festival of britain the festival of britain emblem the festival star designed by abram games from the cover of the south bank exhibition guide 1951 the festival of britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the united kingdom in the summer of 1951 historian kenneth o morgan says the festival was a triumphant success as people flocked to the south bank site to wander around the dome of discovery gaze at the skylon and generally enjoy a festival of national celebration up and down the land lesser festivals enlisted much civic and voluntary enthusiasm a people curbed by years of total war and halfcrushed by austerity and gloom showed that it had not lost the capacity for enjoying itselfabove all the festival made a spectacular setting as a showpiece for the inventiveness and genius of british scientists and technologists labour cabinet member herbert morrison was the prime mover in 1947 he started with the original plan to celebrate the centennial of the great exhibition of 1851 as well as promoting british science technology industrial design architecture and the arts the festivals centrepiece was in london on the south bank of the thames there were events in poplar architecture battersea the festival pleasure gardens south kensington science and glasgow industrial power festival celebrations took place in cardiff stratforduponavon bath perth bournemouth york aldeburgh inverness cheltenham oxford norwich canterbury and elsewhere and there were touring exhibitions by land and sea the festival became a beacon for change that proved immensely popular with thousands of elite visitors and millions of popular ones it helped reshape british arts crafts designs and sports for a generation journalist harry hopkins highlights the widespread impact of the festival style they called it contemporary it was clean bright and new it caught hold quickly and spread first across london and then across englandin an island hitherto largely given up to gravy browns and dull greens contemporary boldly espoused strong primary colors conception and organisation a view of the south bank exhibition from the north bank of the thames showing the 300foot tall skylon and the dome of discovery the first idea for an exhibition in 1951 came from the royal society of arts in 1943 which considered that an international exhibition should be held to commemorate the centenary of the 1851 great exhibition much of london lay in ruins and models of redevelopment were needed the festival was an attempt to give britons a feeling of recovery and progress and to promote betterquality design in the rebuilding of british towns and cities a festival council to advise the government was set up under general lord ismay associated with the festival of britain office were the arts council of great britain the council of industrial design the british film institute and the national book league gerald barry had operational charge a longtime editor with leftleaning middlebrow views he was energetic and optimistic with an eye for what would be popular and a knack on how to motivate others unlike morrison barry was not seen as a labour ideologue barry selected the next rank giving preference to young architects and designers who had collaborated on exhibitions for the wartime ministry of information they thought along the same lines socially and aesthetically as middleclass intellectuals with progressive sympathies thanks to barry a collegial sentiments prevailed that minimised stress and delay displays the arts were displayed in a series of countrywide musical and dramatic performances achievements in architecture were to presented in a new neighbourhood the lansbury estate planned built and occupied in the poplar district of london the festivals centrepiece there were other displays elsewhere each intended to be complete in itself yet each part of the one single conception the university of brighton design archives have digitised many of the design councils files relating to the planning of the festival principal events england exhibitions south bank london science south kensington architecture poplar books south kensington 1851 centenary exhibition south kensington festival of british films london festival pleasure gardens battersea park london london season of the arts arts festivals wales pageant of wales sophia gardens cardiff st fagans folk festival cardiff welsh hillside farm scheme dolhendre arts festivals scotland exhibitions industrial power glasgow contemporary books glasgow living traditions scottish architecture and crafts edinburgh 18th century books edinburgh arts festivals gathering of the clans edinburgh northern ireland ulster farm and factory belfast arts festival travelling exhibitions festival ship campania england scotland wales and northern ireland southampton dundee newcastle hull plymouth campania at plymouth docks bristol cardiff belfast birkenhead glasgow land travelling exhibition england manchester leeds birmingham nottingham the south bank exhibition construction of the south bank site opened up a new public space including a riverside walkway where previously there had been warehouses and workingclass housing the layout of the south bank site was intended to showcase the principles of urban design that would feature in the postwar rebuilding of london and the creation of the new towns these included multiple levels of buildings elevated walkways and avoidance of a street grid most of the south bank buildings were international modernist in style little seen in britain before the war the architecture and display of the south bank exhibition were planned by the festival offices exhibition presentation panel whose members were gerald barry directorgeneral chairman cecil cooke director exhibitions deputy chairman misha black g a campbell director finances and establishments hugh casson director architecture ian cox director science and technology a d hippisley coxe council of industrial design james gardner james holland m hartland thomas council of industrial design ralph tubbs peter kneebone secretary the theme of the exhibition was devised by ian cox the exhibition comprised the upstream