The first performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams's opera The Pilgrim's Progress on 26 April 1951, at the Royal Opera House [72] Frequencies show the percentage of Numista users who own each year or variety among all the users who own this coin. Since some users own several versions, the sum may be greater than 100%. Get this coin Lettering and type design featured prominently in the graphic style of the Festival and was overseen by a typography panel including the lettering historian Nicolete Gray. [40] A typeface for the Festival, Festival Titling, [41] was specially commissioned and designed by Philip Boydell. It was based on condensed sans-serif capitals and had a three-dimensional form making it suitable for use in exhibition display typography. [42] It has been said to bear "a vague resemblance to bunting". [43] The lettering on the Royal Festival Hall and the temporary Festival building on the South Bank was a bold, sloping slab serif letter form, determined by Gray and her colleagues, including Charles Hasler and Gordon Cullen, [40] illustrated in Gray's Lettering on Buildings (1960) and derived in part from typefaces used in the early 19th century. [44] It has been described as a "turn to a jauntier and more decorative visual language" that was "part of a wider move towards the appreciation of vernacular arts and the peculiarities of English culture". [45] The lettering in the Lion and Unicorn Pavilion was designed by John Brinkley. [46] [47]

Associated with the Festival of Britain Office were the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Council of Industrial Design, the British Film Institute and the National Book League. [8] In addition, a Council for Architecture and a Council for Science and Technology were specially created to advise the Festival Organisation and a Committee of Christian Churches was set up to advise on religion. [8] Government grants were made to the Arts Council, the Council of Industrial Design, the British Film Institute and the National Museum of Wales for work undertaken as part of the Festival. [9] Weight, Richard. Patriots: National Identity in Britain, 1940–2000 (London: Pan Macmillan, 2013), pp 193–208. It has been claimed that "the Festival of Britain created a confusion at the heart of subsequent discussions amongst administrators and educationalists concerning the place science should have in British life and thought as a whole (particularly education), and its role in Britain’s post-war greatness." [62] Other Festival events [ edit ] Postage stamps commemorating the Festival of Britain, with the Festival Star on the 4d issue The Country. ( Architect: Brian O'Rorke. Theme Conveners: A. S. Thomas, Peter B. Collins. Display Designer: F. H. K. Henrion.) Gold investment products are VAT free. Silver investment products are inclusive of VAT at the current rate unless otherwise stated.The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. The Natural Scene ( Architect: Brian O'Rorke. Theme Convener: Kenneth Chapman. Display Designer: F. H. K. Henrion) The Festival was highly popular in every part of Britain. Richard Weight estimates that of the national population of 49 million, about half participated. [77] The Festival largely ignored foreign tourists, with most of the visitors from the Continent being expatriate Britons. [78]

The archive of the Design Council held at the University of Brighton Design Archives includes several hundred images of the festival. [89] They can be searched via the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS). As you can tell, the frosted proof and matte versions are incredibly rare and worth thousands of pounds, however, the chances of coming across one of them are slim to none. The Festival's centrepiece was in London on the South Bank of the Thames. There were events in Poplar (Architecture – Lansbury Estate), Battersea (the Festival Pleasure Gardens), South Kensington (Science) and Glasgow (Industrial Power). Festival celebrations took place in Cardiff, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Perth, Bournemouth, York, Aldeburgh, Inverness, Cheltenham, Oxford, Norwich, Canterbury and elsewhere, [3] and there were touring exhibitions by land and sea. The Lion and the Unicorn ( Architects: R. D. Russell, Robert Goodden. Theme Conveners: Hubert Phillips and Peter Stucley. Display Designers: Robert Goodden, R. D. Russell and Richard Guyatt. Commentary: Laurie Lee.) [19]A Festival Council to advise the government was set up under General Lord Ismay. [8] Responsibility for organisation devolved upon the Lord President of the Council, Herbert Morrison, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, who had been London County Council leader. He appointed a Great Exhibition Centenary Committee, consisting of civil servants, who were to define the framework of the Festival and to liaise between government departments and the festival organisation. In March 1948, a Festival Headquarters was set up, which was to be the nucleus of the Festival of Britain Office, a government department with its own budget. [9] Festival projects in Northern Ireland were undertaken by the government of Northern Ireland. [12] a b Frayn, Michael (3 May 2001). "Festival Spirit". The Guardian. UK . Retrieved 13 December 2011. (Extract from Sissons, Michael; French, Philip, eds. (1963). The Age of Austerity, 1945-1951. London: Hodder & Stoughton. The crown coin minted this year was in commemoration of the event, and if you want to learn more about the Festival of Britain you can read this helpful summary here. Final Thoughts The People of Britain. ( Architect: H. T. Cadbury-Brown. Theme Convener: Jacquetta Hawkes. Display Design: James Gardner.) a b c d e f " "Circa 1951: Presenting Science to the British Public", Robert Anderson, Oregon State University". Osulibrary.oregonstate.edu. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008 . Retrieved 13 December 2011.