THE FABULOUS FIFTIES

As The Queen celebrates her Jubilee, we take a look back at British design in the early 1950s, when she acceded the throne.

- Rhiannon Batten

Think of Cool Britannia and the late 1990s probably comes to mind, the nation zig-a-zig-ahing its way around a Union Jack-emblazoned flurry of formaldehyde-submerged sharks and down-with-the-kids politicians. In truth, though, it was more a second coming. True Cool Britannia had peaked almost half a century earlier, during a swell of national optimism sparked by the end of the Second World War and Queen Elizabeth II's accession.

Rationing may still have been in place in Britain in the early 1950s, but light could be seen at the end of the great tunnel of austerity that had dominated people's lives for so long. The welfare state was expanding, improvements in living conditions were gradually being implemented, workers were in such high demand that migrants from commonwealth countries were starting to arrive in large numbers (albeit, shamefully, to be met with discrimination in many cases) and the middle classes were enjoying more leisure time - and the gadgets to either enable it (washing machines) or enjoy it (cars). Things were not, yet, quite as upbeat in the UK as they were in America, where both the economy and babies were booming, TVs were commonplace and rock 'n' roll was the soundtrack to a proliferation of shiny new suburbs. Yet, what might now be called a 'vibe shift' was underway.

Into this brave new cultural landscape landed 1951's Festival of Britain. Described, aspirationally, as 'a tonic for the nation' by the Festival's Director-General, former newspaper editor Gerald Barry, the event aimed to showcase Britain's science, technology, arts and industrial design, and to generate some sorely needed post-war positivity. Timed to tap into the centenary of 1851's Great Exhibition, it was focused on London specifically the South Bank, where purpose-designed buildings, such as the Royal Festival Hall, burst like futuristic teasels from what had previously been a 28-acre bombsite.