Period TV

[Gareth Hughes]

This might be worth a look tonight, BBC2 8.15
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015d486

Set against the post war period of debt, austerity and rationing, the 1951 Festival of Britain showed how to carve out a bright new future through design and ingenuity, while still having fun. Told by the people who made it happen and making use of some previously unseen colour footage, this is the story of how an extraordinary event changed Britain forever.

 

[Lime]

I remember the Festival of Britain.
I visited it with my father.
It was a colourful addition to a very dirty and bombed out London.
I felt it represented hope and a vision of what the future held for anyone lucky enough to be alive after the war.

I was puzzled over the Skylon and asked my dad what it was for and what it did.
He was lost for an answer for a second or two but eventually said it didn't do anything but showed what can be done if you want to do it.
I think that summed up the festival for me rather well.

 

[Penners]

Me too, Lime. My parents took me to the exhibition when I was 9. Like you, I found the Skylon impressive but unsatisfylingly functionless.

I loved the Dome of Discovery, with all its exhibits showing British scientific advances. But, needless say given my age, Battersea Funfair was the real icing on the cake for me. Do you remember the Guinness Clock?

 

[Lime]

I was 6.
I don't remember the Guinness Clock at all.
However that doesn't surprise me as my father came from a family who found themselves with the common scottish dichotomy of having a strong disapproval of drink but living with some of the family who thoroughly enjoyed it (OTT) when they could.
Anything associated with drink and recounted by me to my mother would have been very poorly received!

The details of the festival are confused in my mind with the many other exhibitions and museums that my father took me to.
The coloured balls and the various decorated festival emblems dotted about the place seem to have merged in my mind into the street decorations for the Coronation.

However I do remember everything was soaking wet but it had stopped raining.
I remember being told to stand on a marked paving stone and look up at something.... but all I recall are the drips that landed on my face and the bright sky.

 

[Penners]

I was 6.

Damn! I'd always hoped that you were slightly older than me, so that I wasn't the forum's oldest member. :wink:

The coloured balls and the various decorated festival emblems dotted about the place seem to have merged in my mind into the street decorations for the Coronation.

I'm sure you'll remember the logo, though:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I was 6.

Damn! I'd always hoped that you were slightly older than me, so that I wasn't the forum's oldest member. :wink:

Penners - we're talking the Festival of Britain here, not the Great Exhibition... 8)

 

[Penners]

I'll have you know, FW, that one of the great centrepieces of the Crystal Palace was made by esteemed ancestors of mine - the Waterford Glass Company.

So just show a little respect, would you?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'll have you know, FW, that one of the great centrepieces of the Crystal Palace was made by esteemed ancestors of mine - the Waterford Glass Company.

So just show a little respect, would you?

I'm truly impressed Mr P - not only with your family connections, but also that the image you took down on the day has remained in such pristine condition. Please tell us - what was it like? It looks as if Joce would have fitted right in, in her bustle...

 

[Penners]

The problem wasn't keeping the finished image in good condition. It was getting all those people to stand still for the five-and-a-half hours it took me to engrave it.

Thank goodness for my natural air of authority.