Memories of the Festival of Britain

Eight decades ago, as Britain and Britons were trying to pick up the pieces of their lives amongst the rubble of the Second World War, came the idea for a great festival. 

Initially conceived as a centenary commemoration of the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, this idea duly evolved from a nod to the past, to something more forward-facing, an opportunity for ‘national reassessment’ and a ‘reaffirmation of faith in the nation’s future’. It was to be a Festival of Britain, a nationwide celebration of arts, architecture, science, technology, industry and more that would, in the words of Festival Director Gerald Barry, offer ‘a tonic to the nation’.

Held in the summer of 1951, the Festival of Britain was a national celebration, with activities, festivals and fairs taking place in cities, towns and villages across all four countries of the UK. A specially commissioned festival ship, Campania, docked at ten ports including Dundee, Cardiff, Belfast and Plymouth, while a travelling exhibition rolled through Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and Nottingham. The beating heart of the festivities however, was right here on the South Bank.

A huge purpose-built festival site between Waterloo and the river, the South Bank Exhibition proved enormously popular welcoming almost 8.5 million visitors. The majority of the site’s 22 pavilions and attractions, including the vast circular Dome of Discovery and the towering sleek Skylon sculpture, were temporary, but one firm legacy of the exhibition still stands on the South Bank today. Opened on 3 May 1951, on the first day of the Festival of Britain, our iconic Royal Festival Hall, has remained a cherished destination for generations of culture-lovers ever since.

Throughout 2026, we’re celebrating 75 years of the Royal Festival Hall with a host of vibrant events, series and concerts which, much like the Festival of Britain, look to the future. But we also wanted to acknowledge our roots. And so to get a feel for the impact and legacy of the 1951 Festival of Britain we’ve been collecting memories of those who experienced it first hand. From childhood day trips to first dates, inspirational student visits to a tale of working to prepare the festival until the very last minute, we share a number of these stories with you here.

‘It was like a wonderland’

‘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.

‘It was dazzling’

‘My dad took me to the Festival of Britain at the age of nine. It was dazzling after growing up in bomb blasted Peckham. The Skylon, the Dome of Discovery and the Guinness clock stick in my mind – unusually for London the day was sunny and warm. I still have two commemorative coins in their presentation box, and a photo of me outside the Dome.’
David Coe, United States

‘This was living’

‘I was ten years old and excited beyond measure. We lived in Morecambe, Lancashire and I was packed off on the train to Euston to be met by friends my dad had met in the war. The festival was huge and spectacular, full of colours and wonders and people, people, people, all of them happy and excited too. There I experienced a number of firsts. A teeny fat TV in a darkish room with crowds gazing in awe. An ice cube! In real orange juice. On the terrace. This was living! A door that magically opened as you approached! And I can’t forget standing under the Skylon.’
Jackie Bailiff

‘I loved the Skylon’

‘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

‘Overwhelmed by the Dome of Discovery’

‘Born in October 1942 I would’ve been eight years old when I visited the festival with my older brother, mother and father. We travelled by train from Birmingham on a trip organised by the Birmingham Labour Party. We visited the South Bank site and Battersea Park where we rode on one of the Emett trains. I was overwhelmed by the Dome of Discovery. My brother and I particularly wanted to stand under the Skylon as we had built a miniature version of it in our garden at home. However my favourite item was the tilting fountain. Watching the top bucket fill and then tip, cascading water into the bucket below and below that. I sat and was mesmerized by it.’
Simon Hurdley

‘Grown-ups could do things just for fun’

‘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.

‘What a treat!’

‘I remember going to the Festival of Britain with my parents from our home in Hornchurch when I was six years old (or six and three quarters to be precise!). We met my older brother on a bridge. My dad bought me a stick of candy floss – what a treat! – however this got stuck on my brother’s best suit, so I was not popular. I remember important looking buildings and walking through some of them. I also remember going to the children’s zoo in Battersea by boat; I had a paper bag with fruit inside and I fed grapes to a group of goats. Later that day we sat in a garden area and my dad went off to get some drinks. There were some strange statues with holes in them nearby and I realise now they were the work of Barbara Hepworth. I still have the programme, two tickets and the gold coloured foil from a chocolate coin.’
Susan Moss

‘A very special trip’

‘I was nine years old at the time and was taken by my father, who had not long returned from the war – a very special stranger taking me, my older sister and brother, on a very special trip. The bus journey into London from the outer reaches of Walthamstow was in itself an adventure and seemed to take forever. Aside from the excitement of this special treat with daddy, I was not sure why we were going or what I was supposed to do when we got there – at that age I was more interested in playing in the wilds of Epping Forest.