circuit the land the dome of discovery the downstream circuit the people and other displays upstream circuit the land architect misha black theme ian cox display design james holland the exhibits comprised the land of britain architect h t cadburybrown theme convener kenneth chapman display design vrotter the natural scene architect brian ororke theme convener kenneth chapman display designer f h k henrion the country architect brian ororke theme conveners a s thomas peter b collins display designer f h k henrion minerals of the island architects architects cooperative partnership theme convener sonia withers display designer beverley pick power and production architects george grenfell baines and h j reifenberg theme convener c j whitcombe display design warnett kennedy and associates sea and ships architects basil spence and partners theme conveners c hamilton ellis and nigel clayton display designers james holland and basil spence transport architects and designers arcon theme direction george williams the dome of discovery visitors to the south bank exhibition with the dome of discovery in the background architect ralph tubbs theme ian cox display design research unit the exhibits focused on scientific discovery they included the land theme convener penrose angwin display designers stefan buzas and ronald sandiford the earth theme convener sonia withers display designer robert gutman polar theme convener quinitin riley and l p macnair display designer jock kinneir sea theme conveners c hamilton ellis and nigel clayton display designers austin frazer and ellis miles sky theme convener arthur garratt display designer ronald sandiford outer space theme convener penrose angwin display designers austin frazer and eric towell the living world theme convener kenneth chapman display designers austin frazer and stirling craig the physical world theme conveners arthur garratt and jan read display designers ronald ingles and clifford hatts downstream circuit the people architect hugh casson theme mhartland thomas display design james gardner the exhibits comprised the people of britain architect h t cadburybrown theme convener jacquetta hawkes display design james gardner the lion and the unicorn architects r d russell robert goodden theme conveners hubert phillips and peter stucley display designers robert goodden r d russell and richard guyatt commentary laurie lee homes and gardens architects bronek katz and reginald vaughan theme conveners ahippisley coxe and s d cooke the new schools architects maxwell fry and jane drew theme convener b w rowe display designers nevile conder and patience clifford health theme conveners sheldon dudley and nigel clayton display designer peter ray sport architects and designers gordon bowyer and ursula bowyer theme convener b w rowe seaside architects and designers eric brown and peter chamberlain theme convener a hippisley coxe other downstream displays television architect and designer wells coates theme malcolm baker smith telecinema architect wells coates programme and presentation j d ralph and r j spottiswoode the 1851 centenary pavilion architect hugh casson display designer james gardner shot tower architecture and design treatment hugh casson and james gardner design review display designers nevile conder and patience clifford other features of the south bank exhibition the skylon the skylon on the southbank festival of britain 1951 skylon festival of britain an unusual cigarshaped aluminiumclad steel tower supported by cables the skylon was the vertical feature that was an abiding symbol of the festival of britain the base was nearly 15 metres 50feet from the ground with the top nearly 90 metres 300feet high the frame was clad in aluminium louvres lit from within at night it was designed by hidalgo moya philip powell and felix samuely and fabricated by painter brothers of hereford england between westminster bridge and hungerford bridge it had a steel latticework frame pointed at both ends and supported on cables slung between three steel beams the partially constructed skylon was rigged vertically then grew taller in situ after being toppled into the thames royal festival hall royal festival hall designed by leslie martin peter moro and robert matthew from the lccs architects department and built by holland hannen cubitts for london county council the foundation stone was laid by prime minister clement attlee 1949 on the site of the former lion brewery built in 1837 in april 1988 it was designated a grade i listed building the first postwar building to become so protected minor features the festival administration building by maxwell fry jane drew and edward mills festival pleasure gardens the festival pleasure gardens the festival pleasure gardens were created as the lighter side of the festival of britain they were put up in battersea park a few miles from the south bank exhibition they included an amusement park which would eventually outlast all the other entertainments and later become battersea fun fair only closing in the mid 1970s a miniature railway designed by rowland emett which ran for 500 yards along the south of the gardens with a station near the south east entrance and another with snack bar at the western end of the line a west end restaurant with a terrace overlooking the river and facing cheyne walk foaming fountains which have recently been restored a wine garden surrounded by miniature pavilions a wet weather pavilion with a stage facing two ways so that performances could be done in the open air with murals by the film set designer ferdinand bellan an amphitheatre seating 1250 people featuring the music hall star lupino lane and his company on its opening and later used as a circus most of the buildings and pavilions on the site were designed by john piper aspects of the festival architecture the festival architects tried to show by the design and layout of the south bank festival what could be achieved by applying modern town planning ideas there was an exhibition about building research town planning and architecture the live architecture exhibit of buildings open spaces and streets in the lansbury estate