Festival of Britain

When we asked for your memories of the seminal celebration of post-war creativity that was the 1951 Festival of Britain, we were inundated with recollections of everything from the sci-fi-style Skylon to the thrill of eating tri-coloured ice cream. To mark the festival’s 75th anniversary, we’re exploring the work of the many Jewish émigré artists, designers and scientists who contributed to its cutting edge content. Hear from Naomi Games, the daughter of Abram Games, who created the event’s enduring ‘Britannia’ symbol; refugees participating in arts programmes at St John’s Waterloo, the “official church” of the 1951 festival; and, of course, our readers (including Michael Rosen). Elsewhere, Natalie Livingstone spotlights the unsung women involved in the Nuremberg Trials; novelist Sam Sussman uncovers the truth about his parents – spoiler alert – his dad is probably Bob Dylan; and Samantha Ellis speaks to the tech pioneer using AI to unlock the mysteries of the Jewish Iraqi Archive.