‘When we finally arrived the crowds were suffocating and my brother quickly got lost, which irritated my father, who was further irritated by my persistent demands for any bright thing offered for sale – which I did not receive because he simply had no spare money. Dutifully I looked at all the things he pointed out to me, including this strange object called Skylon, which towered above me mysteriously and I searched my brain to think of some kind words to say about it while secretly knowing I would be able to show off at school about having seen this thing which was creating such comment.

‘We took sandwiches of brown solid bread, and boiled eggs, and we brought our own water, probably in a small jerry can from camping, and daddy splashed out on one ice cream or maybe a candy floss – exorbitantly expensive, at least one shilling and sixpence.

‘Our attention was drawn to large placards showing scenes that daddy described, totally boring to a nine year old but immensely significant to a man who had been anti-war in the 1930s but had felt HItler posed too great a threat not to enrol in the Navy, a man who was on the D-Day beaches, and who welcomed the coming of the welfare state which so benefitted poorer families like ours. For him the festival did represent hope for a new era and he continued his work for social justice until the day he died 35 years later. His values have stayed with me; I loved my special day out with this good man, and fell asleep exhausted for the entire bus home.’
Ann M Jones

‘We should rebuild the Skylon’

‘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.

‘So bright and exciting’

‘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.

‘It was such a thrill’

‘As a child in Scotland we’d heard about the festival and my father asked me if I’d like to go. Yes! We set off on the train and arrived in London all lit up – a sight ever seen in the war or those years just after; It was such a thrill. The festival was magic. The Skylon, the Dome of Discovery, the Emett railway, and the foodstall where I tasted real spaghetti for the first time – not the slimy stuff in tomato sauce from a tin – were just some of the wonderful experiences I’ll never forget.’
Hazel (shared in 2016)

‘I had never seen so much colour’

‘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

‘In total awe’

‘I was three and my baby sister was one, when we came with our parents to London from Ringwood to see the Festival of Britain and the new Royal Festival Hall. My recollection is of standing on the Westminster-side Embankment and gazing across the river at the hall in total awe. I couldn’t believe anything could be built so big! But now I know the Royal Festival Hall quite well. In 1968 I married a violinist and in 1971 he joined the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and their concerts at the Royal Festival Hall were always not-to-miss events.’
Anon.

‘I found it so exciting’

‘I attended the opening day of the Festival of Britain and remember waiting to watch the King and Queen walk past. I recall spotting our father, Hugh Casson [the festival’s Director of Architecture], escorting the Duke and Duchess of Kent and being disappointed that protocol prevented him from acknowledging my sister and I in the crowd. I paid many visits to the site while it was still being built and found it so exciting.’
Carola Zogolovitch (shared in 2016)

‘Wonderful colours and space age designs’

‘My friend and I were 12 years old when we visited the Festival of Britain, travelling from south east London on our own. We were so excited and loved everything we saw; the modernist white wire chairs, the wonderful colours and space age designs on the furnishing fabrics, the pottery, the fabulous architecture – the Dome of Discovery, the Skylon – the viewing platforms flying out over the river, and most of all the magnificent Royal Festival Hall still a marvel of design to this day. Wonderful! Can we have another exhibition soon please?’
Pat

‘This amazing structure suspended above me’

‘I remember queuing up to stand under the Skylon. I walked to the centre of the rings of paving and stood on the dot. I looked up to see this amazing structure suspended above me, little knowing, as an eight year old boy, that in 15 years time I would be working for the architects, Powell & Moya who designed the structure with engineer Felix Samuely.’
Cliff Gabb

‘Most definitely I was not in Accrington’

‘I was 13 years old, living in Accrington, Lancashire, where my father was one of the local doctors. I don’t know exactly why, but he decided we should drive to London to visit the Festival of Britain; which we did, staying with friends in Camberley. After the somewhat bleak, post-war landscape of industrial Lancashire, London itself was a wonder and the Festival of Britain site itself seemed to be virtually extra-terrestrial: Dan Dare, I was sure, must have been a resident!

