The Festival was inaugurated by the King on May 3rd, 1951
at St. Paul’s Cathedral and the ILN commemorated this event, by
a
‘Festival of Britain Opening Special Number’ issued
on May 12th, 1951
(Appendix List No. 138). The design team’s
belief that there was a hunger for visual stimulation is given ample proof
in such architecturally fantastic buildings as the Unicorn Cafe with its
suspended umbrellas and flagpoles, the Sea and Ships Pavillion with its
projecting stern of specialised craft; the giant telescope inside the
Great Dome of Discovery; the brightly coloured globes beside the Telecinema
Pavillion and the Royal Festival Hall. All is grills and screens and balls
and decks and terraces and fountains and colour.
A four page colour section shows the Battersea Pleasure Gardens, a helicopter’s
view of the Exhibition site and the South Bank Exhibition at night.
The coloured cover depicts a young man and woman, symbolising partnership,
work and domestic peace. The man stands beneath a Union Jack and the woman
lays a hand on a globe. Beneath them curves the River Thames on the south
bank of which is displayed the Festival in all its colour.
This is issue number 5847, vol. 218, pages 717-788, measuring 37 x 26
cm and priced at three shillings.