London, connecting Chelsea to Battersea. Designed and built by Rowland
Mason Ordish in 1873 as a toll bridge, it was commercially unsuccessful;
six years after its opening it was taken into public ownership and the
tolls were lifted. The Ordish–Lefeuvre Principle design proved
structurally unsound, and thus between 1884 and 1887 it was modified to
incorporate elements of a suspension bridge. The Greater London Council
carried out further strengthening work in 1973 by adding two concrete
piers, which transformed the central span into a simple beam bridge. As
a result of these modifications the bridge is an unusual hybrid of three
different bridge types. The strengthening works were unable to prevent
further deterioration as the result of heavy traffic loads and rotting
of the timber deck structure caused by the urine of the unusually high
number of dogs using the bridge. In 2010–2011 the bridge underwent
major refurbishment work. Although often proposed for closure or
demolition, it is one of only two Thames road bridges in central London
never to have been replaced.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_London>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1873:
The Albert Bridge, spanning the River Thames in London, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bridge,_London>
1929:
Palestine riots: Arabs began attacking Jews in Hebron in the
British Mandate of Palestine, killing over sixty people in two days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Hebron_massacre>
1943:
World War II: The decisive Soviet victory in the Battle of
Kursk gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the
war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk>
1989:
Singing Revolution: Approximately two million people joined
hands to form an over 600 km (370 mi) long human chain across the
Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet republics to demonstrate their
respective desires for independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Way>
2010:
A former Philippine National Police officer hijacked a tourist
bus in Manila and held its occupants hostage for nearly 11 hours before
being killed by police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_hostage_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
malleate:
To beat into shape with a hammer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malleate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You may think, passer-by, that Fate Is a pit-fall outside of
yourself, Around which you may walk by the use of foresight And wisdom.
... In time you shall see Fate approach you In the shape of your own
image in the mirror; Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth, And
suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest, And you shall know that
guest, And read the authentic message of his eyes.
--Edgar Lee Masters
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Lee_Masters>
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