Written by Richard Ward, Archives Officer
When does a country finally take off the shackles of a gruelling war effort and start to feel the benefits of a brighter future ahead?
Over the course of 1951 a still battle-scarred and bomb-damaged Britain seemed to recognise the dawning of this moment in time. Positivity prevailed within the country as the decade began to blossom. Finding a sense of purpose to push society on a forward trajectory.
In this blog I’ve chosen five events of different hues encapsulating this period of transition. Varying from the shockingly salacious to the confusingly surreal, featuring last hurrahs and hopeful beginnings.
CELEBRATION OF US
All eyes were on St Paul’s Cathedral for the Festival of Britain’s opening ceremonial service held on May 3rd, 1951. Pressure was on Festival President Herbert Morrison to deliver a spectacle eclipsing the Victorian ingenuity displayed at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Of its £11m budget a sizeable percentage was spent transforming London’s South Bank into a centrepiece setting. Headlined by a mammoth ‘Dome of Discovery’ containing a jaw-dropping escalator entry blowing the mind of VIP visitor Winston Churchill. Additionally, the 300ft Skylon provided a unique visual backdrop for the crowds to marvel at in a hugely successful five-month residency.
Across the capital, design enthusiasts flocked to Poplar’s Lansbury Estate to view its live architectural exhibition of innovative functional homes. Essentially a celebration of Britishness, the organisers didn’t want the festival to be too London-centric, staging shows in Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff heralding industry, textiles and agriculture. Representation of the arts was highlighted by the commissioning of several outdoor sculptures including works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Ignoring costing criticisms by the Beaverbrook newspapers, it was universally accepted that expectations had been exceeded and Princess Margaret attended a dance at Battersea Park’s Pleasure Gardens for a final weekend send-off.
Read Herbert Morrison announcing the Festival of Britain plan to Parliament
FALLEN APOSTLES
Numerous cliques existed in Cambridge University’s 1930s social scene and ‘The Apostles’ gained notoriety for drinking and Marxism. Amongst its ranks Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean progressed from student Communist converts to Cold War secret agents. Both men served in the Foreign Office and by 1951 found themselves under mounting suspicion regarding the leaking of American military activities linked to another ‘Apostle’, Washington-based Kim Philby. Before authorities intervened, they absconded to France with Burgess taking £300 pounds, a spare tweed suit and a set of Jane Austen novels subsequently discovered by the FBI in an abandoned car near Southampton.
Jumping upon the story, Fleet Street’s finest gleefully exposed episodes of Burgess’s self-destructive behaviour and rumoured homosexuality. Current affairs commentary resembled a shooting range on his reported character flaws. The Daily Mail tabled a substantial £10,000 reward for information prompting a deluge of bogus sightings on various continents. Eventually the Sunday Times’s Russian correspondent got the scoop of his career resulting from a covert approach by the two defectors in Moscow to publish a joint statement protesting their innocence. Nevertheless the ‘traitor’ tag stuck, and the exiled Burgess died in August 1963 of a heart attack caused by liver cirrhosis.
Read the House of Lords discussing Guy Burgess’s Income
ALTERNATIVE COMEDY
Securing a BBC Radio schedule slot not related to the Festival of Britain wasn’t easy in May 1951 but at the month’s end Crazy People also known as The Goon Show debuted. A Radio Times article noted the ‘members of this entertainingly eccentric quartet met in an army touring show titled ‘Stars in Battledress’. Written by Spike Milligan above a grocery shop in Shepherds Bush, it combined music hall traditions and surrealism aided by a distinct lack of class deference. Despite disappointing audience numbers and protestations expressed by an unimpressed BBC Listening Panel, the show was granted a second series.
By the mid-fifties The Goon Show’s popularity morphed from cult hit to cultural phenomenon even acquiring royal approval from schoolboy superfan Prince Charles. Its alternative comedic template incorporated an irreverent strand of political satire openly mocking establishment figures such as Anthony Eden. Peter Sellers became its breakout performer, and Milligan joined him for a visit to Parliament in 1955 as guests of Lambeth MP and friend to the stars Marcus Lipton. Lipton was front page news himself after using Parliamentary Privilege powers to sensationally reveal Kim Philby as the ‘Third Man’ in the Soviet spy furore involving Burgess and Maclean.
Read Marcus Lipton naming Kim Philby as the ‘Third Man’
ONE MORE HEAVE
Governing obstructed by a miniscule majority is no fun, as Clement Attlee learnt failing to overcome a succession of legislative roadblocks in a brief second Prime Ministerial term. Hoping for a post-Festival of Britain bounce he called a snap election in October 1951 to alleviate the situation. The Conservatives, out of 10 Downing Street for six years, sensed an opportunity to turn the tables and at the Party Conference Winston Churchill urged for ‘one more heave’ towards victory. The ageing party leader took a campaigning backseat, passing the frontline baton to Anthony Eden who excelled in newly televised Party-Political Broadcasts.
While the Conservatives preached the economic virtues of reduced state intervention and halting further nationalization, Labour accused Churchill of being a potential warmongering liability in the atomic age. Eden, a supposed housewives’ favourite, sought to gain an advantage addressing the all-important women’s vote by focusing on ‘bread and butter’ issues and trying to solve the cost-of-living crisis. An autumn polling day inevitably meant grey and wet weather however the turnout was an impressive 82.5% as the Conservatives edged out a tight contest. The 1951 Election introduced ‘swing’ to the analysis lexicon though the outcome was better likened to a ‘sway’.
Read new Prime Minister Winston Churchill speaking on the Speaker’s election
RISING HIGH
Suspended in wartime, the National Census made a welcome return in 1951 containing a household amenity index to reflect the sheer volume of houses built as part of the post-war New Towns revolution. Situated twenty-five miles east of London, Harlow was a perfect case-study in the urban development of European-influenced high-density housing as a solution to the metropolitan slum clearance problem. To meet a growing demand for property in the overspill town, Master Planner Frederick Gibberd conceived Britain’s first point block residential accommodation standing at ten storeys high named The Lawn, changing the face of domestic housebuilding forever.
Gibberd used his beloved Harlow as a blank canvas to realise a modernist utopian vision. Like similarly minded fellow New Town planning idealists he aimed to look beyond the basic provisions of an indoor toilet and hot running water. Winner of the 1951 British Housing Award Gibberd followed up The Lawn project collaborating on the seminal Bishopfield Estate and then the Harvey Shopping Centre an American style mall. Initially occupants of The Lawn’s apartment dwellings tended to be pension-aged retirees yet as businesses and manufacturing migrated en-masse a younger demographic emerged, and Harlow was soon christened a baby-boomer ‘pram town’.
Read the 1946 New Towns Bill Second Reading debate
SOURCES
Autobiography of a Nation: 1951 Festival of Britain by Becky Conekin
Having It So Good: Britain in the 1950s by Peter Hennessey
British General Election 1951 by D E Butler
Family Britain 1951-1957 by David Kynaston
New Town Story by Frank Schaffer
Stalin’s Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Leonie
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – Guy Burgess by Sheila Kerr
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – Donald Maclean by Robert Cecil
Times Digital Archives
Hansard Parliamentary Debates
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