Nostalgia: Remembering 1951 Festival of Britain in Leeds, York and Hull

It was a national exhibition in the heart of London which the Labour Government promoted as a beacon of change for a postwar Britain. But the optimism of the Festival of Britain 70 years ago was felt far beyond the capital.
By David Behrens
Published 26th Jun 2021, 06:00 BST
12th May 1951: Visitors stroll outside the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank, London during the Festival of Britain.. (Photo by Frank Harrison/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)12th May 1951: Visitors stroll outside the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank, London during the Festival of Britain.. (Photo by Frank Harrison/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
12th May 1951: Visitors stroll outside the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank, London during the Festival of Britain.. (Photo by Frank Harrison/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

While the Bradford playwright JB Priestley was sending the whole thing up in Festival at Farbridge, his comic novel about a small town putting on its own celebration, irony was absent in the Yorkshire cities that entered into the intended spirit.

This very week in 1951, a travelling exhibition could be seen on Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, while Hull mounted a naval event and York revived its medieval tradition of Mystery Plays, dormant since Tudor times. And a race to bring TV to the North meant that those with sets didn’t even have to leave the house to see the highlights.

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Related topics:YorkLabourHullLondonLeeds

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