Wandsworth Bridge crosses the River Thames in west London. It carries the A217 road between Battersea, near Wandsworth Town Station, in the London Borough of Wandsworth on the south side of the river, and Sands End and Parsons Green in Hammersmith and Fulham on the north side. The first bridge on the site was a toll bridge, built in 1873 in the expectation that the western terminus of the Hammersmith and City Railway would shortly be built on the north bank. The terminus was not built, and problems with drainage on the approach road made access to the bridge difficult for vehicles. Wandsworth Bridge was commercially unsuccessful, and in 1880 it was taken into public ownership and made toll-free. Narrow and too weak to carry buses, the bridge was demolished in 1937. The present bridge, an unadorned steel cantilever bridge, was opened in 1940. It was painted in dull shades of blue as camouflage against air raids, a colour scheme it retains. Wandsworth Bridge is one of the busiest bridges in London, carrying over 50,000 vehicles daily.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandsworth_Bridge
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
27 BC:
Gaius Octavianus was given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate when he became the first Roman emperor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus
1809:
Peninsular War: French forces under Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult attacked the amphibious evacuation of the British under Sir John Moore in Corunna, Galicia, Spain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Corunna
1938:
Benny Goodman performed a concert at New York City's Carnegie Hall which has been considered instrumental in establishing jazz as a legitimate form of music. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Goodman
1986:
The Internet Engineering Task Force, a standards organization that develops and promotes Internet standards, held its first meeting, consisting of twenty-one United States-government-funded researchers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Engineering_Task_Force
2008:
Five days after proposing lyrics for the wordless Marcha Real, the Spanish national anthem, the Spanish Olympic Committee withdrew the proposal due to widespread criticism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcha_Real
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
hearsay: 1. Information that was heard by one person about another. 2. (law) Evidence based on the reports of others rather than on personal knowledge, which is normally inadmissible because it was not made under oath. 3. (law) An out-of-court statement offered in court for the truth of the matter asserted, which is normally inadmissible because it is not subject to cross-examination unless the hearsay statement falls under one of a number of exceptions. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hearsay
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
One cannot condemn tendencies in art; one can only condemn works of art. To be categorically against a current art tendency or style means, in effect, to pronounce on works of art not yet created and not yet seen. It means inquiring into the motives of artists instead of into results. Yet we all know — or are supposed to know — that results are all that count in art. --Clement Greenberg https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clement_Greenberg