Fun Zone

Facts

Tower Ted Colouring

Blackpool Tower celebrated its 110th birthday in May 2004. Here are 110 facts about the world famous attraction and the history so far.....

BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (1 - 10)

1. Part of the aquarium pre-dates the rest of the Tower building by 20 years. It was kept open to earn revenue while the Tower building went up around it.
2. An aviary as part of Dr Cockers Menagerie accompanied the aquarium. When the Tower was completed the aviary moved up to the area now occupied by Jungle Jims.
3. The menagerie featured wild animals, tropical birds and fish – all of which were relatively unknown to the Lancashire mill workers.
4. An orchestrion was installed at the entrance of the aquarium to attract the public into the building. The orchestrion worked on the principle of a large barrel organ and was originally powered by weights, similar to a grandfather clock. It is now displayed in a Birmingham museum.
5. The aquarium was modelled on the limestone caverns of Derbyshire.
6. In February 1895 a severe frost killed all the fish and new stocks were imported from Germany .
7. In 2003 the turtles had to be found a new home because they had become too large for their tank.
8. The largest tank in the aquarium holds 32,000 litres of salt water.
9. There are currently 57 species of fish in the aquarium.
10. There are both fresh water and salt-water fish in the aquarium. The water in the tropical fish tanks is kept at 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
 

Blackpool Tower & Circus - The original Dr Cockers Menagerie located on the site before the Tower









Blackpool Tower & Circus - The Orchestrion installed in the Aquarium, picture take in February 1953










 

BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (11 - 20)

1. The Circus first opened to the public on 14 May 1894. Admission was from 6d.
2. The Circus has never missed a season since it began in 1894.
3. The Circus is positioned at the base of the Tower between its four legs.
4. The present interior of the Circus was created by the famous theatre designer, Frank Matcham, and was completed in 1900.
5. Animals have not appeared in the Tower Circus performances since 1990.
6. For each era of the Tower Circus there has been a resident Clown. Today it is Mooky, but previous generations laughed at the antics of August & September, Doodles and the well remembered Charlie Cairoli.
7. Long before he became famous as a Hollywood film star, the comedian, W.C. Fields, spent a season before the First World War at the Circus as a juggler.
8. The Circus ring when flooded can hold up to 42,000 gallons of water to a depth of 4ft 6 inches.
9. Sporting events that have been held in the Circus ring include boxing, wrestling and snooker.
10. The Tower Circus has been voted by the Circus Friends Association as the best Circus in Britain for the past four years.
 

Blackpool Tower & Circus - An eary photo of the Circus Arena









Blackpool Tower & Circus - The famous Circus Clown, Charlie Cairoli
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (21 - 30)

1. The original Ballroom was a smaller pavilion opened in August 1894. Its stage was on the south side of the room.
2. The present Ballroom was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1899.
3. The first marriage to be performed in the Ballroom was in February 1996.
4. The first Wurlitzer organ was installed in the Ballroom in 1929. It was replaced in 1935 with one to Reginald Dixon’s specification. The first organ went to the E
mpress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens.
5. The Ballroom floor measures 120ft by 102ft.
It comprises 30,602 separate blocks of mahogany, oak and walnut.
6. In hot weather, the roof of the Ballroom can slide open to release excess heat.
7. Children’s Ballets are performed in the Ballroom. Madame Pauline Rivers started these in 1902.
8. Excluding his time in the RAF during World War Two, Reginald Dixon played the Ballroom’s Wurlitzer organ from 1930 until his retirement in 1969.
9. Phil Kelsall has played the organ at the Tower since 1975. He began playing in the Circus.
10. For many years, the BBC televised the popular programme, ‘Come Dancing’ from the Tower Ballroom.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - Reginald Dixon at the Wurlitzer Organ

 
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (31 - 40)

1. Since 1964 an international dance tournament known as the Junior Dance Festival has been held annually in the Ballroom.
2. Among the Ballroom’s one time strict rules were: - ‘Gentlemen may not dance unless with a Lady’ and ‘Disorderly conduct means immediate expulsion’.
3. In the Ballroom from the early 1900’s, dancing was interspersed with variety entertainment, moving picture shows, aerial gymnasts and even swimming displays in a crystal tank.
4. The inscription above the Ballroom stage, ‘Bid me discourse, I will enchant thine ear’, is from a sonnet by Shakespeare – Venus and Adonis.
5. The names of sixteen composers are to be found around the Ballroom.
6. In December 1956, the Ballroom was badly damaged by fire, during which the dance floor was destroyed, along with the restaurant below. It took two years and £500,000 to restore the Ballroom to its former splendour. The restaurant became the Tower Lounge.
7. Each of the large crystal chandeliers in the Ballroom can be lowered to the floor and takes over a week to clean.
8. Originally dancing was not permitted on Sundays. Instead of dancing, an evening of sacred music was performed.
9. Music from the Tower has been broadcast on the radio for many years. Reginald Dixon at the Wurlitzer, the Resident Dance bands of the Tower and more recently ‘Friday Night is music Night’ on BBC Radio 2.
10. Live music could be heard and played by resident musicians in the Ballroom, Restaurant, Roof Gardens and the Circus. Around thirty musicians were employed.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - Junior Dance Festival in 1990













Blackpool Tower & Circus - The Ballroom Fire of 1956













 
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (41 - 50)

