4th November: Nelson's Column

On this date in 1843 Nelson's Column was completed. Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in central London built to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

1. The original proposal was for a column 203 ft (62m) high but there were concerns about how stable it would be and how much it would cost, so they went for 185 feet (56.4m). However, when the column was refurbished in 2006 it was found to be a bit shorter than that at 169 feet (51.5m).
2. The statue of Nelson is made from Craigleith sandstone and is by E. H. Baily. Nelson is 17ft (5m) high, and looks to the right as if saluting his fleet. Just like the real Nelson, you could say the statue has been in the wars. He has a chip on his shoulder, caused by a Lightning strike in 1896, and there are gashes on his face. Nobody is certain what caused those, but it may have been shrapnel damage during the Second World War.
3. The column is of the Corinthian order. The original plan was to build it from sandstone, but the plan was changed and it was built from Dartmoor granite, instead. The proportions of the column are based on the columns at the temple of Mars Ultor in Rome.
4. The four Lions at the base of the column were designed by Sir Edwin Landseer. They were added a little later, in 1867. The lions were cast from guns taken from old battleships, and although they are all sitting in the same position, they're not identical - there are differences in their manes and faces.
5. The four relief panels on the pedestal are made from captured French guns. They are 18 feet (5.5m) square and depict some of Nelson's most famous battles - the Battle of Cape St Vincent, the Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen and the Death of Nelson at Trafalgar. The sculptors were Musgrave Watson, William F. Woodington, John Ternouth and John Edward Carew.
6. The column cost £47,000 to build (more than £3 million in today's money). It was partly funded by public money and partly from donations by individuals. The Tsar of Russia was the donor who gave the most - he contributed £12,000 to the project.
7. The statue was placed using the then latest steam engine technology, but before it was put on top of the column, it stood on the ground a while so people could see it. 100,000 people queued up to get a close look.
8. A small number of people have climbed to the top, many protesting about things like air pollution. John Noakes of the BBC TV children's programme Blue Peter climbed the column in the late 1970s. Television presenter and entertainer Gary Wilmot climbed it in 1989, dressed in Victorian costume, to recreate the 'topping out' ceremony of 1843. He had Tea and Sandwiches at the top before coming back down. Before the statue was placed, fourteen of the stonemasons who'd worked on the monument ate a steak dinner on the plinth.
9. If Hitler's plan to invade Britain, Operation Sea Lion, had been successful, he planned to move Nelson's Column to Berlin.
10. In December 2015, Disney paid £24,000 for the privilege of turning the column into a giant lightsaber, to promote Star Wars: The Force Awakens.