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When we began planning the Sherlock Holmes Society of London’s 75th anniversary, we wanted an identity that felt true to our origins, and to London. Very quickly, one reference stood out: the Festival of Britain.
Founded in the Festival year
The Society was founded in 1951, and our beginnings are tied directly to preparations for the Festival of Britain.
In 1950, St Marylebone Borough Council was discussing how to mark the Festival year. The Public Libraries Committee proposed a Sherlock Holmes exhibition. There was scepticism at first, but letters began appearing in The Times from “Dr Watson”, “Mycroft Holmes”, “Inspector Lestrade” and others, offering support and even artefacts for display. In the end, the Council relented, and a small group of enthusiasts began to plan the exhibition.
They created a meticulous recreation of the sitting room at 221B Baker Street at Abbey House, the Baker Street headquarters of Abbey National, and assembled wonderfully Holmesian details (down to the daily provision of “fresh crumpets”, bitten by two different sets of teeth). The exhibition drew more than 54,000 visitors.
After that success, the organisers asked a simple question: why not resurrect the Sherlock Holmes Society? A pre-war society had existed in the 1930s but had ended during the Second World War. On Tuesday 20 January 1951, the Sherlock Holmes Society of London was formed, with the name chosen to distinguish it from its pre-war predecessor, while still claiming direct descent.
Abram Games and the Festival emblem
The Festival of Britain’s best-known graphic device was created by Abram Games, one of Britain’s most important twentieth-century designers. He is widely recognised for bold, economical design, often summed up by his own phrase “maximum meaning, minimum means”.
His Festival design is often called the “Festival Star”. It is built around a four-pointed compass form, Union Flag colours, and the profile head of Britannia, with bunting added to make it more celebratory.
Crucially for our purposes, Games himself referred to this device as an emblem rather than a logo.
Turning the Festival emblem into a Holmesian anniversary mark
With the Society’s birth so closely linked to the Festival year, it felt appropriate to base the 75th anniversary design on Games’s emblem.
The creative idea was straightforward: retain the underlying Festival structure and celebratory bunting, but replace the head of Britannia with a silhouette of Sherlock Holmes, deerstalker and pipe. The result is instantly readable as “Holmes”, while also clearly nodding to 1951.
Permission from the Abram Games Estate
Because Games’s Festival emblem is an iconic piece of British design, it was vital that we approached its use properly and respectfully.
We contacted the Abram Games Estate, and we were greatly honoured by the response. Abram Games’s children, Naomi and Daniel, were generous with their time and support, and granted permission for the Society to use this adapted emblem for the anniversary year.
We were delighted that Naomi and Daniel were able to attend the Society’s Annual Dinner at the House of Commons in January 2026, when the 75th anniversary celebrations were launched.
A mark that connects 1951 and 2026
This anniversary emblem is more than a decorative device. It links the Society back to the moment of its founding, and to a landmark year in British cultural life. It also reflects something Abram Games understood better than most: that a simple image, well made, can carry an extraordinary amount of meaning.
