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Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain
Until Oct 25
Science Museum, Exhibition Rd, London, SW7 2DD
© Dan Dare Corporation Ltd
By Sara O’Reilly

Posted: Mon Apr 21
Eagle comic-book hero Dan Dare has been drafted in to front a temporary exhibition at the Science Museum which will set out to show how in the years between 1945 and 1970 Britain made the transition to affluence from post-war austerity. During the ’50s and ’60s, Dan Dare was a fixture in the lives of millions of children but as Andrew Nahum, principal curator of technology at the Science Museum, points out, ‘While his space fleet trounced alien foes high above Venus, an equally extraordinary future was being played out on Earth. This was a period when Britain, though shattered by the cost of World War II, was inventing a hi-tech nation – a time of extraordinary energy and innovation for British design and technology.’

Pride of place will go to the Bloodhound missile. Capable of reaching speeds of 1,500 mph in four seconds, it was a pillar of Britain’s defence against the Soviet threat in the Cold War . Visitors will also be able to see a section of Comet 1, the world’s first jet airliner, showing the fatal flaw in its design which caused its crash into the Mediterranean in 1954 and exhibits such as the Roentgen IV X-ray machine and a selection of NHS glasses and hearing aids will highlight the new, free nationwide health service that emerged during the period. Equally significant was the new emphasis on consumer technology; world firsts on display will include items such as portable TVs, food processors and furniture by the original DIY guru, Barry Bicknell, who in the 1960s generated more fan mail than the cast of ‘Coronation Street’.

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1 comment

Posted by Chris on 31 Aug 2008 13:05
It wasn't Barry Bicknell, it was Barrry Bucknall... Like the Exhibition - which abounds in them (roads, vacuum cleaners etc) - yet another factual error.
It's not like the Fifties were the Dark Ages... why didn't someone who was there check the detail? A very disappointing half-hour...

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