Queen Elizabeth 3-D Film To Air

Last week, 12th Nov 14:00

A three-dimentional film of Britain's Queen Elizabeth being crowned is to be broadcast on TV.

The footage - which was lost in an archive for over 55 years - has been described as the "closest thing to time travel" royal fans will ever experience.

The queen is expected to be among millions of TV viewers to put on special 3-D glasses to watch the film next week.

It was originally shot for a newsreel in 1953 and includes the coronation procession as well as clips of the monarch traveling by royal barge and joking on London's Tower Pier.

It cost about £3,000 to make by two innovative young British cameramen Bob Angell and Arthur Wooster.

It was never screened at the time as the popularity of TV overtook the public's interest in 3-D films.

Arthur, now 80, who went on to work as a cameraman on nine 'James Bond' movies, said: "'We were heartbroken that it was shelved at the time but at least we got paid. It's just taken a while, rather a long while in actual fact, to see the light of day.

"It was quite a feat to pull off at the time."

'We were heartbroken that it was shelved at the time but at least we got paid. It's just taken a while, rather a long while in actual fact, to see the light of day.It was quite a feat to pull off at the time.

It was only dug out of the archives in 2006 when he told his filmmaker son David about the footage.

David then went to the vaults of the British Film Institute where he discovered the Royal Review film, calling it "absolutely stunning".

He said of the film made by his father and 87-year-old Bob Angell: "It is like a little time capsule. You really feel part of the era."

The footage will be shown on Channel 4's 'The Queen in 3D' on Monday (16.11.09) and Tuesday (17.11.09).

David Glover, Channel 4 commissioning editor, said: "It is decades ahead of their time. It is the nearest thing to time travel that I will ever experience.