BBC's Domesday Reloaded captures Coventry Canal change

The BBC's Domesday Project, originally an interactive videodisc with photographs, text and more, has been uploaded to the internet 25 years after its creation. If you go to the home page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday almost the first thing to catch your eye will be a "then and now" comparison of Little Heath on the Coventry Canal.


In case the page changes I've taken a screen grab. Clicking on the photos (on the Domesday Reloaded website) takes you to a slightly larger picture, with a few words about the scene. The text for the 1986 photo reads:

A narrow boat on the Coventry Canal in Little Heath.In the background is Courtaulds factory.This boat is a pleasure boat.

And that for the 2011 photo:

The site of Courtaulds factory in 2011 now stands empty. On the horizon the Ricoh Arena can be seen.

What a difference!

I was at the BBC Open University Production Centre when much of the mastering of the videodiscs was done, so I must have worked on the 1986 Domesday project in a small way. I can't remember much about it now, except that I do recall sections of Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps being recorded. I think I was excited about being able to select an area and zoom in on it, bringing up associated images and text. And this was long before the internet was established.

This post was supposed to have been published yesterday, but Blogger was down.