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

A flower is pictured in front of the destroyed regional administration building as Russia's attacks on Ukraine continue, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine on June 8, 2022. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

An armed forces members patrol during an operation against drug dealers in Vila Kennedy slum in Rio de Janeiro, March 7, 2018. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Fireworks explode over a floating Christmas tree in Lagoa Lake in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press)

Russian servicewomen march at Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow on May 9, 2017. Russia marks the 72nd anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two. (Photo by Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP Photo)

Esau the ape at the piano. (Photo by Reinhold Thiele/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1900

Tour de France hostess wear face masks prior to the start of the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 156 kilometers (97 miles) with start and finish in Nice, southern France, Saturday, August 29, 2020. (Photo by Christophe Ena/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”)