poplar named after the former labour party leader george lansbury plans for social housing in the area had commenced in 1943 by the end of the war nearly a quarter of the buildings in the area had been destroyed or badly damaged in 1948 the architecture council decided that the poplar site would make a good exhibition partly because it was near to the other festival exhibitions despite funding problems work began in december 1949 and by may 1950 was well advanced the wet winter of 195051 delayed work but the first houses were completed and occupied by february 1951 among the remaining 1951 buildings are trinity independent chapel and the festival inn and festive briton now callaghans pubs misha black one of the festival architects said that the festival created a wide audience for architectural modernism but that it was common currency among professional architects that the design of the festival was not innovative the design writer reyner banham has questioned the originality and the englishness of the festival style and indeed the extent of its influence design the royal festival hall showing the lettering designed for the south bank exhibition by the festival typography panel the south bank exhibition included a design review that presented an illustrated record of contemporary achievement in british industry showing the high standard of design and craftsmanship that has been reached in a wide range of british products in selecting and promoting designs in this way the festival was an influential advocate of the concept of good design a rational approach to product design in accordance with the principles of the modern movement its advocacy of good design had grown partly out of the standards of utility furniture created during the war gordon russell the director of the coid had been chairman of the utility furniture design panel and partly out of the coids britain can make it exhibition of 1946 the coids stock list was retained and inherited by its successor the design council design science and industry came together in the festival pattern group which commissioned textiles wallpaper domestic objects and festival exhibits based on xray crystallography the idea of using the molecular patterns revealed in xray crystallography in surface patterns was first suggested by dr helen megaw a leading cambridge university crystallographer after hearing a presentation by dorothy hodgkin to the society of industrial artists mark hartland thomas chief industrial officer of the coid took up the idea and formed the festival pattern group hartland thomas was a member of the festival of britain presentation panel and was coordinating the coids stock list he secured the regatta restaurant one of the temporary restaurants on the south bank for an experiment in pattern design based on the crystal structure of haemoglobin insulin wareite china clay mica and other molecules which were used for the surface patterns of the restaurant furnishings the designs that were sponsored by the festival pattern group chimed in with displays in the dome of discovery about the structure of matter and the festivals emphasis on progress science and technology lettering and type design featured prominently in the graphic style of the festival and was overseen by a typography panel including the lettering historian nicolete gray the graphic designer for the festival was abram games who created its emblem the festival star the arts the south bank exhibition showed the work of contemporary artists such as william scott including murals by victor pasmore john tunnard feliks topolski and john piper and sculptures by barbara hepworth henry moore lynn chadwick jacob epstein and reg butler arts festivals were held throughout the summer as part of the festival of britain aberdeen festival 30 july 13 august aldeburgh festival of music and the arts 817 june bath assembly 20 may 2 june belfast festival of the arts 7 may 30 june bournemouth and wessex festival 1317 june brighton regency festival 16 july 25 august cambridge festival 30 july 18 august canterbury festival 18 july 10 august cheltenham festival of british contemporary music 18 july 10 august dumfries festival of the arts 2430 june inverness 1951 highland festival 1730 june liverpool festival 22 july 12 august llangollen international eisteddfod 38 july llanwrst royal national eisteddfod of wales 611 august norwich festival 1830 june oxford festival 216 july perth arts festival 27 may 16 june stratforduponavon shakespeare festival april october st davids festival music and worship 1013 july swansea festival of music 1629 september worcester three choirs festival 27 september york festival including a revival of the york mystery plays the london season of the arts comprised exhibitions specially arranged for the festival of britain they included an exhibition of sixty large paintings commissioned for the festival of britain 60 paintings for 51 suffolk galleries organised by the arts council prize awarded to william gear exhibitions of the works of hogarth and henry moore tate gallery openair international exhibition of sculpture battersea park modern british painting new burlington gallery an exhibition of exhibitions royal society of the arts two exhibitions at the whitechapel art gallery black eyes and lemonade and east end 1851 barbara jones and tom ingram organised black eyes and lemonade an exhibition of british popular and traditional art in association with the society for education in art and the arts council in the same year she surveyed the popular arts in her influential book the unsophisticated arts which included taxidermy fairgrounds canal boats seaside riverside tattooing the decoration of food waxworks toys rustic work shops festivals and funerals the festival was the occasion of the first performance of steelpan music in britain by the trinidad all steel percussion orchestra film audience wearing special glasses watch a 3d stereoscopic film at the telekinema on the south bank in london during the festival of britain the british film institute was asked by herbert morrison in 1948 to consider the contribution that film could make to the festival