A Mexican wearing a period costume re-enacts the battle of Puebla, in the Penon de los Banos neighbourhood of Mexico City, Mexico May 5, 2016. The battle marked the defeat of French forces by Mexican troops and local Indians in the central state of Puebla in 1862. During the re-enactment, participants fired homemade shotguns loaded with gunpowder and hundreds of men dressed as Indian peasants fought mock battles against others dressed as French invaders. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)

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”)

Israeli soldiers of the Search and Rescue brigade take part in a training session in Ben Shemen forest, near the city of Modi'in May 23, 2016. (Photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters)

People wearing protective face masks amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak are seen near foodstuffs, which are displayed for sale on a car in Omsk, Russia on December 4, 2020. (Photo by Alexey Malgavko/Reuters)

Afghan resistance movement and anti-Taliban uprising forces take part in a military training in Panjshir province on August 30, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP Photo)

Construction workers walk past a mural in Phnom Penh on September 6, 2022. (Photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP Photo)

Vendors wait for customers at a wholesale vegetable market in Dhaka on September 4, 2022. (Photo by Munir Uz Zaman/AFP Photo)