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London
The Franco-British Exhibition
1908
The Franco-British Exhibition of 1908 was held to celebrate the "entente cordiale" which had been signed by Britain and
France in 1904.  The exhibition was housed in an area west of London now called White City.  Nearby, the
White City
Stadium was constructed for the Olympic Games held in the same year. Originally scheduled for Rome, the venue had to
be changed to London because of the devastation of
Naples by an eruption of Vesuvius - the funds for the Olympics
were instead used to rebuild Naples. (The  White City stadium was later used for athletics and greyhound racing, and
was demolished in 1985).  A new tube station was built at
Wood Lane - this opened to coincide with the opening of the
Exhibition on May 14 1908. The opening ceremony was performed by the Prince of Wales - later King George V - in
pouring rain.
The exhibition attracted 8 million visitors and was the largest exhibition of its kind in Britain. It was the first international
exhibition co-organised and sponsored by two countries. It covered an area of some 140 acres, including an artificial
lake, surrounded by an immense network of white buildings in elaborate (often Oriental) styles.
Old Postcard, Franco-British Exhibition 1908, Court of Honour
At least we will not
have to bother about
dating the postcards
on this page - all will of
course have been
produced in 1908.
Franco-British Exhibition, Machinery Hall
Court of Honour by night
Franco-British Exhibition, Lagoon
British Textile Pavilion
Indian Palace, Franco-British Exhibition, Old Postcard
French Applied Arts Palace
Machinery Halls, Franco-British Exhibition 1908
Palace of Women's Work
Court of Honour
Garden Club and Royal Pavilion, Franco-British Exhibition 1908
Postcards of the Past
Court of Arts
The Scenic Railway, Franco-British Exhibition
Scenic Railway
The writer of this postcard describes the ride - "I went on the spiral railway, it is a terrible thing ! and is
supposed to be very dangerous. I sat in front with the driver and he asked me if I would like to go fast, I said
"Yes", and we did !!"
Elite Gardens
The Flip Flap, Franco-British Exhibition 1908, Old Postcard
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Tower of French Applied Arts, Franco-British Exhibition, Old Postcard
French Applied Arts Palace
Irish Village Colleens, Ballymaclinton
Ballymaclinton
The main entrance to Ballymaclinton.
Palace of Music, Flower Show
A flower show in the Palace of Music.
Algerian Pavilion, Franco-British Exhibition 1908
Franco-British Exhibition, Lagoon, Old Postcard
There is a lot of information about this
exhibition on the internet - search for it here.
Colonnade, Palace of Music
Thanks to the anonymous person who emailed us this image !
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There are more old postcards of the exhibition
- see the link below.
A visitor to this website has told us that she lived in
White City for a few years after World War II and
remembers the ruins of the Exhibition Site, which
they called the "Chinese Jungle". Follow
this link for
a history of the White City.
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London, White City Stadium
White City Stadium - we used to go greyhound racing here in the late 1950s !
Wood Lane Entrance, Franco-British Exhibition
This is not a postcard but the front cover of some sheet music
composed for the Exhibition. The composer's grandson, Peter Gillies,
kindly emailed us this image.
Advertise on this page for only £10 for a year !......Yep, that's just a tenner (or twenty bucks) for twelve months !......Can't be bad, so give it a go !!
This postcard of the Irish Village was sent to us by a gentleman from Wirksworth in Derbyshire. He has an
interesting website about the town and in particular a page about the exhibition and this postcard. Follow
this
link to see it
Did You Know.......that a hydro-electric generating set built for the exhibition was later sold to the Borough Council of Akaroa which
lies on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island. The plant has been preserved - follow
this link to read all about it.
Franco-British Exhibition, Australian Pavilion
Canadian Pavilion
Mountain Railway, White City
Funny T-Shirts
Reproductions of postcards with a (Z) following the description are available to buy from Zazzle - just click on the (Z) !
(Z)
You may buy a reproduction of this postcard by click on this (Z)
Click on the (Z) to buy a copy of this postcard.
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