Angus McBean

1 portrait of Angus McBean

© estate of Angus McBean / National Portrait Gallery, London

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Angus McBean

by Angus McBean
bromide print, 1954
6 3/8 in. x 4 5/8 in. (161 mm x 118 mm)
Purchased, 1992
Photographs Collection
NPG x39306

Sitterback to top

  • Angus McBean (1904-1990), Photographer. Sitter in 79 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 283 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Angus McBean (1904-1990), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 283 portraits, Sitter in 79 portraits.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG x39307: Christmas card by Angus McBean (obverse)

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Pepper, Terence, Angus McBean Portraits, 2006 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 July to 22 October 2006), p. 125 Read entry

    The cover of this card features multiple versions of Christmas messages, handwritten in white on a dark background. The photograph inside shows McBean fused with his camera on stage at the Theatre Royal, Brighton. McBean later described this pose as showing him as a dinosaur. A variant card was also sent out showing the same figure against a pastoral background.

Placesback to top

Events of 1954back to top

Current affairs

Roger Bannister runs the four-minute mile. Bannister was the first man to achieve the 'miracle mile', a feat that was thought by some to be impossible, beating his rival, the Australian John Landy, to the record. Bannister went on to a career as a distinguished neurologist.
Food rationing ends in Britain.

Art and science

J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the first two parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Tolkien was an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature and drew on his scholarly interests in history, language and mythology to create the fictional land of Middle Earth where the books are set.
Williams Golding publishes, Lord of the Flies.

International

The South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) is established in Bangkok. This international defence organisation was established as part of the 'containment' policy of limiting the influence of communism. SEATO was, however, found to be ineffective as the member organisations failed to agree on combined action; it was disbanded in 1977.

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