Resurrection for the Festival of Britain's Skylon ?

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Festival of Britain, the national exhibition intended to boost morale and kick-start the recovery of a country which was still reeling from the second world war which had ended only six years earlier.

At this time swathes of cities were still scarred from the bombing and many foods including sweets, sugar and meat were still rationed. It was a time of great austerity.

The Festival of Britain was a national event with some exhibits touring by land and by sea but its main site was on London's

south bank at Waterloo where every building except one (the shot tower, sadly since demolished) was cleared to make room for the new buildings.

Dominating the new (but temporary - only the Royal Festival Hall remains) skyline was the Skylon, a 300 foot tower which was the last word in modernity and - as the joke of the time had it - also represented the British economy in that it had no visible means of support.

Although iconic and popular, the cost of relocating it after the exhibition was deemed prohibitive and inappropriate in a Britain struggling to make ends meet. It is said that Winston Churchill was instrumental in its fate, disapproving of its modernism and resenting its link to the preceding Labour Government.

What happened to it? The received wisdom is that it was thrown into the River Lea but alternative stories abound. According to wikipedia:

Several other theories surround its fate: that it was dumped in the Thames, buried under Jubilee Gardens, cut into pieces and turned into ashtrays, or even sold for scrap. The base is preserved in the Museum of London and the only other parts known to have survived are the wind cups, which are owned by a private collector.

Anyway, Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre, was widely quoted this week as saying that there are plans to hunt it down:

It's like the Loch Ness monster - every so often there are supposed sightings but nobody really knows what happened to it. It's thought it was thrown into the River Lea and we would like to send divers into the River Lea in search of Skylon. It doesn't mean we are going to put it up again. But it's kind of our symbol and it always will be.

While they're down there, the divers could fish up the remains of the Euston Arch too.

Anyway, fingers crossed for the Skylon although it sounds unlikely. Should they be successful then as far as I'm concerned they are welcome to erect it in Jubilee Gardens where it belongs. You can read more about the Southbank Centre's Festival of Britain celebrations here.

Meanwhile if you want to celebrate the Festival of Britain in your own home then what better way than this fantastic new wallpaper from Mini Moderns? I am so, so tempted.

Thanks to Oliver for alerting me to this story.