Cunard Line

Sir Basil Smallpeice (1906 - 1992). Started as an accountant for Hoover Limited in 1930, then served as Chief Accountant and later Secretary of Doulton & Co Ltd. He served as Director of Costs and Statistics for British Transport Commission from 1948 before joining BOAC in 1950 where he rose to Managing Director by 1956. Smallpeice joined Cunard in April 1964, rising to chairman in November 1965, ultimately overseeing the QE2's inception. He left Cunard in 1972 with the Trafalgar House takeover, joining the Lonrho conglomerate and later took other directorships before retiring in 1979.

Dan Wallace (1916 - 1979). Wallace was Chief Naval Architect of the Cunard Line and joining Cunard from the John Brown shipyard in 1951. He joined as Assistant Naval Architect to Bob Wood and succeeded him in April 1964. Wallace worked with Bob Wood on designs for refitting the Cunard Saxonia (becoming the Carmania) and Ivernia (becoming the Franconia) for permanent cruising in 1962/63. Wallace headed a team of six naval architects, taking forward plans for the Q3 developed under Bob Wood and ultimately developing a new concept of the Q4, which became the Queen Elizabeth 2.

Tom Kameen, Director of Engineering (b 1916). Kameen started as an Engineerging Apprentice at Cammell Laird on Birkenhead, before joining Cunard as a marine engineer in 1936. During the Second World War he was assigned to the Ministry of War Transport in New York, before returning to Cunard in 1945. Kameen led a team of seven architects with responsible for the design of QE2's machinery.

James Gardner

(Leslie) James Gardner (1907 - 1995)

Gardner studied at the Westminster School of Art and worked as apprentice jewellery designer with Cartier on London's Bond Street in 1924, leaving in 1931 to work in advertising. During the Second World War Gardner was Director of the British Army's Camouflage Training School. After the war, in 1946, Gardner was commissioned by the Council of Industrial Design to design the "Britain Can Make It" at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Later he was chief designer for the Festival Gardens at the 1951 Festival of Britain in London. In 1953 Gardner was appointed with responsibility for public decorations for the Coronation of HM Elizabeth II.

Commissioned by Cunard, Gardner worked alongisde Dennis Lennon with responsibility for the exterior "jet-age style" of the QE2, which he described to Hugh Casson as "his favourite job". Gardner adopted a radical style, in comparison to the QE2's predecessors, the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. The Council of Industrial Design described Gardner's design for the QE2 as that of a "very big yacht" and with a "look [that was] sleek and purposeful". Later Gardner worked overseas, designing exhibitions for the Evoluon in Eindhoven, Taiwan's National Museum of Natural Science, and Tel Aviv's Museum of the Diaspora. In 1983, Gardner wrote his autobiography, amusingly titled "Elephants in the Attic" with a second volume, "The Artful Designer" ten years later.

Dennis Lennon

Dennis Lennon (1918 - 1991)

Like Gardner, Dennis Lennon worked on designs for the 1951 Festival of Britain, mainly working on Transport and the Homes and Gardens Pavilion. In 1960 he worked on the interiors at London's Royal Opera House. In 1961 J. Lyons & Company (which ran a chain of tea and corner shops and the Wimpy burger chain) formed the London Steak Houses chain, for which Lennon designed all 37 restaurants. Lennon also worked on social housing projects, including the Chalcots housing estate in North London. Later in his career, Lennon worked on re-designs for London's Ritz Hotel.

Lennon worked alongside James Gardner and was responsible for the overall interior concept of the QE2 including the main entrances including Midship Lobby, staircases and public areas. Lennon also designed the Columbia, Britannia and Grill restaurants, the Upper Deck Library and Theatre Bar and a selection of suites. Lennon worked on design schemes incorporated during the QE2's early refits, including the scheme for the Queen's Grill, added in the post-Falklands refit.

Lennon led a design team including some of Britain's brightest and most innovative designers. Together, they created a cohesive, vibrant and modern interior for the QE2, allowing Cunard to confidently advertise their new ship under the slogan "Ships have been boring long enough". Read short biographies of the QE2's design team »