Britain: An official handbook > 1966

PROMOTION OF THE SCIENCES AND THE ARTS
231
Education and
Professional
Associations
LITERATURE
AND LIBRARIES
villages and the countryside. The Trust makes awards for good architectural
design in housing layout, planning developments and improvement schemes.
A Civic Trust for Wales was established in 1964 and there are 550 local civic
societies which, though independent, have similar aims and are advised and
encouraged by the Civic Trust.
In Britain it is illegal for a person to practise under the title of ‘architect’
unless registered with the Architects’ Registration Council of the United
Kingdom. Most students train at a full-time school of architecture, of which
there are 29 recognised for exemption from the Intermediate and Final
examinations of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and three
recognised for the intermediate examination only. In addition, there are
40 schools of art and technical institutes (eight full-time) which prepare
students for the external examinations of the RIBA.
The Royal Institute of British Architects is the leading professional
architectural institution in Britain. Allied to it are 50 autonomous societies
covering the whole of the United Kingdom and most of the overseas
Commonwealth. Membership is 21,000 with some 6,000 students. It has one
of the largest and most important architectural libraries in the world housing
70,000 books and periodicals and many thousands of drawings. The RIBA
is concerned with a wide range of activities covering professional practice,
science, technology, statistics, architectural competitions, professional and
public relations; arranges lectures and discussions on a variety of subjects,
presents exhibitions and, through its Board of Architectural Education,
controls the training and examination of architects. The Royal Gold Medal
for Architecture is awarded annually by the Queen on the recommendation
of the RIBA. Among other associations are the Incorporated Association of
Architects and Surveyors, the Institute of Registered Architects and the
Faculty of Architects and Surveyors. Societies include the Architectural
Association, the Architecture Club, and several which cover particular
aspects of architecture, such as the Modular Society.
The study of literature is included in the curricula of all schools, colleges
and universities. There are free public libraries throughout the country,
private libraries and a large number of private literary societies. Book reviews
are featured in the press and on radio and television and there are numerous
periodicals concerned in whole or in part with literature.
Government support is given through the Arts Council which makes
triennial awards for the best books of poetry published and provides bursaries
for poets, encourages poetry readings and subsidises the Poetry Book
Society. It has founded a reference and lending library of modern English
poetry (see p. 232) and in 1963 collaborated with the British Museum in
setting up a national collection of contemporary poets’ manuscripts.
Recognition of outstanding literary merit is given in the form of literary
prizes, a number of which are awarded annually, for instance, the Queen’s
Gold Medal for Poetry, the James Tait Black Memorial prizes for biography
and literature, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial prize for young writers of
promise, the Hawthornden prize for imaginative writing, the Winston
Spencer Churchill Literary Award for an outstanding work in the history
of the English-speaking peoples, the Library Association Carnegie Medal
for an outstanding book for children, the Kate Greenaway Medal for the
best children’s book illustration and the Somerset Maugham award for young
writers.