productions were interrupted by the second world war, during which time the house became an evacuation centre for children from london. after 1945 the festival slowly began again. until 1951, the entire burden of financing the opera festival was undertaken by john christie himself, but, in 1952, the glyndebourne festival society was formed to take over the financial management. christie's death in 1962 resulted in his son george (later sir george) taking over, and additional changes and improvements to the theatre continued.