then took beer kegs from the refreshment tent and drank with the Kent students. 1 Right · 1James Witcombe, English Heritage's site manager at Battle Abbey, called the film "an incredible time capsule" and a reminder of how much re-enactment and health and safety have changed. English Heritage said some scenes are likely to "raise a few eyebrows amongst modern audiences". 2

Left · 1Witcombe told the Guardian the amateur, fun atmosphere is what the charity wants to preserve, with more boundaries so nobody gets hurt, and that today's re-enactors take authenticity far more seriously. 1 Left · 1This year's 60th re-enactment takes place at Battle Abbey on 10 and 11 October. The Guardian expects 1,000 combatants and cites a boost in interest from the Bayeux Tapestry's presence in London. 1 Right · 1English Heritage is asking anyone who took part in 1966 to come forward and be invited as special guests. It says many of the original foot soldiers came from Sussex and Kent universities but it has no record of names. 2