The Festival of Britain 1951
Did you visit the 1951 Festival of Britain celebrations? If so, we want to hear from you
Intended as a ‘tonic for the nation’, the Festival of Britain was a 1951 nationwide celebration designed to lift national spirits in the wake of decades of war and economic instability.
The heart of the festival happened right here on London’s South Bank on a purpose-built festival site which surrounded our Royal Festival Hall, built for the celebration and now its only remaining building.
While the Royal Festival Hall played host to concerts and the surrounding South Bank pavilions showcased the country’s creativity and innovation, the Festival also included events and activities across Britain, from locally organised plays and performances to large-scale touring exhibitions. Across all of these festivities it is estimated that around half the national population experienced the Festival of Britain first hand.
Share your memories
This year, we’re celebrating 75 years since the Festival, the building of the Royal Festival Hall, and the very first chapter in the story of the Southbank Centre. And as part of this celebration we want to hear from people who visited the 1951 Festival of Britain, both here on the South Bank and across the nation.
Did you visit the Festival site or one of its many nationwide events? Did your parents, your grandparents, your neighbours? If so please share your memories with us. They’ll be stored in our archive, becoming part of our living history as we look forward to the next 75 years.
Celebrating our 75th year
We’re honouring the spirit of the Festival with an anniversary programme as uplifting as it is wide-reaching, to spread a message of creativity and innovation across the nation.
Memories of the Festival of Britain
Read a selection of memories already shared with us.
‘I used to lie in wait by the solar system model in the Dome of Discovery. When people came along and didn’t know the planets, I used to show off by telling them which was which. I loved the Skylon – an amazing cigar-shaped sculpture pointing to the zenith. It was suspended on such thin wires that it seemed to float.’
– Philip Stewart
‘My aunt took me as a present for passing the 11 plus. I particularly remember the Dome of Discovery and Skylon. The contents of the Dome gave me confidence that humankind could conquer problems and employ science for good purposes. We should rebuild the Skylon.’
– Anon.
‘I was 12. I remember crossing the Bailey Bridge and marvelling at the Skylon. There was an exhibition of medical advances but the hall was too claustrophobic and the exhibits too graphic; I had to leave. But I loved it all, my day out alone’
– Ron Gould
‘Back in London after four or five years as an evacuee, the Festival was so bright and exciting after the darkness of the war.’
– Anon.
‘I was only three years old in 1951, but I was born just down the road from the Old Vic and brought up in Waterloo. I can remember playing with my friends in the Festival, it was like a wonderland, the nearest thing to Disneyland.’
– Anon.
‘After three years studying architecture in Glasgow I, together with my sister, persuaded our father to drive to London where I was enthralled by the Dome, the Skylon, coffee shops hanging over the river; up to date architecture to inspire me.’
– Anne Duff
‘I remember visiting with my parents and again with my grandmother. We also went to the Campania [the Festival’s touring ship] in Plymouth. It was very exciting for an eight year old and I still have the guide books for the South Bank and Campania.’
– Richard
‘In 1951 I was six years old. I came with my mother, father and an aunt from Bebington on the Wirral. I had never seen so much colour except in a Sears Roebuck catalogue which had been sent to us by relatives in the US (not that we could buy anything, you understand, but just for us to gawp at). My childish mind also wondered why the rest of London hadn’t been finished yet.’
– David Boyce
‘I came to the Festival in June 1951, shortly before my first baby was due. The models of growing babies in the womb were so well done and interesting. We weren’t told many ‘facts’ in those days. The atmosphere was great – so much to be thankful for after the grim years of war’
– Anon.
‘I was at Central School of Art and was helping finish the labels in a science section [of the Festival] about atoms. We worked on until the last moment over night and when the King and Royal family were given a preview we had to hide under the tables while they passed. I went on to work for TV and make children’s programmes and later discovered that my friend and colleague Oliver Postgate was also hiding under a table as he was helping to finish a machine.’
– Peter Fiskin
‘My parents, to their credit, brought me up to the Festival aged eight, from Whitstable. I saw what I now know to be Richard Huws’ water mobile. It was my first realisation that grown-ups could do things just for fun.’
– Anon.