Change in a Century of Extremes

From 12 December 2003
Rooms 30 and 31

The reopening of these galleries following a period of essential maintenance has provided an opportunity to refocus the display, giving a greater emphasis on the role of women and on events as catalysts to change.

Important new acquisitions and loans now on display include personalities such as Lord Reith, whose significance in the early days
of the BBC lives on in the annual radio lecture series that bears his name, and Alexander Fleming, the person who discovered penicillin.

Portraits on display

Room 30: We are making a New World Britain 1914-18
Room 31: A National Portrait Britain 1919-59 and Britain and the World 1939-59