The Festival of Britain opened in May 1951 and ran through the summer that year, with a mission to promote a sense of recovery, boost morale and showcase creativity in a Britain still scarred by the impact of WW2. Though the main site was on London's South Bank – which drew 8.5 million visitors – the festival was a nationwide affair with exhibitions in towns and cities around Britain.
In addition to exhibitions, the festival also left a long-lasting legacy across the world of design – most famously through iconic modernist chairs by Ernest Race and Robin Day, posters by Abram Games, and ravishing textile designs by Lucienne Day. Far less acknowledged, however, were the many important contributions made by foreign-born creatives. These include Misha Black, Jacqueline Groag and FHK Henrion to the displays, Peter Moro and HJ Reifenberg in architecture, Siegfried Charoux in sculpture, plus the textile design work of Tibor Reich.
Dr Atkinson - Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities – has now written a nine-page feature about refugee contributions to the festival, published this week in the May issue of BBC History Magazine - Britain's biggest selling history magazine. She has also been interviewed for the BBC's HistoryExtra podcast, which has had over 100 million downloads.