A boy and a woman run across a railway track as a train approaches in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, October 8, 2015. Many residents disregard sign prohibiting this kind of illegal crossing and choose to do so to save time, local media reported. (Photo by Hao Fei/Reuters/Western China Metropolis Daily)

The "Skylanders Eruptor" balloon moves by people on balconies during the 89th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the Manhattan borough of New York, November 26, 2015. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

A young Thai man jumps in the air and cheers as his rocket takes off at the Bun Bang Fai Rocket Festival on May 10, 2015 in Yasothon, Thailand. (Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

A person stands in front of a 25.3-meter-long giant rabbit designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman at an old aircraft hangar as part of the Taoyuan Land Art Festival in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, September 3, 2014. The rabbit is named “Moon rabbit” for the coming Mid-Autumn Festival or the Moon Festival and will be displayed from September 4 to 14 at the Taoyuan military base. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

Young gymnasts practice pull-up on a bar at a gymnasium of a sports school in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province April 11, 2015. (Photo by William Hong/Reuters)

Girls play with live Teacup pigs, a rare pet in the country, at the start of celebrations leading to the Lunar New Year, Friday, February 1, 2019 at Lucky Chinatown Plaza mall in Manila, Philippines. The upcoming Year of the Pig represents abundance, diligence and generosity. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

Aurorae category runner-up: Lone Tree under a Scandinavian Aurora by Tom Archer (UK). The photographer decided to explore the area around the hotel on a very crisp -35C evening in Finnish Lapland. When he found this tree, he decided to wait for the misty conditions to change and could not believe his luck when the sky cleared and the aurora came out in the perfect spot. Archer spent about an hour photographing it before his camera started to lock up because of the harsh conditions, but by then he was happy to call it a night. (Photo by Tom Archer/2020 Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

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”)