2-847-751 - Historic England Archive/Heritage Images

Harold Watkinson, the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, setting a seal into the concrete inauguration slab for the first section of the London to Yorkshire Motorway at Slip End near Luton. Sir Owen Williams, the Consulting Engineer, is stood next to Harold Watkinson. At the inauguration ceremony, Harold Watkinson also set off a klaxon horn as a signal to the drivers of the excavating machines to begin work. The ceremony was attended by Sir John William Laing and Sir John Maurice Laing. Among the guests were representatives of the five counties which the road will pass through.