Today's featured article
editWolverton Viaduct is a railway bridge carrying the West Coast Main Line over the River Great Ouse to the north of Wolverton, part of Milton Keynes, in south-eastern England. Built in 1838 for the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) to the design of Robert Stephenson, it was the largest viaduct on the L&BR's route. It is in the centre of Wolverton Embankment, itself the largest on the line. It has six brick arches and covers a distance of 660 feet (200 metres), reaching a maximum height of 57 feet (17 metres) above the river, and terminating in substantial abutments which contain decorative arches. Several contemporary commentators likened Stephenson's bridges to Roman aqueducts. The viaduct was widened to take four tracks in the 1880s with a blue-brick extension, in contrast to the red-brick original. Masts for overhead electrification were added in the 1950s but otherwise the bridge is little changed since it was built and it is now a Grade II listed building. (Full article...)
In the news
edit- A Mil Mi-8 helicopter (pictured) crashes in Kamchatka, Russia, leaving twenty-two people dead.
- The Summer Paralympics open in Paris, France.
- More than four hundred people are killed in an Islamist militant attack in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso.
- The Islamic State claims responsibility for a mass stabbing that killed three people at a festival in Solingen, Germany.
Did you know
edit- ... that despite suffering burns to 80 percent of his body, Israel Del Toro (pictured) became the first member of the U.S. Air Force to re-enlist after being deemed 100-percent disabled?
- ... that Cyclone Freddy was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone recorded?
- ... that Daiki Kobayashi was already known for his androgynous voice when he was cast as a cross-dressing idol in The Idolmaster SideM?
- ... that an office building on New York City's Times Square was almost entirely vacant upon its completion?
- ... that although sport shooter Ban Hyo-jin attended Olympic trials just to gain some competition experience, she qualified for the Olympics and went on to win a gold medal?
- ... that while performing "Love Is Embarrassing", Olivia Rodrigo suffered an "embarrassing" wardrobe malfunction?
- ... that architect Ivan Palmaw designed houses in Shanghai and Seattle after fleeing the Russian Revolution?
- ... that a researcher called the community on the short-lived collaborative writing website One Million Monkeys Typing "astonishingly harmonious"?
- ... that an icon of Jesus was removed from a Catholic church for allegedly being pagan imagery?