Event    From /5/1951  To /9/1951

Festival of Britain

'A tonic for the Nation', The Festival was intended to cheer us all up after WW2, and incidentally to celebrate the centenary of the 1851 Great Exhibition. The symbol for the Festival was designed by Abram Games.

All the Festival buildings on the south bank except the Royal Festival Hall have since been demolished and replaced by other buildings forming the much-loved (British irony) arts complex known as The South Bank. The Festival of Britain was a nationwide event with two other sites in London: the Pleasure Gardens in Battersea and the Live Architecture Exhibition in Poplar, originally 'Neighbourhood 9' but then renamed the 'Lansbury Estate', after George Lansbury. Diamond GeezerCaroline's Miscellany and A London Inheritance have all done good posts about this Estate. The City of London laid out a garden beside St Paul's, Festival Gardens.

The Festival Pleasure Gardens were installed in the northern part of Battersea Park. These included a water-garden and a tree-walk. There was also a fun fair on the section between Central Avenue and what is now the children's zoo. The BBC has photos of many of the items.

2019: Ian Visits spotted a Festival of Britain bench in an Essex village.

2019: In the 1957 film 'The Key Man' / 'Life at Stake' (not be be confused with the 1955 film with the same two titles), at about 57 mins, two characters meet in the Thameside Restaurant under Waterloo Bridge, left over from the Festival. This nice piece of modernist architecture remained until 1962.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Festival of Britain

Commemorated ati

Dome of Discovery

{The plaque is laid flat on the ground.} This commemorative plaque was set i...

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Festival of Britain - Arts

The relief shows the Royal Festival Hall, surrounded by a violin, saxophone, ...

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Festival of Britain - Churchill Gardens

See a similar plaque in N7 for information about them.

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Festival of Britain - London Pride

London Pride. Frank Dobson CBE, RA. 1886 - 1963. Commissioned for The Festi...

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Festival of Britain - N16

Festival of Britain, 1951, Award for Merit.

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Show all 19

Other Subjects

Whitechapel Art Gallery
1 memorial
Samuel Morse

Samuel Morse

Samuel Finley Breese Morse was born on 27 April 1791 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA. He was an artist who travelled to Italy, Switzerland ,France and England where in 1811 he gained admittance...

Person, Art, Science, France, Italy, Switzerland, USA

1 memorial
Lady Ottoline Morrell

Lady Ottoline Morrell

Literary hostess and patron of the arts. Died in a clinic at Tunbridge Wells. Her Wikipedia page gives much information about her life and confirms that she was born on 6 June 1873 as Ottoline Vio...

Person, Art, Literature

1 memorial
Anna Mill
1 memorial
James Barry

James Barry

Painter. Born in Water Lane, Blackpool, Cork, Ireland. He studied in Italy and in 1782 he was appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy. Because of abusive remarks about his colleagues, ...

Person, Art, Ireland, Italy

1 memorial