The Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay


Book Description

Over 125 years ago, barely a year and a half after the Tay Railway Bridge was built, William McGonnagal composed his poem about the Tay Bridge Disaster, the poem about Britain's worst-ever civil engineering disaster. Over 80 people lost their lives in the fall of the Tay Bridge, but how did it happen? The accident reports say that high wind and poor construction were to blame, but Peter Lewis, an Open University engineering professor, tells the real story of how the bridge so spectacularly collapsed in December 1879.













Tay Bridge Disaster


Book Description

On Sunday, 28 December 1879, the 5.27 mail and passenger train from Burntisland to Dundee went out across the world's longest bridge on a black, fierce night, only to be dashed to pieces in the River Tay as the bridge collapsed during one of the worst storms in Scottish history. The Tay Bridge Disaster remains to this day the worst catastrophic failure of a civil engineering structure in Britain – the land equivalent of the Titanic sinking. In this book, author Robin Lumley brings a poignant human perspective to the fateful night in 1879 that shook Britain and the world of engineering to their core and sent a nation into mourning for the seventy-five souls lost to the dark, freezing waters of the River Tay. Packed full of personal tales and offering technical appendices for those who wish to further their specialised knowledge, Tay Bridge Disaster: The People's Story is a must-read for anyone interested in this tragic event in Scottish and British history.




Nineteenth-Century English Labouring-Class Poets Vol 3


Book Description

Over 100 poets of labouring class origin were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were hugely popular and important in their day but few are available today. This is a collection of some of those poems from the 19th century.




Most Amazing Mistakes!


Book Description

History is littered with amazing mistakes - from the fatal flight of Icarus to the famous meeting of HMS Titanic and an iceberg, many incredible events have been shaped by a simple mistake. Of course it would be a huge mistake to claim that Most Amazing Mistakes is THE definitive book on blunders. But there are examples of all sorts of them - some funny, others tragic; famous ones, trivial ones; no matter, they all share a common thread. They were events never meant to happen, beliefs that we now know are completely unfounded or wrong, words never meant to have been said (or heard), or perhaps spoken but wrongly attributed. They are all amazing and fascinating mistakes.




McGonagall’s Chronicles


Book Description

"I'm in love with a man from Dundee Though he lived 100 years or so before me He was a poet He was aware of this" A tragic comedy, McGonagall's Chronicles charts the true life story of the worst poet of all time: William McGonagall. With wit, candour and warmth, Gary McNair tries to understand how McGonagall could be so bad at what he did, and gets to the heart of the dilemma that surrounds his legend – is it okay for us to laugh at someone's obvious and relentless failings?




The Pleasures and Treasures of Britain


Book Description

Is a famous queen of Britain really bured beneath platform 10 at King’s Cross station in London? What is the telephone number of the National Theatre? what is the best place to eat in Worcester? Where is the National Bagpipe Museum? (Hint: not in Scotland) Was Pointius Pilate born in Pitlochry? The answers to these questions and literally thousands more are to be found in David Kemp’s fascinating guidebook, The Pleasures and Treasures of Britain. Nowhere else will the discerning traveller find so much diverse and essential information about British culture gathered together in one volume. With the author as your witty and knowledgeable guide, take a tour through nearly fifty cities, from Penzance to Perth, from London to Cardiff and Belfast. Each city section begins with a concise, readable history and a guided walk around the town, planned to take in as many of the significant local sights as can comfortably be included. Next are exhaustive listings, including telephone numbers and addresses, of everything a culturally curious visitor might want to seek out: theatre, art galleries, museums, antique markets, antiquarian and other bookstores, restaurants, lcoal fairs and festivals and more. Finally, under the headings of Artistic Associations and Ephemera, each section concludes with an entertaining collection of local lore, gossip, legend and anecdote.




The Fall of the Tay Bridge


Book Description

It took 600 men six years to build, and was one of the longest bridges in the world. On its completion in 1878, famous visitors, including the Emperor of Brazil, Prince Leopold of the Belgians and Queen Victoria herself, came to pay homage to this marvel of Victorian engineering. Then, on the night of 28 December 1879, the unthinkable happened. Battered by an apocalyptic storm, the thirteen 'high girders' of the rail bridge over the Tay estuary fell headlong into the river below, carrying with them a train with all its passengers and crew. There were no survivors. What caused the fall of the Tay Bridge, and who was really to blame? Returning to the subject since the first edition of The Fall of the Tay Bridge in 1994, David Swinfen has meticulously analysed new evidence and now presents a solution to the riddle which has perplexed historians and engineers for generations: what really brought the bridge down?