‘And so; what stays in my mind? Well, primarily, the Skylon and the Dome of Discovery. I wandered the Dome and, among the miracles of the present and the future, I came across a series of hanging earphones with the invitation to put them on and listen. Was there a choice of material? I cannot recall. But whatever I did, I was given Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings’. Most definitely I was not in Accrington. John Wilson’s American Prom last summer gave us, among other things, Barber’s piece and I was taken back to 75 years ago – a young boy standing at the threshold of an unknown future. One does not forget such revelations.’
John Laing

‘Completely over-awed’

‘I was 17 and completely over-awed by the Skylon. I also seem to remember a pavilion devoted to burns – the images still haunt me! The big fair in Battersea Park took all my holiday money!’
C O’M

‘Marvelling at the colours’

‘My big sister was a programme seller at the festival. I was 16 and it was my first solo visit to London from Sheffield which was still scarred with the remains of the blitz. I remember standing on the bridge and marvelling at the colours, a magic vision, which at 82 years old I can still remember as clearly as ever’.
Anon. (shared in 2017)

‘Architecture to inspire me’

‘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 of Discovery, the Skylon and coffee shops hanging over the river; up to date architecture to inspire me.’
Anne Duff

‘Freedom to roam’

‘I was 16 in 1951, and had seen all the publicity of the Festival of Britain in newspapers and on the British Movietone News at our small local cinema in Denbigh, North Wales, so I jumped at the chance of joining a mega school visit. About five North Wales secondary schools had organised a day trip together on a special train – we set off at 4.30am and brought packed meals for the day. I had a really super day, being given freedom to roam and explore. I remember the Dome of Discovery and Skylon, but mostly the people from all over Britain and the world. We got home in the small hours – the train somehow got lost on the way home – but it was worth it!’
Anon

‘The feeling of new beginnings’

‘I was 24 years old, my husband to be was 35, and we came up from Bristol to experience the festival in July 1951. We married in August and so called the visit our pre-marriage honeymoon. I found the experience tremendously visually exciting: the Royal Festival Hall and the Skylon as well as new buildings in East London and the feeling of new beginnings after growing up under war and austerity. It was a unique experience of hope and vitality.’
Bridget Davies

‘We had to hide under the tables’

‘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 overnight 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

‘Our first date’

‘The Festival of Britain was our first date, and we’ve now been married for over 60 years. I treated my future wife to a glass of Jersey milk and biscuits. This place still has a lot of memories after over 60 years.’
Anon. (shared in 2013)

‘So much to be thankful for’

‘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.

‘Wonderful memories’

‘I came to the Festival of Britain, following my wedding on 20 June 1951. The marriage didn’t last beyond 22 years, but my love of art, creativity and design has sustained me and made my life very happy. Wonderful memories.’
Anon.

‘Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye’

‘In 1951, I was about 23 years old and working for Cable and Wireless at their offices on Victoria Embankment, across the river from where the Festival of Britain was being held. During my lunch hours, I used to walk along the Embankment or across Waterloo Bridge to get a look at the site, though it was all boarded up until the official opening.

‘Once it opened, I spent a whole week of my holidays there; travelling up every day by train from home in Belvedere on the cheap ten o’clock tickets. It was a marvellous time. John (my fiancé and then husband for over seventy years) and I would sit by the river, have lunch or dinner at the Regatta Restaurant, eating food we hadn’t seen since before the war.

‘The festival was all about boosting what Britain had achieved and there was so much to see that even after a week, I still hadn’t seen it all. I particularly remember the final night of the festivities. The atmosphere was wonderful, with crowds of people singing and dancing. Gracie Fields was performing, she was quite old then, but she stood up and sang all her old songs and everyone joined in. The evening’s performances were running late and the fireworks started before Gracie had finished her songs, but she made a joke of it singing ‘Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye’. We didn’t get home until very late that night. It’s a memory that stays with me.’
Betty Gilbert