IKB

Today is the 164th anniversary of the death of that great Victorian engineer IKB or Isambard Kingdom Brunel, he died on this day in 1859 aged 53 years. I can't help being reminded of this giant, residing next to the GWR or Great Western Railway as I do (I'll be using it today!), and being a frequent visitor to Paddington Station (1854) among many other of his creations, amazing that these things that once only existed in his mind are now everyday experiences for millions of people. 

The photo above is a very famous image of the man, it's obviously posed but I look at it and think about the mud on his trousers, the crud on his boots and the cigar in his mouth, in some ways, it's so obviously not posed at the same time. The man in this picture is definitely an engineer and not a prince or a pope, I think that's what people like about him, he always does well in any "Top 100 Britons" competition, a real force of nature not a pompous parasite.