Where design gets to take its bra off' Llewelyn-Bowen on 20 years of lighting up Blackpool

When the pop star Olly Murs switches on Blackpool's famous Illuminations next weekend, a tradition that has endured for almost a century and a half will continue.

- Hannah Al-Othman

The Lancashire town was first lit up by twinkling bulbs 146 years ago - 12 months before Thomas Edison even patented the electric lightbulb.

The seaside resort has not been without its struggles, but the enduring popularity of the lights, which are switched on at the end of August every year, has helped to keep its tourism industry afloat.

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, perhaps best known for his work on BBC programme Changing Rooms and famed for his love of maximalist design, is this year marking 20 years of involvement with the illuminations, and is the event's creative curator.

"It's hilarious because people were very confused by it," he said. "They've got this strange idea that somehow we're turning on Christmas decorations, because they've got kind of no idea."

Actually, Llewelyn-Bowen said, the illuminations were "the first ever, ever, ever, ever light festival; there was no electric light festival before that". While there were now many, including in Sydney, Lille and China, Blackpool was "the literal grande dame of all of that".

This year his new installation is Guardians of the North, three 7-metre-tall dragons, wrapped around turrets, which come alive with light, smoke and roving eyes.