Lighting & Amplifying Westminster

Lighting & Amplifying Westminster

In the interwar years technologies were developed that enabled the staging of the large meetings that international movements necessitated. From lecture theatre acoustics to atmospheric lighting, audio-visual technology facilitated a multisensory engagement with the spaces of internationalism. In September 1931, in honour of the International Illumination Congress, London landmarks were lit up at night, so as to “… tell the world that London still leads the world”, as one journalist had it. Here we see the Royal Gallery at Westminster being fitted out with lights, speakers and microphones ahead of the inauguration of the Naval Conference of 1930, which aimed at reducing the international arming of the seas. The King's Microphone was used to record his opening speech, which was reproduced as a 78 RPM record by the His Master's Voice (HMV) label. The Prime Minister’s concluding speech of the first Round Table Conference session was filmed and shown at cinemas across Britain. Despite the Secretary of State for India’s enthusiasm for screenings in India, there was found to be little appetite for them.

The Parliamentary Archives, Palace of Westminster