Tower Bridge was originally painted green, then brown, before becoming the current red, white and blue in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Thankfully for the British taxpayer it was decided not to cover the bridge in gold leaf for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. The bascules currently lift around one thousand times a year, or three times a day. Originally powered by pressurised water from the engine room housed on the south side of the bridge, when first opened the bascules were up and down with more regularity than a vicar in a brothel, and with this in mind the design called for two pedestrian walkways joining the tops of the towers.
