Did you read our fascinating piece a few months ago on possibly the most bizarre purchase of the 20th Century – the sale of London Bridge to an American oilman, who shipped the thing home to erect in the desert? The story of that unlikely deal, written for us by cultural historian Travis Elborough, began in the SE1 of the swinging sixties and finished 6,000 miles away in Lake Havasu, Arizona where old London Bridge has been standing since 1971. But hang on, how do you ship a bridge across the Atlantic ocean – and why? How much did it cost? And did the USA really think they were getting Tower Bridge?
Answering these questions and more, as part of the British Library’s Summer Scholars season of talks, Travis will be sharing anecdotes and photographs from his book, London Bridge in America: The Tall Story of a Transatlantic Crossing (Jonathan Cape), and screening clips from Norman Cohen’s bleak but brilliant 1967 documentary, The London Nobody Knows* (clip below), presented by another one of England’s great exports, James Mason.
Travis has hinted there may even be free tea and biscuits too. The talk takes place this Wednesday at 12.30pm at the British Library, so if you’re free, or on your lunch break, why not pop by?
Words: Michael D Hogan
*If you like looking at footage of old London, check out the 1959 documentary We Are the Lambeth Boys, centred around the south London youth club Alford House
