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Sir (George) Clinton Pelham

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir (George) Clinton Pelham

by Elliott & Fry
bromide print, 1955
Purchased, 1996
Photographs Collection
NPG x90939

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Elliott & Fry (active 1863-1962), Photographers. Artist associated with 10995 portraits.

Events of 1955back to top

Current affairs

Robert Anthony Eden becomes prime minister. In May 1955 Winston Churchill resigned due to ill health. His successor proved to be a similarly popular leader, winning an increased majority at the general election that year. Eden's popularity was due to a combination of his long wartime service, good looks and charm.

Art and science

Mary Quant introduces the 'Chelsea Look' with her Bazaar boutique. In the 1960s Quant was a major contributor to 'swinging London' introducing some of the seminal items of 1960s fashion: the miniskirt, hot pants, paint-box make-up and plastic raincoats.

International

West Germany joins NATO, prompting the East European Communist counties to respond by forming the Warsaw Pact. The signatories of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend each other if any member was attacked. This development was a major event in the Cold War as it firmly established the East and West as opposing military powers.

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John Suire

20 April 2017, 12:40

He was my great-grandfather! I never had the chance to meet him that I remember, though I did meet his wife, my great-grandmother, a few times when I was very young. I grew up hearing stories about him from my grandmother (his daughter, Anne). From my grandmother, I know that he served in China (where my grandmother was born; Peking, at the time). I think it was during the Sino-Japanese War, and he and my great-grandmother and grandmother were all interned or imprisoned by the Japanese army for a time. He was also in Saudi Arabia, and she has pictures of him in the local clothing. Oddly enough, and completely randomly, I ended up moving to the Czech Republic, where he served as Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, and am still here now.

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