Flushed with his success

An overnight sleeper to London meant I had time to spare before my meeting, so I walked the last part of the trip along the Thames north bank, from the Embankment tube station. I knew that would take me past this memorial statue/bust of a man whose achievement influenced London for the better, like almost no-one else since. This is Sir Joseph Bazalgette, of whom Wikipedia says: "Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, CB (28 March 1819 - 15 March 1891) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works his major achievement was the creation (in response to the "Great Stink" of 1858) of a sewer network for central London which was instrumental in relieving the city from cholera epidemics, while beginning the cleansing of the River Thames." He was a visionary man, planning sewers much larger than required and then doubling those, thus allowing London the scope to expand its population hugely. And a link to wildlife? Well, in the mid 19th Century, the Thames was massively polluted and was fishless. Now, after over a century of improvements commenced by Bazalgette, the Thames has more than 140 species of fish recorded. Oh, and Londoners no longer die of cholera. A great legacy!