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.

2023: An email from 'Londonist: Time Machine' reminded us that the recreation of Sherlock Holmes’s study, now to be found upstairs at The Sherlock Holmes pub near Charing Cross, was created for the Festival of Britain. The catalogue of the "Exhibition on Sherlock Holmes" states that it was held at "Abbey House, Baker Street, London NW1, May - September 1951". Often described as Holmes's study, the recreated room is described in the catalogue as his living room.

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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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Other Subjects

Frederick Richard Pickersgill

Frederick Richard Pickersgill

History painter.  Born London (probably 6 Northampton Street).   From about 1888 he lived at The Towers, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, where he died.

Person, Art

1 memorial
Richard Dadd

Richard Dadd

Painter. Born Chatham in Kent. Died in a lunatic asylum at Broadmoor, outside London of "an extensive disease of the lungs".

Person, Art

1 memorial
Central School of Arts and Crafts

Central School of Arts and Crafts

Inspired by the School of Handicraft, this college, founded by William Lethaby, merged with St Martin's School of Art, founded in 1854, to form Central St Martins in 1989. Other colleges have merge...

Group, Art, Craft / Design, Education

1 memorial
H. M. Bateman

H. M. Bateman

Cartoonist. Born Henry Mayo Bateman at Moss Vale, Sutton Forest, New South Wales, Australia. His family moved to Britain in 1888, where he studied at Westminster School of Art and Goldsmiths' Colle...

Person, Art, Australia, Malta

1 memorial
Charles Maresco Pearce

Charles Maresco Pearce

Artist. Grant Waters has a review of his art which was not known to us before. A number of his London scenes are available on-line. Charles Maresco Pearce was born on 11 June 1874 in South Kensing...

Person, Art

1 memorial

Previously viewed

City of London Coal Exchange

City of London Coal Exchange

Designed by J. B. Bunning and opened in 1849 in Lower Thames Street, demolished in 1963. Our Picture source examines all the interesting buildings on this section of Lower Thames Street.

Building, Commerce

1 memorial
Corporation of the City of London

Corporation of the City of London

The municipal governing body of the City of London. Officially the 'Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London'. In 2006 the name was changed from just 'Corporation of London' to disti...

Group, Commerce, Politics & Administration

181 memorials
St Mary Bothaw

St Mary Bothaw

'Bothaw' derived from 'boathouse', which makes sense when you remember that before the Embankment was built the Thames used be be a lot closer.  In existence by 1279, it was destroyed in the Great ...

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Burlington Arcade (Association)

Burlington Arcade (Association)

Lord George Cavendish, the future Earl of Burlington, commissioned the architect Samuel Ware to design this covered shopping arcade. He also founded the Burlington Arcade Beadles, recruited from hi...

Building, Commerce

2 memorials
Esme Percy

Esme Percy

Esme Percy, once famous as a producer and star of stage and 50 films, but forgotten since his death in 1957. Born London of French ancestry, as Saville Esmé Percy. A good looking stage star and th...

Person, Cinema, Theatre

1 memorial