In this Wednesday, August 21, 1991 file photo, appreciative muscovites hand bread, sausages and flowers to a Soviet tank's driver who helped stop the failed hardline coup in Moscow, Russia. When a group of top Communist officials ousted Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev 30 years ago and flooded Moscow with tanks, the world held its breath, fearing a rollback on liberal reforms and a return to the Cold War confrontation. But the August 1991 coup collapsed in just three days, precipitating the breakup of the Soviet Union that plotters said they were trying to prevent. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo/File)

This handout photo taken and released on October 5, 2021 by Russian Space Agency Roscosmos shows Russian crew member, actress Yulia Peresild forming a heart with her hands as her spacesuit is tested prior to the launch onboard the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome. (Photo by Andrey Shelepin/Russian Space Agency Roscosmos/AFP Photo)

A member of a winter swimming club wears flippers during the celebration of Maslenitsa, also known as Pancake Week, a pagan holiday, marking the end of the winter, in Novosibirsk, Russia. (Photo by Alexandr Kryazhev/Sputnik/Profimedia)

Indonesian soldiers wearing facemasks and personal protective equipment take a part in a sack race during games to celebrate ahead of the country's 75th Independence Day in Surabaya, East Java on August 14, 2020. Indonesia will mark its 75th Independence Day on August 17. (Photo by Juni Kriswanto/AFP Photo)

Two women dressed for a party take photos of each other outside a venue in London, Friday, December 17, 2021. On what would normally be one of the busiest times for pubs and restaurants just before Christmas, customer numbers are down in central London due to concerns about the new omicron variant. Friday night in Central London was muted with one bar saying they have 30 customers inside when there should have been 170, with large amounts of cancellations in recent days. (Photo by Alastair Grant/AP Photo)

A robotic dog of the National Guard of Ukraine takes part in the Run4Victory charity marathon, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 27, 2024. (Photo by Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters)

Dutch artist Maxim Gazendam works on his sand sculpture during the third edition of the European Championship Sand Sculpting 2014 in Zandvoort aan Zee, The Netherlands, 08 August 2014. Eight sculptors from different European countries will each create an impressive sculpture on the main theme “Music and Dance”. (Photo by Remko De Waal/EPA)

While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)