[Jandek] When I Took That Train Cover

[Ian H]

I'm not sure if the best way is to try and identify
the era by the cars in the photo.  The most telling
bit in the picture for me is the fact that you can see
CCTV cameras attached to the lampost above the traffic
lights.

According to
http://www.answers.com/topic/closed-circuit-television-2
(admitedly this was the first page I found whilst
searching for "when was the first cctv camera
installed in london?" so may not be the most
accurate):

"The first CCTV cameras used in public spaces were
crude, conspicuous, low definition black and white
systems without the ability to zoom or pan..."
and
"In the United Kingdom, several trial programs in the
early 1990s were deemed successful, and have led to a
massive increase in the number of CCTV systems
installed, with systems covering most town and city
centres."

That camera doesn't look extremely crude, and if the
website is right, and we assumed that this was one of
those trial cameras, we are dating it at least "early
90's", but no later than December 1993 

Looking at a few more results it looks as though most
CCTV cameras were installed on Housing estates around
1992 onwards, but with one being installed as early as
1987.  I can't get anything conclusive about the
centre of London, but I'm sure it must be 90's.

The van registration (unhelpfully) looks like either a
"H" or an "M", which spans the years of 1990 and 1994.
 

I'm pretty sure thats the date.


-----------------------------------------------------------------


According to Kieron Tyler, Mappin and Webb closed
around 1986 and the
building stood empty between then and the 1994
demolition.  So that
conclusively places the photo in the mid 1980's at the
latest.  I don't
think the car registration thing is usable, but the
cars look like
1980's models to me for sure.

Anyone know for sure when the gray building was built?



		
___________________________________________________________ 
How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday 
snaps for FREE with Yahoo! Photos http://uk.photos.yahoo.com