Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II* listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames in a north-west south-east direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Westminster on the north bank. Opened in 1906, it replaced an earlier bridge, originally known as Regent Bridge but later renamed Vauxhall Bridge, built between 1809 and 1816 as part of a scheme for redeveloping the south bank of the Thames. The original bridge was itself built on the site of a former ferry. The building of both bridges was problematic, with both the first and second bridges requiring multiple redesigns from multiple architects. The original bridge, the first iron bridge over the Thames, was built by a private company and operated as a toll bridge before being taken into public ownership in 1879. The second bridge, which took eight years to build, was the first in London to carry trams and later one of the first two roads in London to have a bus lane. In 1963 it was proposed to replace the bridge with a modern development containing seven floors of shops, office space, hotel rooms and leisure facilities supported above the river, but the plans were abandoned due to costs. With the exception of alterations to the road layout and the balustrade, the design and appearance of the current bridge has remained almost unchanged since 1907. The bridge today is an important part of London's road system and carries the A202 road across the Thames.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Bridge

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1829:

The Metropolitan Police of Greater London, sometimes also referred to as "Scotland Yard" after the location of its original headquarters, was founded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Police_Service

1885:

One of the first practical electric tramways in the world, the Blackpool tramway in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, opened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tram

1938:

At a conference in Munich, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier reached a settlement, signing it at about 1:30 am the next day, stipulating that Czechoslovakia must cede the Sudetenland to Germany. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement

1941:

The Holocaust: German Nazis aided by their collaborators began the Babi Yar massacre in Kiev, Ukraine, killing over 30,000 Jewish civilians in two days and thousands more in the months that followed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babi_Yar

1954:

Twelve countries signed a convention establishing the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), currently the world's largest particle physics laboratory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

swagger (v): 1. To walk with a swaying motion; hence, to walk and act in a pompous, consequential manner. 2. To boast or brag noisily; to be ostentatiously proud or vainglorious http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swagger

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is sad not to be loved, but it is much sadder not to be able to love. --Miguel de Unamuno http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Unamuno