Battersea Bridge is a cast iron and granite five-span cantilever bridge
crossing the River Thames in London, England. It is situated on a sharp
bend in the river, and links Battersea south of the river with Chelsea
to the north. The bridge replaced a ferry service that had operated
near the site since at least the 16th century. The first Battersea
Bridge was a toll bridge commissioned by John, Earl Spencer. A poor
design by Henry Holland made the bridge unpopular and dangerous both to
its users and to passing shipping. Although boats often collided with
it, the bridge was the last surviving wooden bridge on the Thames in
London, and was the subject of paintings by many significant artists
such as J. M. W. Turner, John Sell Cotman and James McNeill Whistler,
including Whistler's controversial and influential Nocturne: Blue and
Gold – Old Battersea Bridge. In 1879 the bridge was taken into public
ownership, and in 1885 demolished and replaced with the existing
bridge, designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette and built by John Mowlem &
Co. The narrowest surviving road bridge over the Thames in London, it
is one of London's least busy Thames bridges. The location on a bend in
the river makes the bridge a hazard to shipping, and it has been closed
many times due to collisions.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battersea_Bridge>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
France and the United States signed the Treaty of Alliance and the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce, establishing military and commercial ties
respectively between the two nations.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Alliance_%281778%29>
1806:
Napoleonic Wars: When squadrons of British and French ships of the line
engaged in the Battle of San Domingo in the Caribbean Sea, the French
ships Impérial and Diomède ran aground to avoid capture, but were
caught and destroyed anyway.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Domingo>
1959:
Jack Kilby, an engineer at Texas Instruments, filed a patent
application for the first integrated circuit.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/integrated_circuit>
1987:
Mary Gaudron was appointed as the first female Justice of the High
Court of Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gaudron>
2000:
Second Chechen War: Russia captured Grozny, the capital of Chechnya,
forcing the separatist Chechen government into exile.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_%281999%E2%80%932000%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
living impaired (adj):
{{humorous
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/living_impaired>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We
didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought
for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same...
--Ronald Reagan
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan>