History of the lights
Holidaymakers first tripped the Lights fantastic in Blackpool in 1879 when just EIGHT arc lamps bathed the Promenade in what was described as artificial sunshine...
The basic idea is still much the same 129 years later.
But, it has to be said , the style, scale and sheer professionalism of this years version have little in keeping with that first electric lighting experiment.
Gone are the days when the lights went out as the tide came in...because water leaked into the cast iron wiring pipes on the seafront!
These days hi-tech has replaced high tide as the main talking point of the annual Illuminations extravaganza!
The nearest to modern-day displays was staged in Princess Parade in May 1912 to mark the first royal visit to Blackpool.
Princess Louise officially opened the new section of the promenade - subsequently known as Princess Parade.
As part of the celebrations for this event, the Blackpool electrical engineer was instructed to decorate the Promenade in what was then a novel fashion with festoons of garland lamps.
About 10,000 bulbs were used and the results were so impressive that the local chamber of trade and other business people in the town persuaded the council to stage these lights again in September of that year.
Thousands of people visited the resort and saw the Illuminations and the event was judged a commercial success.
In 1913 the council was again encouraged to stage the Princess Parade lights as an after-season event in September.
The response from the public was nothing short of astonishing but hopes of building on this success were short-lived with the outbreak of the First World War the following year.
Illuminations were back in 1925 on a more ambitious scale with lights festooned along the Promenade from Manchester Square to Cocker Square.
It quickly became appreciated that Blackpool Illuminations were a worthwhile tourist attraction and they continued to be staged annually for many years.
By 1932 animated tableaux had been added and these were erected on the cliffs linking North Shore and Bispham. The length of the lights was extended to its present length - just under six miles - starting at Squires Gate and finishing at Red Bank Road. In 1939, although the Illuminations were ready for staging, they were prevented by the outbreak of the Second World War.
There was a full-scale preview on August 31, complete with a giant searchlight sweeping wide from the Tower top. But the next night the blackout had been enforced and the only colour to be seen was inside hotels and boarding houses where landladies had coloured their bulbs with Dolly blue.
Even after the war had finished there were restrictions on the use of fuel and decorative lighting such as the Illuminations, remained prohibited. The austere climate of post-war Britain meant the lights did not come on again until 1949 when Anna Neagle pressed the switch.
Even then there was a cliff-hanger situation as the council waited for government permission to burn the required amount of electricity. The scale, density and content of the Lights has improved year by year and the development of new ideas and new themes is continuous. In particular the use of electronic controllers, non-neon fibre optics and lasers has added a new dimension to the fabulous autumn crowdpuller.