it set up a panel including michael balcon antony asquith john grierson harry watt and arthur elston which became a committee of sponsorship and distribution over a dozen sponsored documentary films were made for the festival including air parade sponsored by the shell film unit family portrait made by humphrey jennings david made by wide pictures and the welsh committee biopic of david rees griffiths water of time made by international realist films and sponsored by the port of london authority forward a century sponsored by the petroleum films bureau several feature films were planned but only one was completed in time the magic box a biographical film about cinema pioneer william friesegreene made by festival film productions there was a purposebuilt film theatre on the south bank the telecinema sometimes called the telekinema designed by wells coates which showed documentary and experimental film exploiting stereophony and stereoscopy and the new invention of television it was one of the most popular attractions of the festival with 458693 visitors film was integral to the south bank exhibition used to explain manufacturing science and technology the dome of discovery the exhibition of science in south kensington and the travelling festival exhibition made extensive use of educational and explanatory film film festivals including those at edinburgh film festival bath and glasgow participated in the festival of britain and local authorities put on film festivals helped by a bfi pamphlet how to put on a film show commercial cinema chains and independent cinemas also joined in the gaumont and odeon chains programming seasons of british films and finally if the festival visitor had not tired of the medium they could purchase colour 16mm film of britains historic buildings and pageantry and filmstrips of the festival of britain and london as souvenirs one of the british broadcasting corporations contributions to the festival was a television musical called the golden year broadcast on 23 june and 2 july t science a new wing was built for the science museum to hold the exhibition of science the first part of the exhibition showed the physical and chemical nature of matter and the behaviour of elements and molecules the second part the structure of living things dealt with plants and animals the third part stop press showed some of the latest topics of research in science and their emergence from the ideas illustrated in the earlier sections of the exhibition they included the penetrating rays which reach us from outer space what goes on in space and in the stars and a range of subjects from the electronic brain to the processes and structures on which life is based other festival events postage stamps commemorating the festival of britain with the festival star on the 4d issue there were hundreds of events associated with the festival some of which were the selection of trowell a nottinghamshire village in the middle of england as the festival village the redesign of parliament square by george grey wornum in preparation for the festival of britain year commemorative postage stamps and many souvenirs official a commemorative crown coin presented with a certificate in either a red or green presentation box the crown coin featured on its reverse the st george and the dragon design by benedetto pistrucci best known for its place on british sovereign coins the certificate states the first english silver crown piece was minted in 1551 four hundred years later on the occasion of the festival of britain the royal mint has issued a crown piece bearing on its edge the latin inscription mdcccli civium industria floret civitas mcmli1951 by the industry of its people the state flourishes 1951 the first performance of robert mclellans play mary stewart at the glasgow citizens theatre an exhibition about sherlock holmes part of which is now owned by westminster libraries attendance figures the festival was highly popular in every part of britain richard weight estimates that of the national population of 49 million about half participated there were over ten million paid admissions to the six main exhibitions over a period of five months the most popular event was the centerpiece at south bank exhibition with almost 85 million visitors over half of them from outside london the festival pleasure gardens had over 8 million visitors threequarters of them from london the festival ship campania which docked in ten cities was visited by almost 900000 people the travelling land exhibition which went to four english cities attracted under half a million the most specialised events in terms of attracting few visitors were the architecture exhibition in poplar with 87000 visitors and the exhibition of books in south kensington with 63000 architecture exhibition lansbury poplar london 86646 industrial power exhibition glasgow 282039 science exhibition south kensington london 213744 south bank exhibition waterloo london 8455863 visitors from london 365 outside london 56 overseas 75 usa 15 commonwealth 32 europe 46 elsewhere 7 land travelling exhibition 462289 manchester 114183 leeds 144844 birmingham 76357 nottingham 106615 festival ship campania 889792 southampton 78683 dundee 51422 newcastle 169511 hull 87840 plymouth 50120 bristol avonmouth 78219 cardiff 104391 belfast 86756 birkenhead 90311 glasgow 93539 festival pleasure gardens battersea london 8031000 visitors from london 76 outside london 22 overseas 2 ulster farm factory exhibition belfast 156760 living traditions exhibition edinburgh 135000 exhibition of books south kensington london 63162 political responses the idea of holding the festival became a party political issue in an essay on the festival michael frayn characterised it as an enterprise of the radical middleclasses the dogooders the readers of the news chronicle the guardian and the observer the signers of petitions the backbone of the bbc whom he called herbivores in frayns view the festival was the last and virtually the posthumous work of the herbivore britain of the bbc news the crown film unit the sweet ration the ealing comedies uncle mac sylvia peters in making the