A person walks their dog in the morning mist at sunrise in Greenwich Park in south London on November 9, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP Photo)

Kamaz Russian driver Eduard Nikolaev, co- driver Evgeny Yakovlev and mechanic Vladimir Rybakov compete during the 2018 Dakar Rally' s Stage 13 between San Juan and Cordoba in Argentina, on January 19, 2018. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

People look at buildings displaying a light show on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing on June 30, 2021. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)

Burning effigies of winter during a celebration of Maslenitsa festival (Pancake Week) at the Etnomir (Ethnoworld) cultural and educational center in Kaluga Region, Russia on March 1, 2020. The holiday celebrates the end of winter and marks the arrival of spring. (Photo by Sergei Bobylev/TASS)

Participants climb a 10km muddy obstacle course during the “Run Mud” race, on March 29, 2019 in the Israeli mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv. Over 6,000 participants took part in the obstacle race, with up to 18 artificial obstacles on three tracks (10 km, five km or two km). (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

An aerial view shows boats sailing in the marshes of Chibayish in Iraq's southern Dhi Qar province on February 8, 2025. (Photo by Asaad Niazi/AFP 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”)

North Korean women in colorful traditional dresses are surrounded by flower blossoms known as “Kimilsungia” as they wait to guide guests at a flower exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 14, 2014. The flowers, named after Kim Il Sung, are on display to celebrate the late leader's official birth date of April 15, 1912. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)