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The six-week residency by superstar American preacher Billy Graham that changed the face of the church in 1950s Scotland

14 May 2018

1950s Britain, still reeling from World War Two.

An influx of goods and culture from the USA – and the promise of a near-Utopian lifestyle – were beginning to resonate with people up and down the United Kingdom.

Among those interested in exploiting the American culture boom were Scotland’s churches, keen to revitalise the waning popularity of Christianity.

成人快手 Two Scotland’s Six Weeks to Save the World charted the 1955 visit of superstar evangelist Billy Graham to Glasgow.

In 1955 Billy Graham was a global celebrity

Graham was said to have preached to more people face to face than anyone else in history

Fresh from his visit to London the previous year – in which he was seen by an estimated one million people – Billy Graham arrived in Glasgow to great fanfare.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a feeling of expectancy everywhere that Scotland may be on the verge of one of the greatest revivals [of the Christian faith] in history鈥�.

Billy Graham, March 1955

This was something the likes of which the Scottish public had never seen before.

His Hollywood looks and high profile in America meant that his arrival in Scotland was meant with huge crowds.

This was a time before Elvis and The Beatles, so the popularity of the American preacher led to claims of his popularity being “kind-of the protestant answer to the Pope”.

Billy Graham held ‘All Scotland Crusade’ rallies in a number of large venues across the country.

Holding up to 13,000 people, Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall was, at the time, the biggest exhibition hall in Europe. Its overflow area – created in the circus arena – allowed for a further 3,500 seats.

Football stadiums such as Tynecastle in Edinburgh and Ibrox in Glasgow also held rallies. The closing rally of his 1955 visit – at Hampden – was watched by 100,000 people: the largest congregation in Scotland at the time.

Billy Graham arrives in Glasgow, March 1955

The arrival in Glasgow of a young, handsome American was the talk of the steamie.

30 million people are said to have seen the live broadcast of Graham’s Good Friday rally.

It was reported that, overall, 2.5 million people had been reached directly during the 1955 ‘All Scotland Crusade’.

Six Weeks to Save the World

The story of Billy Graham鈥檚 1955 crusade through the eyes of the people who were there and the cameras that followed him.