Starting this Thursday 18th August at 21.00 with The Birth of News, BBC4 are launching a four part series looking at the history of British Pathe. Over the next month each hour long episode will explore a different aspect of British Pathe’s production history starting with newsreels and continuing with the ‘voice of Pathe’.

Each programme will feature extensive use of material from the archive of British Pathe with context and commentary from ex-staff and historians, including Linda Kaye who curates the BUFVC’s News on Screen, the leading resource for the study of newsreels and cinemagazines.

Pathe was one of several newsreel companies battling for our attention at the cinema and newsreel theatres. Find out more about the company and its rivals from the News on Screen Learn More section, through reading the history of the British newsreel and exploring how the news was made.

Pathe's cameraman Jack Cotter disguised as a West Ham United football fan in order to 'pinch' the 1923 FA Cup Final from newsreel rivals (courtesy of British Pathe)