By Sebastian Murphy-bates For Mailonline
Published: 12:03 GMT, 15 February 2019 | Updated: 13:46 GMT, 15 February 2019
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Striking shots from nearly 70 years ago show some of London’s most colourful street performers wowing crowds in the mid-20th Century.
Incredible images feature a fearless acrobat jumping through a small hoop, a Charlie Chaplin impersonator pretending to charm a snake and a disabled ex-servicemen putting on a show for passers-by.
The shots from post-war Britain show a banjo player picking alongside his dog and a gentleman quietly concentrating as he plays what appears to be a Zither - a notoriously difficult instrument to master.
As it emerged from the Second World War, the UK was still labouring under rationing laws but blinking in the light of a blossoming economy.
The fifties were years of tremendous cultural upheaval as brass and silver bands gave way to American forms of music including jazz, swing, and pop.
Rock ‘n’ roll was hot on its heels with British bands such as Cliff Richard and the Shadows mimicking their US counterparts in the latter stages of the decade.
A young boy appears captivated by a street performer playing the harp in the capital. As the country recovered from the horrors of the Second World War, London was awash with musicians and other performance artists whose attempts to entertain passers-by on a daily basis have been captured in a stunning set of photographs dating back to the 1950s
Pictured, left: An acrobat leaps through a small hoop and appears to be using a chair as a landing pint for his hands to flip himself over in a daring display for his audience. Right: An accordion player wearing cut-off gloves and flatcap offers a musical distraction to people walking past in a London
