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Controversial Openings - Bosh!
Tower Bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales, later
Edward VII, in 1894. Why not mum? Well not everyone
was enthusiastic about the new bridge. In fact it caused
quite a controversy. The June 1894 issue of The Builder
said they would just be wasting photographic plates if
they published photos of it, calling the bridge "the most
monstrous and preposterous architectural sham we have
ever known" and said Queen Victoria herself is recorded
as commenting:
“
... to those who say the bridge will increase the
defensive strength of the Tower and improve the beauty
and historical associations of the place all I can say
is "Bosh!”
On 9 June this year two helicopters flew through the
bridge several times for a short James Bond film, which
will be screened at the London 2012 Olympics Opening
Ceremony. It’s a shame there is no film of Flight Lt Alan
Pollock flying his RAF Hawker Hunter through the
bridge in 1968 in protest against the Harold Wilson
government failing to adequately mark the 50
th
anniversary of the RAF. On 28 June this year and, some
say, a good 65 years late,
HM Queen Elizabeth unveiled
the towering statues of the seven Bomber Command crew
in Green Park. The men look as if they have just returned
from a mission. Some are looking to the skies scanning
for other planes; others look to the ground, exhausted.
When Things Go Wrong
Actors are famously advised never to work with children
and animals. Perhaps the worthies contracted for public
opening ceremonies ought be warned never work with
mechanical structures.
Stories persist that at the opening of Tower Bridge the
mighty bascules got stuck but this isn’t supported by any
first hand accounts and is probably just sour grapes.
However the next new bridge to be built across the
Thames 100 years later did suffer a very public and well
documented embarrassment.
Clockwise from top left: Queen Victoria Sheffield Town Hall 1897, Edward VII & Queen Mary open London’s County Hall 1911,
George VI & Queen Elizabeth on Tees Bridge 1934. Three Queens on the steps of St. Paul’s opening The Festival of Britain 1951.