New Gems from the ITN Archive: JFK, Castro & more!

In December 1962, not long after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Harold Macmillan and JFK met for an emergency meeting in the Bahamas. They were there to negotiate an agreement whereby the US would provide the UK with Polaris missiles, following an end to the Skybolt programme against the wishes of the UK.

The Polaris deal was later replaced with the currently operational Trident missile system - the future fof which some experts have expressed doubt about following Trump’s re-election.

This historic footage of the photocall - as well as the barbeque afterwards - was previously missing, but has now been found and scanned as part of our ongoing work with our colleagues at Cinelab Film & Digital where our 16mm and 35mm reels are stored, preserved and digitised.

In 1985, Neil Kinnock travelled to Nicaragua to attend the inauguration of Daniel Ortega - as reported on by ITN’s Jon Snow. The inauguration was also attended by Castro - who met Kinnock the next day (also filmed by ITN!). The inauguration ceremony footage includes excellent shots of Ortega himself.

The series of recently-uploaded reports also includes more on the rest of Nicaragua, which was then still in a state of civil war as the state fought to suppress the US-sponsored Sandinistas.

Ortega lost power in the election of 1990, but returned in 2007, and has since remained at the head of a government widely considered to be highly authoritarian.

In the summer of 1964, Edward Kennedy was in London following the unveiling of the memorial to his brother. He spoke to ITN’s Reginald Bosanquet - about the Kennedy family, his own career, and the upcoming Civil Rights Act (the last shots capture some off-camera chat!).

Thanks again to Cinelab for this scan, newly uploaded to the Getty Images site in six parts.

Newly digitised - footage of Boris Yeltsin’s 1992 and 1994 visits to the UK - including a trip to the pub with John and Norma Major - and former PM Mrs Thatcher speaking to the press following her meeting with him. Click the link above for almost 3 hours of new rushes!

The 1962 affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton caused a huge scandal - with the Vatican condemning the couple for “erotic vagrancy”. Quick to capitalise on the publicity, MGM cast the pair together again in The VIPs before Cleopatra had even been released. In this previously missing ITN footage, the glamorous couple meet the press at Elstree Studios.

2026 will mark fifty years since the first commercial Concorde flight. As well as this recently uploaded footage from JFK Airport (click the screengrab above) we have lots more early & unseen rushes available to scan from 16mm film.

And finally...from the London News Network archive - Ken Livingstone is criticized for spending over ￡100,000 on the capital’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations, 2002. Thanks to Katie for this timely find!