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One hundred years ago, in 1851, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, organised something called the Great Exhibition. In 1951 the Labour government decided that we should celebrate this centenary by having another exhibition, this time called the Festival of Britain. As well as celebrating the centenary of that earlier exhibition, the festival aimed to raise the spirits of a nation which had just been through 6 years of devastation and austerity. It was also there to show the best in British art, design and industry.

Unlike the 1851 event it was not held in just one building but in several specially constructed ones along the south bank of the River Thames. King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth, together with their daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, attended a service in St Paul's Cathedral and then declared the festival open on May 3.

Later that day, the Royal family officially opened one of the new buildings, known as the Royal Festival Hall; no great thought in the naming. However, of all the buildings that held events in the festival in London, it is the only one still standing. Exhibitions were also held all over the United Kingdom and the festival closed on 30 September 1951.

Some people said it was all a waste of money, and this may be one of the reason the Labour government lost the next election. However over 8.5 million people visited the exhibitions on the south bank in the 5 months they were open. The Millennium Dome managed 6.5 million in the one year it existed.

Although only one building remains, the south bank has since become home to many new arts venues, including the National Film Theatre and the Royal National Theatre.

You now know that Labour lost a general election this year. In 1950, the Labour government had held a general election. They had to be held every 5 years. Instead of having a 146 seat majority, as they did in 1945, this time it was reduced to just 5 seats. This made governing difficult so, in October 1951, the Labour government called another election, hoping to increase their majority. They failed and the Conservative party won with a 17 seat majority over all other parties. This was the beginning of 13 years of the Conservative party being in government.

It also meant the return of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister, a role he remained in until he resigned in April 1955, at the age of 80. He was 77 when he became Prime Minister for the last time.

Though the Labour Party had carried out many social reforms that we talked about last time there was a feeling that they didn't know what to do next. Britain's economy was in trouble, not helped by having to send troops to South Korea to support the American forces fighting there. As we said last time, Aneurin Bevan resigned when charges were introduced to his beloved NHS for glasses and false teeth and he was joined by another MP called Harold Wilson, more about him later. The party was becoming split. This helped the Conservatives to get back in power.

I've put a little table below to show you the ages when Churchill and those who followed him became Prime Minister and then left the position. It's funny because when you are young, people seem much older to you. I thought Eden, Macmillan and Douglas-Hume, all PMs when I was a child, were well over 70 something when they left office.

You will see that no Prime Minister has served in that position into their seventies let alone eighties since Chrurchill. The funny thing is that these days many ordinary people are actually working until they are much older and yet PMs are, in general, much younger. I have no idea what that means but I just thought I'd mention it.

If we look at all the other PMs in the twentieth century their average age when elected was 60 and when leaving office it was 66. Now you know.

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