American actress Kristen Stewart attends the Chanel Metiers d'Art runway show, in Manchester, Britain on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

Picture of a float taking part in the “White Day” parade during the Carnival of Blacks and Whites in Pasto, Colombia on January 6, 2024. The Blacks and Whites carnival has its origins in a mix of Andean, Amazonian and Pacific cultural expressions, and it celebrates the ethnic diversity in the region and was proclaimed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2009. (Photo by Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

A woman wearing a sweet girl cosplay mask strikes a pose during a flower watching or Hanami event, in the Japanese Garden of Bucharest, Romania, April 13, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/AP Photo)

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”)

A model poses at Checkpoint Charlie, a historic place in the German capital to promote the fashion magazine “Sous” on June 12, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini)

A Viet Cong suspect holds his hands up after a Vietnamese Ranger from the 21st Vietnam Infantry Division routed him from his hiding place. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). 7th November 1967

A lighting bolt flashes in the sky as U.S. Army M1A1 Abram tanks roll through the desert December 9, 2002 near the Iraqi border in Kuwait. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A fireman from the London Fire Brigade, wearing a smoke helmet. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1908