On This Day

Tuesday 11th August 1942

78 years ago

The new Waterloo bridge over the Thames, built through the London Blitz, was opened to traffic. It was the only Thames bridge to have been damaged by German bombers during the Second World War. It is frequently asserted that the work force was largely female and it is sometimes referred to as "the Ladies' Bridge". Th Evening Standard of 11 August 1942 wrote: 'No Cabinet Minister was present to give it a blessing, no LCC chief to represent the ratepayers who paid for it, and only a small crowd, among them, bicyclists, a horse-drawn hackney carriage, several motor cars and a bus laden with passengers.' At precisely 10:00 am the foreman walked across the bridge to remove the red flags and the race e to see who could cross first. Th race was won by a 16-year old schoolboy on a bicycle, who got a flying start and reached the winning post before the faster motorist to catch him.