Bikermania Shorts

Eclectic archive biker programme, from BSA in its heyday to Hells Angels in the Black Country.

Birmingham was the birthplace of many iconic motorbikes and this archive programme charts the rise and fall of the city’s bike industry, from its wartime heyday to the sad decline of the 1970s. There’s footage of an American auctioneer flogging off what was left of the BSA factory, and on a lighter note some beautiful home-movie footage of a group of teenagers attempting to relive The Wild One in the Leicestershire suburbs. We finish off with a compelling BBC report on a gang of Black Country Hells Angels, investigating marriage rituals and following a young man called Hitler as he goes to meet his unimpressed new in-laws.

With thanks to Adam Curtis and the Media Archive for Central England for their help in putting together this programme.

Photograph of the BSA factory, Small Heath by Phyllis Nicklin.