Millenium Dome

I have a nagging feeling I have written before about visiting the Millennium Dome in 2000 but I can’t find any relevant post. I try and keep a record of my posts although I must admit this isn’t complete. Way back when I started Annette also started as well but became disenchanted because the blogging site we used then only kept a few posts easily accessible.. I did discover a way of accessing their archive but this was just too much hassle and Annette abandoned blogging.

I was disappointed by the generally poor public response to the millennium dome and exhibition. I’m just old enough to remember the Festival of Britain in 1951. Reading about it at the time I longed to go and indeed I was fortunate enough to visit some of the permanent buildings on the South Bank and the Festival  funfair in 1954. I regarded the Millennium Exhibition as an essential visit. I have always thought their ancestor, the Great Exhibition of 1851 must have been a fantastic event. There is another parallel in that both the Crystal Palace built for the Great Exhibition and The Millennium Dome both saw later use.

The Crystal Palace ( in essence a giant greenhouse with prefabricated structure ) was rebuilt away from Hyde Park but sadly burned down in the interwar years. I am amused by the story ( probably apocryphal ) that Queen Victoria was worried about sparrows flying inside the building and asked her Prime Ministers advice. The PM of the time was The Duke of Wellington, a famously taciturn man. His answer, “ Sparrow hawks ma’am”.

We went to a London hotel the day before and set out by tube to the new Dome station. However our train stopped at an earlier station and we were told to take a bus. In sight of the Dome this was stopped by police who had closed the road. Slightly despairing we set out to walk as soon as pedestrians were allowed. We found out later this was the morning of the big diamond robbery when robbers had smashed their way into the dome using a digger. The police were waiting and the robbers were caught red handed. This was the reason for all the delays but obviously we could not be told until afterwards. However the exhibition opened late with the “Money” section closed.

We much enjoyed our visit. I rather amused Annette by queuing with a lot of children to have my avatar compiled on the BT stand. My reward was to see myself on a bicycle carrying ET home on their display screen. The avatar was my digital representation. I was a bit taken aback when during photography I was told to remove my glasses. Apparently the avatar thinks the glasses are eyes and blanks them completely when I ( digitally ) blink which gives a very strange effect.

 I was very amused by the buskers ( hired to jazz up the exhibition) as we queued to visit the cinema which was showing a special edition of “Blackadder” entitled “Blackadder back and forth” ; failed in some silly quiz, was declared a dunce, and made to stand aside wearing a dunce’s cap. All very light hearted and passed the queue time easily.

As we waited there were young ladies passing around like cinema ice cream sales girls with trays supported by straps around their necks. One I recall was calling out what sounded like “ices” but on inspection it was “eyes” and the tray contained ( very realistic )  mock eyeballs.

The joke continued inside as fake workmen ushered us in saying “sit anywhere you like except on the blue seats” as the chandeliers above were insecure. However ALL the seats were blue.

This jocularity continued with the film which was Blackadder back and forth. In an alternative history Waterloo was lost ( in farcical circumstances ) and England became French controlled ( with the franc as currency, this was pre euro ) However later a group of aristos are saying nothing has changed as they regarded paying for drinks in francs was normal. The audience was left to see the joke. I doubt that Boris and his cronies would think it funny.

We enjoyed the many exhibits. For example there was a giant body where one could walk inside We concluded our visit with the aerial display at the central area of the Dome. This was a circus like display telling a story but writ on a massive scale as the Dome was hundreds of feet high in the centre. I have never seen an aerial display as awe inspiring. We were assured that all the performers were not previously performers but specially trained for the purpose.

There was a lot of carping at the cost at the time and the controversy dragged on for years. When I contemplate some of the waste of public money today I feel it was well spent.

As part of our village Millennium celebrations we organised an exhibition of old photos in our “Memory Lane” display. I also wrote and published a village history. This has since been incorporated into a book about our village.

Something different

The judge asked the defendant his occupation

“ Locksmith your honour”

“What were you doing in the jewellers at 3 in the morning”

“Making a bolt for the door”