AMATEUR photographer Laszlo Torday was fascinated by the street life in his adopted city of Newcastle.

The people who walked the streets of the city in the 1960s and 70s were as important to him as the buildings and landmarks.

He took thousands of pictures, and now a slice of the life he recorded will go public today (Monday).

Newcastle Libraries has digitised 1,000 of his images, which will be available to view as part of the Tyneside Life and Times digital photograph archive.

Laszlo Torday, who was born in 1890 and died in 1975, was a chemical engineer and later industrialist.

A Hungarian émigré, he arrived in Tynemouth in January 1940 and eventually moved to Jesmond in Newcastle.

His photographs focus largely on Newcastle’s city centre and its eastern suburbs, including Byker, Heaton and Jesmond.

The collection, purchased by Newcastle City Libraries from a local dealer in the 1980s, comprises 100 photograph albums of black-and-white prints, in addition to 16 boxes of colour transparencies.

Copies of some of his work have been incorporated into the main collection of photographs in the City Library’s heritage section, but until now the majority have remained in their original albums.

Kath Cassidy, City Libraries heritage manager, said: “The opportunity to digitise 1,000 images from the Torday collection means that they can now be enjoyed by a much wider audience.

“The images provide a fascinating glimpse into the recent past, showing just how much has changed and what has remained the same.

“We’re keen to find out more about the people in the images. If you recognise anyone – please use the Flickr site to let us know.”

Visit www.flickr.com/newcastlelibraries