_McClassical Newcastle

McDonalds Northumberland Street

_invader newcastle

_statues of dictators

The 17th of December 2011 saw the death of the "Dear Leader" of North Korea, Kim Jong-Il. Reputed to have been the largest single customer of Hennessy Cognac at a time when 2 million members of the North Korean population starved to death Kim - Il maintained his leadership through an elaborate cult of personality. One tactic this diminutive ruler employed, like many dictators before him, was the extravagant and monumental reconstruction of himself as a giant statue. Below is Jong-Il's statue, or rather an image of it from the North Korean military newspaper "Chosun People's Army" as well as a few more examples from around the world;

Kim Jong-Il, one of the 'Three Mt. Baekdu Generals' dressed in military uniform at the Revolutionary History Museum of the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces, revealed on 11th May 2010

_swift, safe, sure. the george bennie railplane system of transport.

In Britain we tend to lag behind the rest of the world with regards to advances in mass transit systems. Japan has had the bullet train since the mid 1960s as well as more recently the MAGLEV in China and South Korea while we drag our feet with the implementation of connecting our capital with the rest of the country using a high speed rail network. This lag does however betray a national rail engineering pedigree; Stephenson is the “father of the railways”building the world’s first public railway while the first commercial MAGLEV line ran at Birmingham airport, owing its existence to Professor Eric Laithwaite. One other lesser known rail project is the George Bennie‘Railplane’ of 1929 based in Milngavie, south of Glasgow. 

Boris Tietze: 'Vulcan', King Street, Sheffield

_corporation street bridge, manchester

hodder + partners with arup, 1999. recently reopened following refurbishment

_heritage open days - the portico library

Sign above Charlotte Street entrance



view from the corner of moseley street and charlotte street



border on the inside of the entrance staircase

The 11th of September saw the Portico Library open to the general public as part of English Heritage's Heritage Open Days events so I thought I would meander across town to see inside this hidden gem of Manchester's built history.

_midland bank, king street, manchester

Detail from King Street facade after recent refurbishment.

Edwin Lutyens, 1933-35

_urban exploration / urbex/ ue

Urban Exploration, UrbEx or UE is the practice of ‘going places you’re not supposed to go’, places that are inaccessible and off-limits. The buildings and spaces that this exploration takes place within, on, or around can be categorised loosely into two categories, both of which are based around inaccessibility; the first are the buildings and spaces that are functioning and occupied. However, the parts of these buildings and spaces that are explored are inaccessible due to the control of the owner/occupiers. Explorers cross lines based on the private ownership of a building or space, the opening hours of it, the rules set out by those concerned with building laws and regulations and by the operators who designate front of house from back of house.

exploration of albert hall, manchester, 28 days later