"Life on This Earth in the Year A.D. 2000"
Prince Philip sparks some 1954 predictions of London's transport future.
I’ve got a bit of an odd one for you today. A few years back, I was doing some research into how people in the mid-20th century foresaw the year 2000. (You’ve probably clocked by now that I relish this past-futurology stuff.) I came across an article concerning a 1954 competition, whereby members of the public were asked to speculate on life in the year 2000, with cash prizes going to the best ideas. And it was all Prince Philip’s idea.
Honestly, the responses were not great, and so I’ve never used this material before. However, the two top prizes both went to proposals for the future of London transport, and both raise some intriguing if unoriginal ideas that have resonance with the London of today.
What follows, then, is something of an out-take, but one that I hope will be of interest. Anyhow, that’s after the usual History Radar of upcoming London history events.
History Radar
🍺🎉 LONDONIST PARTY: Would you believe it -- Londonist, the parent website of Londonist: Time Machine, turns 20 years old in 2024! (And I’ve personally been there for 19.5 of them.) To celebrate, we're throwing a party at the magnificent Five Points Taproom & Courtyard on Wednesday 12 June. Expect live music, top food and drink, and the chance to mingle with the Londonist team and other London afficianados. Be sure to nab a ticket soon! (Your first couple of drinks are included.)
🍺🍷 TIME MACHINE DRINKS: And… I’m also hosting another ‘drinks-in-an-historic-pub’ night for paying subscribers of this newsletter. It’s happening on Wednesday 1 May at one of the ye olde Wapping pubs (I’ll decide which when I know numbers, next week). If you’d like to come (and you’re a paying subscriber) then email me on matt@londonist.com for more details.
🐲🪶 GEORGE AND SHAKESPEARE: Tuesday 23 April is both St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday. Although London's main celebrations in Trafalgar Square take place on Sunday 21 April, look out for events today, including Morris dancing at Leadenhall Market. Meanwhile, Bard hunters can join a Shakespeare-themed tour of Southwark Cathedral to discover the links between the building -- then known as St Saviours -- and the actors who performed in Shakespeare's plays on nearby Bankside.
🏳️🌈🗣 QUEER HISTORY: A Gresham College lecture on Tuesday 23 April delves into how queer urban life has changed in the last 70 years. Specifically, Professor Matt Cook uses the examples of Leeds, Manchester, Brighton and Plymouth to challenge the idea that London was leading the way in shifts in economy, culture, attitudes, and technology.
🎭📗 DICKENS ADAPTATION: Reader Sally H thoroughly recommends London Tide, which has just opened at the National Theatre. “It's a trimmed, modern staged version of Our Mutual Friend (several sub-plots missed out) with a tremendous atmosphere of the murkier sides of Victorian London and the power and draw of the Thames. Music is by P J Harvey - I'd describe it as a play with music rather than a musical. A must-see for London (history) lovers,” she enthuses.
🚌🚂 TRANSPORT DEPOT: A couple of times a year, London Transport Museum’s massive storage depot in Acton opens to the public, and the next is on 26-28 April. The theme this time is ‘London By Design’, with an opportunity to explore a vast treasure trove of transport history, all while getting stuck into a range of design-centric activities. I’ve been many times and it’s one of those absolute must-sees if you’ve not visited before.
🏰🗣 TUDOR PALACES: At time of writing, there are a few tickets left for a day of talks about Tudor palaces in London, taking place at Southwark Cathedral on 27 April. Richmond, Eltham, Hampton Court, Nonsuch and Oatlands palaces are all discussed by experts, who offer an insight into how the palaces were built, and what life in court was like. 10am-4pm
🏰🪴 PALACE GARDENS: Speaking of Hampton Court, 27-28 April is one of the few weekends a year when you can visit the gardens for free. The Great Fountain Garden, the Privy Garden, the Kitchen Garden and the Pond Garden can be explored without paying a penny. Normal charges still apply if you want to visit the Palace building, the maze or the Magic Garden Playground.
🔔🚶🏼ST AUGUSTINE'S TOWER: 28 April is the last Sunday of the month, which means St Augustine's Tower -- the oldest building in Hackney -- is open to the public for free. The tower is all that remains of the old church of St. Augustine -- the rest of which was demolished in 1798.
🔥📍HELP NEEDED: An archivist at Aviva has been leading efforts to digitise and map London fire insurance documents from the 1690s to the 1850s. The records, from the Hand in Hand fire insurance company, contain fascinating details about the city in those years, its businesses and people. This is a small-scale project, but one that is potentially very useful for historians. They’re looking for volunteers to pin the transcribed records, which all contain business addresses, onto an old map of London. I’ve had a go and it’s quite addictive. Watch the introductory video here, and then get stuck into a few records.
“Life on This Earth in the Year A.D. 2000”
It was 1953, and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) was a year away from its 200th anniversary. The society wanted to use the birthday to stir public interest in its work, but didn’t have the budget to pull a spectacular. During an Extraordinary Meeting at Buckingham Palace, a novel suggestion came from the society’s patron, His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. Why not hold an ‘Exhibition of the Future’? And why not run it as a competition, to attract entries from the public?
The suggestion was enthusiastically accepted by the RSA’s committee. In a letter to the Duke1 dated 13 August 1953, they endorse the idea “not only on account of its source and its attractive originality, but partly also because it could be fitted in so well with the Society’s progressive aims and accepted methods”. The best entries would be rewarded with a place in the exhibition, a cash reward and -- who knows? -- perhaps be taken forward by government or city planners.
Some on the organising committee suggested that the competition focus on a date 100 years in the future to garner creative and entertaining entries. Others thought a mere decade’s foresight might stimulate practical suggestions that could be brought into service. In the event, the year 2000, 56 years in the future, was chosen. This was thought distant enough to offer scope for creativity, yet close enough that some of the entrants might live to see their visions realised.
The competition was launched in early 1954. Entrants had to write an essay on a theme of their choice under the remit ‘Life on this Earth in the Year A.D. 2000’. It attracted a longlist of over 400 entries from an impressive cross-section of society.
Many came from backgrounds of some technical qualification, including 11 research chemists, eight college lecturers and 58 engineers. Yet the competition also attracted a blacksmith, a farm worker, four joiners, 16 housewives, a model, and seven school boys. Submissions were received from as far as Rhodesia, Burma and South America. Truly, the RSA had succeeded in attracting a wide interest, even at the entry stage.
Roads in the sky
If the entrants were diverse then the subjects tackled were even more so, covering everything from etiquette to space travel. The most popular topics reflect the concerns of the time, with numerous musings on atomic energy and warfare, improved education and the future of housing. Transport was, however, by far the most attractive area for speculation. 99 entrants, representing a quarter of the total pool, took some facet of transportation as their focus.
Indeed, the winning two essays both sketched out visions for London transport in the year 2000. The winner’s prize of £50 was awarded to Wing Commander Thomas Reginald Cave-Browne-Cave C.B.E., M.I.Mech.E., F.R.Ae.S. This triple-barrelled super-achiever was also a Professor of Engineering at Southampton University and former Director of Camouflage during the Second World War. His winning scheme concerned a network of rooftop roadways over the capital.