"For years lots of archive Wimbledon footage has been kept under lock and key. Most of it is owned by four companies, so that the public only see it when program producers at channels choose to licence it from these various companies and private owners like IMG.

However, the British Pathé film archive has now opened itself up to the public online, meaning that lots of brilliant Wimbledon videos have surfaced for the first time, including a rare interview with Fred Perry, not to mention numerous films of finals, and the public can watch all of these for free.

Here is a YouTube video showing previews from some of the clips. There are also fantastic crowd shots, shots of celebrity spectators and behind the scenes footage of court maintenance as well as an interesting piece on the manufacturing of tennis balls."

(thanks to British Pathé for this video and this text)

Wimbledon as you have never seen it by British Pathé!