‘W e ought to do something jolly … we need something to give Britain a lift.” So said Herbert Morrison, a key figure in Clement Attlee’s postwar Labour government, selling to the cabinet the idea of a Festival of Britain. It kicked off 75 years ago this weekend with a service of dedication at St Paul’s , lasted for five months and consisted of a nationwide celebration of British achievements in the arts and sciences. But did it succeed, and did it leave any lasting legacy? I say it was a national event but there is little doubt that much of the focus was on an exhibition on London’s South Bank which reclaimed a huge tract of derelict land and attracted 8.5 million visitors. As an 11-year-old schoolboy, I was one of them, making the pilgrimage from Leamington Spa with my family. I still recall the excitement of the Dome of Discovery which was a vast scallop shell containing segments devoted to earth, sea, sky, the polar regions and outer space.…