Today’s photo is of Stockton Town Hall, which sits in the middle of Stockton High Street and dates from 1735 – some 41 years before the United States was founded! It was in this very building, in 1810, that the construction of the world’s first passenger railway was initially proposed. That plan came to fruition some fifteen years later, with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

Stocktonites often claim that their high street is the widest in the country – a fact I first learned some eight years ago when an elderly lady chose to share it with me whilst we both queued for blood tests.

Ever since, I’ve wondered quite what the parameters for the claim are: I think I know of several wider commercial streets in the UK, not least Lord Street in my home town of Southport. The claim is repeated on countless websites, yet none of those I’ve seen seem to properly define their terms.

I thought for a while that it was, perhaps, the widest street called “High Street”, but that idea appears confounded by the assertion on some sites that it’s the widest in the UK, but the third widest in Europe: it seems unlikely that there are too many “High Streets” on the continent.

So – can any of my readers explain the origin of the claim?

This striking building is Newcastle University’s Business School, completed last year as one of the first buildings in the £200m Downing Plaza development, which connects the city centre’s business quarter to the developing science quarter.

I spent this morning here listening to Alistair Campbell, who was supposed to be talking about strategic communications, but mainly talked politics. Still, it was interesting and free, and it was lovely to be invited along!

This is John Dobson’s 19th century “lying-in” maternity hospital for poor women. It’s located next to the Blue Carpet which I’ve previously featured. It opened in 1826, and remained in use until 1923.

Far from offering care to all-comers, like the modern NHS, this hospital wouldn’t admit those too poor to afford baby clothes, the homeless, those with infectious diseases, or those who had fallen pregnant outside of wedlock. And, yes, marriage certificates had to be presented prior to admission. It all seems so medicoethically bankrupt by the standards of today’s UK.

I understand that the building had a later life as the regional headquarters of the BBC, but I’m not quite sure what it houses these days.

This is the Infinity Bridge across the Tees in Stockton, so called because it looks a bit like a ∞ when reflected in the water. I first wrote about this bridge when its design was still being decided and I was studying at the University of Durham’s Queen’s Campus, eight-and-a-half years ago:

The new design for the bridge in Stockton has been decided. Five designs were drawn up for the bridge (which will go from the university campus to the other side of the river, where there is currently – well, nothing, actually). These designs were then put to a public vote, via post, phone and online. The overwhelming winner of the vote was design ‘D’. So they’re building design ‘C’. No, I didn’t understand either.

Here’s a BBC Tees article from the time, which shows all five proposed designs. It’s interesting to see that the artist’s render in this case stands up very well to comparison with the finished product. But I’m still quite fond of the design the public voted for.

It’s also worth noting that, all this time on, there’s still very little on the far side of the bridge!

I really wonder about the value of these graphics. I rarely watch programmes “live”, and suspect the prevalence of behaviour like mine is growing. By the time I play back the programme and see the graphic, I’ve missed the programme.

I’ve noticed that channels are trailling programmes earlier than they used to – look at the BBC’s promotions for The Voice or Sky’s for Mad Men – which I suspect attempts to mitigate this effect of time-shifted viewing. But these onscreen graphics are rarely displayed more than 48hrs in advance.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to use this opportunity to moan about unnecessary and obtrusive on screen graphics. Job done.

I’ve featured the Ouseburn a couple of times before – most recently, of course, yesterday.

This picture, which shows the Ouseburn as it passes a few hundred metres from our house, is a few miles or so further upstream than this one.

This is Newcastle’s monument to 19th century Prime Minister Charles Grey, who of course gave his name to a splendid blend of tea. The statue was sculpted by Bailey, who also created the statue of Nelson atop Nelson’s Column in London. I rather wonder whether this guy’s sculptures being stuck on top of huge columns, far from close public inspection, is a compliment or an insult…

I read earlier this week that, in some fluke accident, this statue of Earl Grey was struck by lightening during the war, decapitating him. During wartime, repairs weren’t considered a priority, and so the smashed fragments were stored. After the war, the fragments were reconstructed, and a replica made and attached to the statue.

But, bizarrely, the tale of Earl Grey’s head doesn’t end there. In 2000, a cast was taken of the head, and an artwork created and embedded in the Monument’s plinth, which allows anyone to see his head from four different sides. So now everyone can get up close and personal with Earl Grey!

This is the first of today’s two photos, since I forgot yesterday! It shows some boats, just at the point where the Ouseburn meets the Tyne at the Quayside here in Newcastle. I’ve featured the Ouseburn once before in this series, a couple of miles or so further upstream at Jesmond Dene.

These boats are actually on the Tyne side of the Ouseburn Tidal Barrage, so are possibly technically on the Tyne rather than the Ouseburn, but who am I to say where a tributary ends and the larger river begins?

I’ve just realised that I forgot my “photo-a-day” yesterday… I’ll do two today to make up for it! Sorry!

I know that quite a few councils have taken to painting on the pavement to discourage dog fouling. I think I’ve read that some councils also engage in spray painting the poo itself. But it’s only within the last few weeks that I’ve noticed them appearing in my neighbourhood.