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THE FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN 1951
2011 marks the 60th anniversary of the Festival of Britain.
Celebrations to commemorate this are planned for the whole summer
from April 22nd to September 4th at the
Southbank Centre in London. Attractions include the urban beach
with retro fish and chip van, bandstand and retro funfair, and the
'Museum of 1951' which brings together a collection of memorabilia,
memories and photographs from the original Festival of Britain.
In 1951, just
six years after World War II, Britain’s towns and cities still
showed the scars of war that remained a constant reminder of the
turmoil of the previous years. With the aim of promoting the feeling
of recovery, the Festival of Britain opened on the 4th May 1951,
celebrating British industry, arts and science and inspiring the
thought of a better Britain. This also happened to be the same year
they celebrated the centenary, almost to the day, of the
1851 Great
Exhibition. Coincidence? I think not!
The main site of
the Festival was constructed on a 27 acre area on the South Bank,
London, which had been left untouched since being bombed in the war.
In keeping with the principles of the Festival, a young architect
aged only 38, Hugh Casson, was appointed Director of Architecture
for the Festival and to appoint other young architects to design its
buildings. With Casson at the helm, it proved to be a perfect time
to showcase the principles of urban design that would feature in the
post-war rebuilding of London and other towns and cities.
The
Skylon Tower, Festival of Britain 1951
The main site
featured the largest dome in the world at the time, standing 93 feet
tall with a diameter of 365 feet. This held exhibitions on the theme
of discovery such as the New World, the Polar regions, the Sea, the
Sky and Outer Space. It also included a 12-tone steam engine on
show. Adjacent to the Dome was the Skylon, a breathtaking, iconic
and futuristic-looking structure. The Skylon was an unusual,
vertical cigar shaped tower supported by cables that gave the
impression that it was floating above the ground. Some say this
structure mirrored the British economy of the time having no clear
means of support. The evening before the Royal visit to the main
Festival site, a student is known to have climbed to near the top
and attached a
University of London Air Squadron scarf!
Another feature
was the Telekinema, a 400-seat state-of-the-art cinema operated by
the British Film Institute. This had the necessary technology to
screen both films (including 3D films) and large screen television. This proved to be one of the most popular attractions at the South
Bank site. Once the festival closed, the Telekinema became home to
the National Film Theatre and was not demolished until 1957 when the
National Film Theatre moved to the site it still occupies at the
South Bank Centre.
Other buildings at the Festival site on South
Bank include the Royal Festival Hall, a 2,900 seat concert hall that
hosted concerts conducted by the likes of Sir Malcolm Sargent and
Sir Adrian Bould in its opening concerts; a new wing of the Science
Museum holding the Exhibition of Science; and, located nearby, The
Exhibition of Live Architecture at Poplar.
This was made up of the
Building Research Pavilion, Town Planning Pavilion and a building
site showing houses in various stages of completion. Live
Architecture was disappointing, attracting only about 10% of the
number of guests as the main exhibition. It was also received badly
by leading industry figures which led Government and Local
Authorities to concentrate on high-density high-rise housing.
Upriver, only a few minutes via boat from the main Festival site was
Battersea Park. This was home to the fun-fair part of the Festival.
This included Pleasure Gardens, rides and open-air amusements.
All
the fun of the fair
Although the
main site of the Festival was in London, the festival was a
nationwide affair with exhibitions in many towns and cities
throughout Britain. This included such exhibitions as the Industrial
Power Exhibition in Glasgow and the Ulster Farm and Factory
Exhibition in Belfast, not to forget the Land Travelling Exhibitions
and the Festival Ship Campania that travelled from town to town and
city to city around Britain.
As with most
large Government sponsored and funded projects (the Millennium Dome, London 2012),
the Festival met much controversy, from the concept to completion.
Even before the Festival opened, the Festival was condemned as
a waste of money. Many people believed it would have been better
spent on housing after the destruction of many houses during the
Second World War. Once opened, the critics turned to the artistic
taste; the Riverside Restaurant was seen as too futuristic, the
Royal Festival Hall seen as too innovative and even certain
furnishings in the Café met criticism for being too gaudy. It was
also criticized for being too expensive, with entrance to the Dome
of Discovery at five shillings. Even with the above complaints the
main Festival site on the South Bank managed to attract more than 8
million paying visitors.
Always
planned as a temporary exhibition, the Festival ran for 5 months
before closing in September 1951. It had been a success and turned
over a profit as well as being extremely popular. In the month that
followed the closure however, a new Conservative government was
elected to power. It is generally believed that the incoming Prime
Minister Churchill considered the Festival a piece of socialist
propaganda, a celebration of the achievements of the Labour Party
and their vision for a new Socialist Britain, the order was quickly
made to level the South Bank site removing almost all trace of the
1951 Festival of Britain. The only feature to remain was the Royal
Festival Hall which is now a Grade I listed building, the first
post-war building to become so protected and is still hosting
concerts to this day.
The
Royal Festival Hall today
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Historic UK. |