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Monday, 23 August 2010

The fourth plinth follies


The plinths at Trafalgar square were meant to honour the memory of great men who built and defended the British Empire. A fourth plinth was erected and left empty for future generations to fill. Instead of honouring the heroes of the last century, modern Britain uses the plinth to honour nasty jokes like blue chickens and brick sponge cakes.

It's a wonder that Lord Nelson doesn't shinny down his column and storm off in disgust.
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4 comments:

  1. Neil RussellMonday, 23 August 2010 at 06:54:00 GMT-7

    Oddly enough the inverted Britain is the most appropriate (of this silly lot anyway) since the whole world seems upside down now

    ReplyDelete
  2. SergejMonday, 23 August 2010 at 07:26:00 GMT-7

    Gah. Gehhh? Whuuuuu?

    Has someone slipped something into Britain's warm beer supply?

    ReplyDelete
  3. BryanMonday, 23 August 2010 at 15:45:00 GMT-7

    I was trying to remember who is on the other three plinths and found this little gem on Wikipedia:

    "A statue of Edward Jenner, funded largely by public subscription, was unveiled on the fourth plinth in 1858, but protests by anti-vaccinationists led to its removal to Kensington Gardens four years later."

    Geez, the more things change, eh? For the record, one of them is the famous hero of the 1857 Mutiny, Henry Havelock another hero of the Raj, James Napier, and George IV.

    So I say put Jenner back up. It will irritate the anti-vaccinationists and that can't be bad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. DavidMonday, 23 August 2010 at 19:28:00 GMT-7

    Bryan,

    Sounds good to me. I'm getting a sandwich board run up straight away.

    ReplyDelete

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