Just as fifty years previously, P&O proudly celebrated its major milestone with a year of events. There was a new edition of the Company history, a supplement in The Times and a BBC documentary charting the history of P&O.
The year of commemorative events culminated in a dinner on board Pacific Princess attended by Her Majesty, The Queen. A full scale replica of the 206 ton William Fawcett was moored alongside the 206,000 ton cruise ship, reminding the Company how far it, and the story of shipping, had come in 150 years. As a lasting legacy, P&O financed the rebuilding of Bod of Gremista, the house on the Shetland Islands, in which Arthur Anderson was born.
P&O was proud and inspired by its past, but equally conscious of the need to look to the future, particularly in the face of testing times.