Liquid ‘istory
The river Thames is the aorta of England. It has played an essential part in our culture and history for more than two thousand years. As a division between kingdoms and counties, as a haven for seafarers and a thoroughfare for traders, and as a watermark on the fragile seals of parliaments, its importance is unrivalled.
While its currents are
ever-changing, and its banks are never-the-same, the river has an entity that
transcends ephemera. From one end of London to another, the
streaming tides are constantly washing the face of history, and as we walk
along its length we stumble on shards of stories that shore up the life of this
fragment of the world.
And as the centuries pass,
despite its wilful energy, the Thames has been
to a certain extent tamed, and leashed, and crossed and tied. Basins have been dug to shelter ships from
excess; tributaries have been sheathed and tapped and dried; tunnels have been
bored underneath, and bridges have been stepped across its mighty flow.
For two thousand years we have endeavoured to span the dangerous flow, and from the time when the river
was practically impassable, to the 200 bridges, 27 tunnels, six public
ferries, one cable car link, and one ford that today allow passage to
humankind, the story has followed in the wake of man’s technological
development, and has tallied the history of transport, politics and the
language of this land. Without Chaucer, Shakespeare might not have achieved such fame; without Spenser, poetry might
not have flowed so free; without Dickens, our fondness for story and character
might not have grown so florid. And all
of these, besides their imitators, have been shaped by the dark coursing waters
of the Thames as it scours its way through London…..
Though other rivers far outstrip
this stream in magnitude, from the Tagus to the Nile, and from the Mississippi
to the Amazon, few may challenge the tales these waters can tell, and to this
day, to my mind at least, there is little so pleasantly intriguing, so
imaginatively distracting, as a walk beside our father, the Thames.
And now, as Janus looks back and
forth, and it is the season of the quiz, I offer you a little game to
play. I realised just recently how often
I have spent time beside the river, and then realised that over the years I have
followed its course from Surrey into Kent, crossing and re-crossing both above
and below the waves, so it seemed fair to create a game.
And what better than a game of Bridge?
And what better than a game of Bridge?
A Game of Bridge
1) Who
built the first London
Bridge
2) Why
did Old London Bridge Provence in the 1270s (c) Ice in 1281?
3) Until
when was the Medieval London Bridge the only
bridge across the Thames in London ? (a) mid sixteenth century (b) mid seventeenth
century (c) mid eighteenth century?
4) Where
is the 1831 London
Bridge Japan
(c) in Arizona ?
5) Which
bridge carries the following notice: All Troops Must Break Step When Marching
Over This Bridge? (a) Chelsea, (b)
Hammersmith, (c) Albert?
6) Under
which bridge was Italian banker Roberto Calvi found hanging on June 18th,
1982? (a) Blackfriars
Road Bridge ,
(b) Blackfriars Railway Bridge
7) Which
is the only bridge across the Thames east of Tower Bridge Dartford ,
(b) Emirates Air Line, (c) Queen Elizabeth II?
8) Why
is Westminster Bridge
9)
Between which two bridges does Charles Dickens’ Our
Mutual Friend begin? In these
times of ours, though concerning the exact year there is no need to be precise,
a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it, floated on
the Thames, between ***** Bridge, which is of iron, and ***** Bridge, which is
of stone…..
10) Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Why could William Wordsworth not have composed any lines on the current Westminster Bridge
11) Whose
view might this be, and from which bridge?
12) What is the name of this bridge?
13) What’s
the story here?
14) Which
is the oldest bridge across the Thames in the
Greater London area?
15) Which
bridge was reopened in 2002?
And for a bonus point:
16) Between which two bridges are Joanna Lumley and Boris Johnson intending to get into a flower bed together?
And for a bonus point:
16) Between which two bridges are Joanna Lumley and Boris Johnson intending to get into a flower bed together?
Answers:
1) b;
2) All three;
3) c;
4) c;
5) c;
6) a;
7) c;
8) Because Westminster bridge is painted the same colour as the seats in the House of Commons and Lambeth bridge is the same as the seats in the House of Lords.
9) Southwark, and London;
10) The sonnet was composed in 1802; Wordsworth died in 1850; the current Westminster Bridge was built in 1862;
11) James McNeill Whistler, from Battersea Bridge;
12) Barnes Railway Bridge;
13) The bridge on the left is Blackfriars Road Bridge; the one on the right is the new Blackfriars Railway Bridge; the pillars in the middle are what remains of the 1864 Blackfriars Railway Bridge which carried the London, Chatham and Dover Railway; the eastern line of supporting columns have been incorporated into the new railway structure;
14) Richmond Bridge, 1777;
15) London Millennium Bridge, originally opened in 2000, but closed for two years following significant wobbles!
For the answer, contact me.....
Cheers!
1) b;
2) All three;
3) c;
4) c;
5) c;
6) a;
7) c;
8) Because Westminster bridge is painted the same colour as the seats in the House of Commons and Lambeth bridge is the same as the seats in the House of Lords.
9) Southwark, and London;
10) The sonnet was composed in 1802; Wordsworth died in 1850; the current Westminster Bridge was built in 1862;
11) James McNeill Whistler, from Battersea Bridge;
12) Barnes Railway Bridge;
13) The bridge on the left is Blackfriars Road Bridge; the one on the right is the new Blackfriars Railway Bridge; the pillars in the middle are what remains of the 1864 Blackfriars Railway Bridge which carried the London, Chatham and Dover Railway; the eastern line of supporting columns have been incorporated into the new railway structure;
14) Richmond Bridge, 1777;
15) London Millennium Bridge, originally opened in 2000, but closed for two years following significant wobbles!
16) The Garden Bridge will be a 366 metre long, 30 metre wide, copper-nickel structure across the Thames between Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges. Joanna Lumley and Mayor Boris Johnson are prominent supporters. It is expected to cost at least £175 million.
How did you do?
For a tie breaker, can you identify from which bridge this photo was taken?
For the answer, contact me.....
Cheers!
