I wholeheartedly support George Monbiot’s demand that climate campaigning should be properly supported by the government (Dear ministers, I am a climate crisis campaigner: nationalise me right now, 28 August). And he’s right about those powerful films about road safety, fire safety etc.
Most, if not all, will have been made by the late Central Office of Information (for which I made two films as a freelance). I remember as a child watching its TV road safety fillers – some of which were brilliantly constructed, building tension that many cinema directors would envy. Half a century later, I can still recall one about not “amber-hopping”, and another suspenseful film about a boy waiting for his father, who would never arrive. The suspense came from trying to anticipate which driving mistake would kill him. I firmly believe they must have made me a better driver.
Later films that the COI made went round the world, promoting UK culture and industry. Of course, being a British success story, it was abolished by the Tories in 2012.
Charles Harris
London
• Governments have for too long had a disjointed approach to communicating with the public on environmental issues. I agree with George Monbiot that bringing back public information films across TV and social media would raise public awareness of green subjects. As a child of the 70s and 80s, I still get chills recalling the film warning us not to swim in open water, and learned useful life skills, such as what to do if I suspect a gas leak, how to safely cross a road and how to follow the countryside code. I can even remember most of the catchy song about learning to swim.
Elliot Lane
Rastrick, West Yorkshire
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