Michael Heseltine officially opens the new motorway

Construction vehicles building the motorway

Workers unload the truck

An impressive fleet of old-fashioned vehicles built the famous motorway

Staff discuss the building work

Old-style trucks

A rare site, a traffic free M4 at its opening in 1971

A far cry from its modern state

The first cars travel along the motorway

The view from above

The motorway as seen from the skies

Note the driver not wearing a helmet

a construction worker gets on with building the road

Construction trucks

Another enormous vehicle

Some of the men who built the motorway

More construction discussions

Michael Heseltine, a junior minister in the Conservative government at the time, meets a young girl at the opening

A worker looks on

Michael Heseltine

Michael Heseltine makes his speech at the opening

A lovely old car on the new road