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Blackpool Illuminations 1972

Blackpool Illuminations 1972 image

Blackpool Illuminations 1972

Slides documenting Blackpool Illuminations 1972, part of the town’s world-known annual light festival: a popular autumn display running since 1879 and drawing millions to the seafront.

Blackpool Illuminations is one of the UK’s oldest and largest public light festivals. First switched on in 1879, it grew through the twentieth century into a major seasonal draw, built by specialist crews who designed and engineered large tableaux, animated features and lantern-style structures along the promenade. By the early seventies the Illuminations were a mix of electric engineering, hand-painted scenography and popular entertainment, attracting millions of visitors each autumn.

The 1972 Lambton Visual Aids slides sit within that moment. They show a civic spectacle shaped by post-war leisure culture, municipal showmanship and the ongoing push to extend Blackpool’s holiday season. The images capture the festival’s characteristic blend of humour, fantasy and mass appeal, offering a record of how public illumination was used to animate the seafront, boost off-season tourism and project a bright, accessible holiday identity long before LED displays reshaped the event.

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