60 years ago this month: Festival of Britain opens to public

1951 should be the starting point from which will develop many new and good things to stimulate and enrich our national life.

(Festival Information Summary, p. 1, [CCO 4/4/88])

The Festival of Britain of 1951 gave the British public a chance to revive a nation still haunted by war. Held 100 years after the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Festival was a celebration of Britain’s progress; Festival organiser and Labour Deputy Leader Herbert Morrison described it as ‘tonic for the nation’.

Although the centre of the Festival was the 30-acre site at South Bank and the Pleasure Gardens at Battersea, events were held all over the country between May and September 1951. As the ‘Information Summary’ pointed out:

‘The Exhibition of 1851 was confined to London. The Festival of Britain 1951 will be spread over the whole of the United Kingdom, and every locality will be encouraged to participate and add its own spontaneous and individual activity to the national events’. (CCO 4/4/88).

Two travelling exhibitions were sent by land and sea to reach those unable to visit the capital, and over 10 million national and overseas visitors paid admission to see the six main exhibitions, which ranged from ‘live architecture’ in Poplar, London to Industrial Power in Glasgow. The main exhibitions were planned as follows:

‘This summer there will be local activities in connection with the Festival in practically every town and village in Britain. In addition there will be the following activities sponsored by the Festival office:

(1) An exhibition of industrial power and heavy industry in Glasgow.
(2) Exhibitions of Scottish books, arts and traditional crafts in Edinburgh.
(3) An ‘Ulster Farm and Factory Exhibition’ in Belfast.
(4) A model rehabilitation scheme for three hill farms at Dolhendre in Wales, open to inspection as an exhibition.
(5) A land travelling exhibition visiting Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Nottingham.
(6) A seaborne travelling exhibition visiting Southampton, Dundee, Newcastle, Hull, Plymouth, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Birkenhead and Glasgow.
(7) ‘Festivals of the Arts’ in twenty-five towns.
(8) London activities, the most important of which are:
a. The South Bank Exhibition
b. The exhibition of ‘live’ architecture in Poplar
c. Exhibitions of science and books in South Kensington.’

Images: Festival schedule from Information Summary, CCO 4/4/88

The Festival was relatively successful and certainly popular, but it did raise some financial concerns; a great deal of the Festival-related material in the Conservative Party Archive concerns the overspending of Festival contractors. A number of bills provided authorization of and funding for the events, beginning with the Public Works (Festival of Britain) Bill in February 1949 and requiring two supplementary bills to add funding in 1949 and 1951. The initial South Bank site chosen for the main London event was soon deemed too small to safely accommodate the rush of expected visitors:

‘The Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is said to have told the Government that he could not be responsible for public order if there was not an additional show in connection with the South Bank Exhibition in order to filter off some of the rougher elements’ (Letter to Duncan Sandys, 21 March 1951, CRD 2/23/34).

The Battersea Pleasure Garden site was added to the mix, but at additional cost. The central London locations required significant investment in the city’s infrastructure, leading to complaints that ‘throughout 1950 London’s streets were a chaotic jumble of large-scale excavations’ (CRD 2/23/35). The Festival construction was a massive undertaking, with an estimated 343,000 square feet of plywood, 19,000 tons of cement, 3,960 tons of steel and 960,000 bricks used at South Bank alone (Letter to Councillor John Grant, Oxford, 8 May 1951, CRD 2/23/35). Images of Festival construction on The Telegraph website show the sheer scale of the building projects.

Although the Conservatives fully supported the Festival itself and encouraged their agents in London and elsewhere to organize local Festival events, they believed ‘this should not prevent our criticising the mismanagement by the Socialists of the Festival activities in London’ (Letter to Duncan Sandys, 21 March 1951, CRD 2/23/34). Cost estimates for the Festival varied, and there was some confusion over how the money was being spent; the Conservatives did not oppose House Bills connected with the Festival, but they did ask for clarification on funds on a number of occasions (see Notes on Current Politics 1951, No. 10, p. 46 [PUB 221/9]). There was also concern that the Festival would become a ‘Festival of Socialism’, but the general consensus was the Festival was a worthy event and it would be a shame if Conservatives were not ‘at least as active as Socialists in making the whole show a success’ (The Councillor, Vol. 3, No. 8, March 1951, p. 8 [PUB 193/2]). The National Women’s Advisory Council participated in the National Council of Women’s information office, which was open for 22 weeks (see CCO 3/3/25: Women’s Hospitality Committee).

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Festival, the Southbank Centre is holding a summer of Festival-related events. Please visit the Southbank Centre website for more information.

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