Humanoid robot bartender “Carl” interacts with guests at the Robots Bar and Lounge in the eastern German town of Ilmenau, July 26, 2013. “Carl”, developed and built by mechatronics engineer Ben Schaefer who runs a company for humanoid robots, prepares spirits for the mixing of cocktails and is able to interact with customers in small conversations. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/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”)

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

A group of men play Myanmar's traditional sport of chinlone in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, November 18, 2016. (Photo by Aung Shine Oo/AP Photo)

A tribal fighter loyal to Yemen's government stands in Al Khurais village of Nihm district east of the capital Sanaa January 11, 2016. (Photo by Ali Owidha/Reuters)

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)

A couple stands next to a poster depicting Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Russian President Vladimir Putin kissing, at a metro station in Amsterdam April 3, 2016. (Photo by Cris Toala Olivares/Reuters)

A demonstrator throw a firebomb during clashes with Turkish riot police officers in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, May 1, 2015. The government assigned 30,000 police officers backed by helicopters as workers and demonstrators determined to defy a government ban, tried to march to iconic Taksim Square, where 35 people were killed during May Day celebration in 1977. (Photo by Emrah Gurel/AP Photo)