26 May: Vauxhall Bridge

On this date in 1906 Vauxhall Bridge opened. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II listed steel and granite deck arch bridge which crosses the River Thames in a southeast–northwest direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Pimlico on the north bank. It is 247 metres long and 24 metres wide.

2. There may well have been a crossing on this site 3,500 years ago. In 1998, the Thames Archaeological Survey found the remains of an oak crossing dating to around 1500 BC.

3. The bridge that is there today replaced an earlier bridge, 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.

4. The current Vauxhall Bridge was the first in London to carry trams.

5. It was one of the first two roads in London to have a Bus lane.

6. The road it carries is the A202.

7. The bridge was designed by Sir Alexander Binnie and Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice.

8. The design was quite functional, and so the LCC began debating ways to make the bridge more interesting. They consulted with architect William Edward Riley regarding possible decorative elements that could be added to the bridge. He suggested two 60-foot (18 m) pylons topped with statues at one end of the bridge, and adding sculptures to the bridge piers. The pylons were rejected on grounds of cost, but the statues were commissioned and are there to this day. They are not visible from the bridge itself. The statues represent Agriculture, Architecture (this one is holding a model of St Paul's Cathedral), Education, Fine Arts and Engineering. They are made from bronze, weigh two tons each and were designed by Alfred Drury and Frederick Pomeroy.

9. In 1963 another grand scheme was proposed but abandoned because of the cost. This was to replace the bridge with a glass structure called the Crystal Span, inspired by the design of the Crystal Palace. An air conditioned glass shell would contain the road, shops, a luxury hotel, a gallery space to be used by the Tate Gallery, a skating rink and roof gardens including an open air theatre.

10. For a while there was another bridge just 200yards (180 m) downstream. During the Second World War the government was concerned that Axis bombers would target Vauxhall Bridge, so a temporary bridge known as Millbank Bridge was built parallel to it. Millbank Bridge was made of steel girders supported by wooden stakes. Despite its flimsy appearance it was capable of supporting tanks and other heavy military equipment. In the event, Vauxhall Bridge survived the war undamaged, and in 1948 Millbank Bridge was dismantled.

Character birthday

Blatt, aka Ian Poole, a former bouncer at a sleazy club. The club was a favourite haunt of Leopold Smythe-Warner, leader of the Demolition Squad. Poole viewed Smythe-Warner as a man who commanded respect and appeared to him to have a finger in any number of lucrative pies. Smythe-Warner was impressed by Poole's "professional technique", in particular one occasion when he broke a man's legs with a single blow. On witnessing that, Smythe-Warner invited Poole to join the Demolition Squad and take the code name Blatt.

Blatt has no powers, although he is strong and an expert brawler. He holds a deep seated mistrust of people with powers, for reasons unknown, including Smythe-Warner himself, although the fact that he uses a crossbow rather than relying entirely on powers redeems him in Blatt's eyes.

Blatt sees himself as the leader of the non-powered section of the Squad, rather like a drill sergeant with a particularly useless bunch of recruits. He feels it is his duty to lick them into shape.