festival the herbivores earned the contempt of the carnivores the readers of the daily express the evelyn waughs the cast of the directory of directors some prominent members of the labour government considered the festival to be a labour undertaking which would contribute to their future electoral success and clement attlee the labour leader wrote to morrison saying that an election in autumn 1951 would enable the labour party to benefit from its popularity in the event labour lost the autumn election churchills contempt for the festival led him to make his first act as prime minister in october 1951 an instruction to clear the south bank site legacy the guide book to the festival described its legacy in these words it will leave behind not just a record of what we have thought of ourselves in the year 1951 but in a fair community founded where once there was a slum in an avenue of trees or in some work of art a reminder of what we have done to write this single adventurous year into our national and local history while the idea of the festival was being worked out the government and the london county council were at the same time planning the redevelopment of the south bank site including a number of great buildings which will form part of a coordinated design the festival site was over the following thirty years developed into the south bank centre an arts complex comprising the royal festival hall the national film theatre the queen elizabeth hall the purcell room and the national theatre a 1951 office building at 219 oxford street london designed by ronald ward and partners now a grade ii listed building incorporates images of the festival on its facade the festival cost about 105 million apart from the loans for the festival gardens the net cost was 8 million equivalent to 231million today in 1953 the festival of britain office was abolished and its records were taken over by the ministry of works as well as the material legacy the festival gave rise to new traditions in particular the performances of medieval mystery plays in york and chester there was an explosion of interest in these plays regular performance of which have continued in those cities ever since images of the festival of britain several images of the south bank exhibition can be found on the internet including many released by the national archives on the 60th anniversary of the festival a filmed retrospective of the south bank exhibition brief city 1952 with special reference to design and architecture was made by richard massingham for the observer newspaper a film comedy the happy family was made about workingclass resistance to the demolition that the festival required the festival is featured in the early portion of the film prick up your ears the archive of the design council held at the university of brighton design archives includes several hundred images of the festival they can be searched via the visual arts data service vads other references archive of the festival of britain held by the archives of art and design victoria and albert museum london assorted film reports are available via the british path website httpwwwbritishpathecomworkspacesrgoldthorpefestivalofbritain britain can make it of 1946 the great exhibition of 1851 worlds fair list of worlds fairs saint mungo cup football tournament in glasgow held to coincide with the event atkinson harriet the festival of britain a land and its people ib tauris 2012 banham mary and hillier bevis a tonic to the nation the festival of britain 1951 thames hudson 1976 isbn0500270791 casey andrew ceramics at the festival of britain 1951 selection and objection journal of the decorative arts society 1850the present 25 2001 7486 clark adrian british and irish art 19451951 from war to festival paul holberton pub 2010 conekin becky the autobiography of a nation the 1951 exhibition of britain representing britain in the postwar world manchester up 2003 forgan sophie festivals of science and the two cultures science design and display in the festival of britain 1951 british journal for the history of science 312 1998 217240 online goodden henrietta the lion and the unicorn symbolic architecture for the festival of britain 1951 norwich unicorn press 2011 144 pp hillier bevis and mary banham eds a tonic to the nation the festival of britain 1951 thames and hudson 1976 hoon will the 1951 festival of britain a living legacy department of history of art and design manchester metropolitan university 1996 leventhal f m a tonic to the nation the festival of britain 1951 albion 273 1995 445453 in jstor lew nathaniel g tonic to the nation making english music in the festival of britain routledge 2016 rennie paul festival of britain 1951 london antique collectors club ltd 2007 isbn9781851495337 isbn1851495339 richardson r c cultural mapping in 1951 the festival of britain regional guidebooks literature history 242 2015 pp 5372 turner barry beacon for change how the 1951 festival of britain shaped the modern age london aurum press 2011 weight richard patriots national identity in britain 19402000 london pan macmillan 2013 pp 193208 wilton iain a galaxy of sporting events sports role and significance in the festival of britain 1951 sport in history 364 2016 459476 wikimedia commons has media related to festival of britain festival of britain set flickr university of brighton design archives george simner festival of britain the observer festival of britain elearning module by the design council archives the festival of britain the festival of britain society the festival of britain exploring 20th century london httpswwwflickrcomgroupssouthbankcentre a flickr group dedicated to pictures of the southbank centre httpwwwsouthbankcentrecoukfestivalmemoriesseeyourmemories memories of the festival of britain compiled by the southbank centre video of a talk by robert anderson on the development of the exhibition of science as part of the festival of britain internet archive films festival in london 1951 brief city 1952 british path films httpwwwbritishpathecomsearchqueryfestivalofbritain contemporary photos of the festival 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