With a final grand burst of pomp and ceremony, the summer-long Festival of Britain came to an end. On the final day, a crowd of 64,853 jammed the 27-acre South Bank Exhibition site. The Archbishop of Canterbury led a service of thanksgiving. A brigade of Guards staged a military parade. As a lone spotlight followed the Union Jack slowly down its flagstaff, massed military bands played the national anthem and thousands of sentimental fairgoers joined in singing Auld Lang Syne.
Like disapproving elders watching their young relatives plan an extravagant party, many Britons last...
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