Opening day at the Festival of Britain

Clifford Hatts was one of the many exhibition designers who worked on the Festival of Britain in 1951. This is a lovely interview with him from 2011, in which he talks about the challenges of getting the exhibits ready in time for the Dome of Discovery. More remarkably still it features the 2 minute short film he recorded on the opening day of the Festival, 3rd May 1951. He captures the inside of the dome, Winston Churchill's trip down the building's gigantic escalator (actually, so taken was he with it he repeated the trip several times), the Skylon, and the Regatta restaurant, filled with members of the Design Research Unit who'd worked so hard on the Festival, having a celebratory lunch.