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”)

Soldiers take part in a drill during a heavy snow in Heihe, Heilongjiang province, February 26, 2014. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

“NASA's Mars rover Opportunity just celebrated its ninth anniversary on Mars – a mission that was originally meant to last just 90 days...” – The Atlantic. Photo: NASA's rover Opportunity visits Victoria Crater, viewed from orbit by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in october of 2006. Opportunity is a small dot on the crater's lip, at top right. Opportunity first reached the crater's rim on September 27, 2006. (Photo by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona via The Atlantic)

People look at French artist Clement Briend's photographic light installation “Divine Trees”, which features images of divine figures highly revered in Asian cultures projected on trees towering over bystanders, during a media preview of the Singapore Night Festival in Singapore August 21, 2014. The Singapore Night Festival begins on Friday. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

Hot air balloons fly over the sky in Chiang Mai province, northern Thailand, December 6, 2014. The two-day International Balloon festival 2014 featuring balloon pilots from Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Britain, and Czech Republic is held on December 06-07 2014 to celebrate Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 87th birthday and also aimed to promote the tourism industry in Chiang Mai northern city. (Photo by Pongmanat Tasiri/EPA)

Animals destined for the stage of Radio City Music Hall in New York on November 13, 1986 are led to the stage door by their co-stars, the Rockettes dancers. A variety of animals, including camels, sheep and donkeys, will star in an annual Christmas production. (Photo by G. Paul Burnett/AP Photo)

Ja Kang Song, 71, and Ja Hyun Su, 72, dive for shellfish and are the main breadwinners for their families. In South Korea, 45% of the diving women of Jeju are over the age of 70. Routinely diving to depths of 20m and staying under for an average of two to three minutes, the pressure on the body takes its toll and, like many others, burst eardrums have left Ja Hyun Su deaf. Each season, between seven and 10 women die diving the waters around Jeju Island. (Photo by Andy W. Langton/Age International)

A worker loads palm fruit at a palm oil plantation in North Mamuju regency, West Sulawesi province, Indonesia March 10, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Photo by Sahrul Manda Tikupadang/Reuters/Antara Foto)