'A God-almighty punch-up': lost film of first Battle of Hastings re-enactment surfaces after 60 years

From the Newshound archive · first published 6 October 2026 · last updated 7 October 2026.

A colour film of the 1966 Battle of Hastings re-enactment — shot by Hastings electronics businessman Alan Wootton to mark the 900th anniversary and now recognised as the earliest known footage of the event — has been restored by his son Cliff and handed to English Heritage. It shows hundreds of boisterous re-enactors fighting with weapons in conditions reflecting what English Heritage calls a 'rather relaxed attitude towards health and safety'. The film will have its first public screening at Battle Abbey, East Sussex, this weekend.

Peter Sampson, a participant who played a Norman foot soldier, said they were recruited 'with the promise of beer' and it turned into 'an almighty punch-up'.

Cliff Wootton was only 12 when he helped his father with sound recording at the 1966 event; after inheriting all 300 reels of film following Alan's death, he carried out the restoration.

The unveiling coincides with a surge of interest in 1066, with large queues at the British Museum to view the Bayeux Tapestry, which is on display in England for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.