Janathon Day 19: Cycle 20 miles, Time 1hr 28min, Weather bright but with a cold, sharp wind
Days can be full of coincidence. On my ride today I noticed this village sign, which had obviously been put-up to commemorate the 1951 Festival of Britain. Good topic I thought - I could write about why the Festival Hall is one of my favourite buildings or the design of the logo, which I think is a very fine piece of work (obviously these are topics crying out to be covered in what is meant to be a running blog).
I was still thinking about this whilst listening to PM when they had an item about a new attempt to find the remains of Skylon, in the River Lee. Well knock me down with a feather! The fates have obviously decreed it is officially Festival of Britain day.
Skylon was erected as a result of a competition, the brief of which was wonderfully vague: completely abstract design or one that related to the overall theme of the exhibition. It could be three-dimensional, or be made of water, gas, balloons or coloured lights. In other words it could have been anything but in the event it was rather magical: a suspended object suggesting a slim space rocket or javelin, which also glowed at night.
It was exceptionally popular but it only lasted year because Winston Churchill, who was then Prime Minister, thought it was a piece of socialist propaganda and ordered it to be dismantled. Why it would then be thrown in the Lee, I have no idea but obviously the people in today's news item must have some clue.
But I want to return to the FoB logo for a couple of reasons. The first is to celebrate it as a clear, assured, design (especially when compared to logo for the current big event: the 2012 Olympics). The second is to continue a theme started by Cake of Good Hope, who played around with the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster and also used the wording of its sister poster "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will bring us Victory".
I know these are now popular as an almost ironical reference to the pluck and stoicism of the wartime generation but the fact is they were seriously useless pieces of propaganda. Although the typography was good the message was way off. In particular "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution will bring us Victory" caused a lot of resentment because it suggested quite clearly the them and us attitude of the toffs and nabobs - the ordinary people were meant to show all the courage to ensure victory for the ruling class.
The thing is that these were very early efforts from the Ministry of Information, the work of existing civil servants. They realised their mistake ('Mass Observation' gave very good information about the mood of the nation) and then upped their game for the rest of the war by hiring writers and artists. Some of the later wartime posters were very fine.
This brings me back to the Festival of Britain. The logo was designed by Abram Games who produced some great wartime posters such as:
5 comments:
Great post - I love the final poster, very clever.
I very much enjoyed your unexpected Janathon history lesson. Hope the bike ride was as interesting.
The River Lee/Lea? Where I - and JogBlog - used to run? All those times Hector and I saw water diggers dredging the canal...
Some of the posters from the mid 20th century are great... you are right about the current state of design - the 2012 logo looks like something to advertise a childrens television programme. Coincindentally, many of my runs are also along the River Lea / Lee between Hertford and Ware.
I must admit to being confused about Lea/Lee. I have seen it written both ways and don't know which is correct.
But yes Adele who knows what those dredgers were looking for. I still have no idea why Skylon would be in the river - it seems most unlikely.
ET & K I think there was a lot of very good poster design in mid C20. I love the way the principles of Modernism were distilled.
Laura I enjoyed the bike ride very much. The sun felt good.
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