Authentic Pictures From A ‘National Schoolboys Exhibition’ Blurs Sixties Photography And Adorable Futurology

By Mark McConville

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STUNNING pictures have revealed the fun children got up to at the annual National Schoolboys Own Exhibition from the 1930s to 60s.

Incredible images show screen star Mickey Rooney surrounded by an eager crowd of schoolboys as he sits at the wheel of the British E.R.A. racing car on show in 1948. Eight-year-old Nicholson Boyd of Westminster has a hair-raising experience on the Static electricity machine in 1961 and a couple of schoolboys dressed for a ‘trip to Mars’ in 1951.

Other striking shots show John Jefferson and Clive Sheridan astride the Photon Jet, the ultimate power unit of space ships in 1959, schoolboys riding go-karts around a miniature indoor track in 1963 and Sir Harry Brittain opening Schoolboys’ Exhibition on December 28th 1933.

The National Schoolboys Own Exhibition seems to have started in 1927 and ran for a few decades but there’s no record of when it ended.

The exhibition was a place where schoolboys could showcase their skills and learn new ones as many celebrities attended.