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- The Royal Connection
- Bristol Eats
- Bristol VIPs
- Richard Remembers
- Owlbut's Birdwatch
I'm sure there are many royal connections
with Bristol but I like this one as it's a bit quirky. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 and in 1879 the first telephone exchange opened
in England. This allowed people in one area to phone someone else in the same area. In January 1880 the first trunk line was opened which allowed people to make
calls to a different area than that covered by their exchange. They would be connected by operators at each exchange. The first line was between Leeds and Bradford
in West Yorkshire. This development meant that a circuit connected the two telephone switchboards in Leeds and Bradford, thereby allowing access to several
extension lines at once. This was a method that would eventually be repeated across the country and was still in use in late 1950's, so yes, I experienced it.
It then became automatic so people could dial direct to another area and
operators were no longer needed to connect these calls. It was used by Queen Elizabeth II in 1958 when she made a call to Edinburgh from Bristol, a distance of
over 300 miles. I have to say she does look a bit excited by this. Her call lasted two minutes five seconds and cost 10d (4p in today's
money). The system, known as Subscriber Trunk Dialling, was in use across the whole country by 1979. It meant that all areas had to have a unique code for people
to dial and is the same system we use nowadays. From September 5th 1959 people were able to make these "trunk" calls from public call boxes and the Deputy Lord
Mayor of Bristol phoned the Lord Mayor of London from a telephone box, apparently dialling the number himself. Who's a clever boy.
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The Colston Bun was made in the city of Bristol and, traditionally, given out to children on 13th November. The buns are made of dough flavoured with dried
fruit, candied peel and sweet spices. The bun comes in two sizes. The "dinner plate" size with eight wedge marks on the top, and the "ha'penny staver"
which was an individual size bun.
The idea was that the poor children of the Colston School would take the large bun home to share with their family while the individual bun
could be eaten straight away, staving off their hunger.
You can read a little more about my views on Mr Colston in the "Richard Remembers" section so let us just say here that he made numerous
donations to schools and other good causes although much of his wealth was acquired from what I, and others, would consider were crimes against humanity. As someone who
believes you can only apologise for something that happened accidentally and not for something you did and knew was wrong, I'm not sure giving money
to a good cause that was earned disgustingly is a way of putting things right.
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Seven random people who were born in Bristol in the last 100 years:-
Damien Hirst (Artist), Maya Jama (TV and Radio Presenter), Dave Prowse (Actor - Darth Vadar), Jenny Jones (Olympic Snowboarder), Hannah Murray (Actor),
Lando Norris (F1 Racing Driver) and Claudia Fragapane (Artistic Gymnast).
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Despite my three trips around the English
coast, I only ever visited Bristol once, on my first trip. My main memory is of a visit to, and a drive across, the Clifton Suspension Bridge. I may have mentioned,
several times, that I don't like heights and this could be why I remember driving across. The bridge spans the Avon Gorge linking Clifton, in Bristol, to Leigh
Woods in North Somerset. It opened in 1864.
The bridge is 412 metres long, 9.4 metres wide and is just over 100 metres above the high water level of the River Avon. The build of the bridge is
based on a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel although by the time it opened in 1864 Isambard had gone to the great kingdom in the sky. He died in 1859.
The two towers at each end are not actually identical. The Clifton tower has side cut-outs while the Leigh tower has more pointed arches. The bridge
deck is supported by 162 vertical wrought iron rods, 81 on each side. I would have preferred to check out each one but time did not allow so I just looked ahead and
drove across. I may have missed some lovely views. Today the bridge is a toll bridge. You can also walk across if sanity is not a quality you possess
The centre of Bristol has many waterways and a trip out on the River Avon is to be recommended. If nothing else you can look at the various waterfront
restaurants and decide where you will have your evening meal.
The one historical downside to Bristol is its involvement in the slave trade. From 1700 to 1807 more than 2,000 slave ships carried over half a
million people from Africa to America. Recently a statue of Edward Colston, the man who gave his name to the bun in the "eats" section and who was a merchant
in the city and made a fortune from the slave trade, was pulled down, defaced and pushed into Bristol Harbour. It was during the Black Lives Matter protest.
I have two problems here. To me, all lives matter; black, white, brown, male, female, every human being matters. I find it hard to understand how we can put
right a prejudice that has existed against certain groups of people who have been treated differently by making these people different.
We should try now to treat every indiidual with equal respect regardless of their colour, beliefs, sex or race.
Secondly I do not believe that we can correct history by destroying things which remind us of the wrongs done. The slave trade was abhorrent and
inhuman but it happened. Standards were different then which is not in any way to excuse those standards. We talk a lot about equality so do we condemn Jesus
for having no female disciples? What we should do is look at how we live our lives now and having reminders of the wrongs done in the past is a good way of not
repeating them. I would have left the statue and put a plaque on it explaining how Colston made his money, how the slave trade was so wrong and maybe put some figures
there on the plaque to emphasis the cruelty that was carried out. Or maybe just as the intelligent young lady has done in the photo below. Washing our hands of the past and removing it makes the wrongs that were done far less potent,
far less of a reminder of how bad people can be. Sorry, just had to say that.
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You can see starlings all year round almost everywhere. There are nearly 2 million breeding pairs and large numbers arrive in
the autumn to winter here. They are smaller than blackbirds and have a pointed head, triangular wings and a short tail.
Although they look black, if you get closer you can see they have a glossy sheen which includes purples and greens. The feathers of young birds are
black, brown and white. They all have brown and pink legs and a black, thin and powerful beak. They eat fruit and invertebrates, which are small animals without a
back bone. Starlings spend a lot of time in flocks and can often be seen flying together. They are still one of the commonest garden birds although it is a red
list species.
Starlings are 21 cms in length, have a wingspan of between 37 and 42 cms and can weigh between 75 and 90 grams.
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Two extra sections, "It Happened Here" and "Now That's Weird", will appear on 9 December 2024