1. The Silver Model of the Tower was presented to the Chairman of the Tower Company, Alderman (later Sir) John Bickerstaffe by the Shareholders in 1898, in appreciation of his role in ensuring the Tower was built and its commercial success.
2. The Silver Tower was commissioned from Steinberg & Co. of Manchester and was made by Messrs. Round & Son Ltd. Of Leeds.
3. John Bickerstaffe was Chairman of the Tower Company from its formation and his family remained in control until 1964 when the company, which by then owned many of Blackpool’s entertainment centre's, was sold to EMI.
4. In 1951 the Silver Tower was taken to London and displayed in a shop in Regent Street. This was to advertise Blackpool’s attractions to the many visitors in the capital that year to see the Festival of Britain.
5. When the BBC programme Antiques Road Show was staged in the Tower in 1989, its experts were asked to give a valuation of the Silver Tower, but they would not hazard a guess.
6. In 1949 the Tower was photographed as it was struck by lightning.
7. After the death of Sir John Bickerstaffe it was stipulated in his will that the Silver Tower should remain in the Tower building.
8. During the 1950’s a large tree was put up in the Ballroom at Christmas. An entrance fee entitled local children to collect a present from around the base.
9. Chinatown, surrounding the Tower ascent, opened in 1904 replacing “Ye Olde Englyshe Vyllage”. It later became the Oriental Lounge.
10. In the wake of the moon landings, what remained of the Oriental Lounge was ripped out in 1970 to create the Apollo Playground, the Tower Ascent being likened to a rocket blast-off.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - Oriental Lounge















Blackpool Tower & Circus - Apollo Playground circa 1970
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (51 - 60)

1. In September 1893 local journalists became the first members of the public to ascend the Tower using constructors’ ladders.
2. The top of the Tower caught fire in July 1897 as a result of an electrical fault.
3. In 1940 the crow’s nest was removed to allow the structure to be operated as a radar station. This was not a success.
4. During World War Two the Tower ascent was closed. It reopened in August 1946.
5. In 1949 a Post Box was placed at the top of the Tower, with letters and postcards being franked ‘Posted at the top of Blackpool Tower’.
6. Escapologist Karl Bartoni and his bride were married, suspended in a cage from the Tower in 1985.
7. The ‘Walk of Faith’ glass floor panel was placed at the Tower top in 1998.
8. The glass floor weighs half a tonne and is made up of two sheets of laminated glass.
9. The glass floor is two inches thick.
10. The ‘Walk of Faith’ can withstand the weight equivalent to five baby elephants.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - The Tower Top caught fire in 1897
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (61 - 70)

1. Jungle Jims was originally the Tower Roof Gardens with palms, ferns and a concert area.
2. In 1956 it became the Roof Gardens Zoo.
3. From 1927 to 1930 the Roof Gardens was also Midget Town, which included a sports club, town hall, post office and garage. It was ‘populated’ by a troupe of midgets.
4. Jungle Jims is the UK’s biggest indoor adventure playground.
5. The area occupied by the Dawn of Time ride was until 1963, the Tower Menagerie. It then became the ‘Ocean Room’ cabaret bar and later the ‘Good Time Emporium’.
6. The Menagerie was immortalized in Stanley Holloway’s famous monologue ‘Albert and the Lion’.
7. In 1992 the Tower complex was renamed ‘Tower World’ and was opened by Diana, Princess of Wales.
8. Among the famous artistes who have performed at the Tower during its 110 years are Arthur Askey, Duke Ellington, Paderewski, Dame Clara Butt, Cleo Laine, Peter Dawson and more recently teenage heart throbs, Busted.
9. To celebrate the end of the Boer War in 1900 the building was open free of charge with a special concert.
10. The Circus mosaics, which are now inside on a stairwell, were originally outside along the Promenade entrance from 1970. The artist was Jean Mount.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - The Roof Gardens








Blackpool Tower & Circus - Gracie Fields with one of the Lions from the Zoo
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (71 - 80)

1. Blackpool Tower was inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which was built for the 1889 International Exposition.
2. The Blackpool Tower Company was formed in February 1891.
3. The foundation stone of Blackpool Tower was laid on 25th September 1891 and a time capsule was buried beneath it.
4. The Architects of the Tower and Buildings were Maxwell & Tuke of Manchester. Both men died in 1893 before the Tower was completed.
5. The contracts to build the Tower’s structure were awarded to Heenan & Froude of Newton Heath, Manchester. They manufactured the steel girders.
6. The Tower first opened to the public on 14 May 1894 (Whitsuntide).
7. Over 3,000 people ascended the Tower on the opening day.
8. When first opened the Tower generated it’s own electricity.
9. The Tower and buildings cost approximately £290,000 by 1896. The original tender for the Tower itself had been £42,000, but extra steel was needed to make it perfectly safe and this raised the figure to about £65,000.
10. The original admission charge to the Tower Buildings was 6d and a further 6d to go up in the lifts to the Tower top. The Circus admission was also extra. Nowadays, one all-inclusive price covers all attractions in the complex.
 
Blcakpool Tower & Circus - The Tower standing at 230ft on 3rd May 1893
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (81 - 90)

1. Blackpool Tower is a Grade One Listed Building.
2. Blackpool is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. The 2004 AGM took place at Blackpool Tower in October.
3. The Tower featured in the film ‘Dick Barton Strikes Back’ in 1947. It featured a fight scene on the structure.
4. The total area occupied by the Tower buildings is 6,040 square yards.
5. It takes 15,000 yards of carpet to cover the floor.
6. In 1977 the top of the Tower was painted silver as part of the celebrations for HRH The Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
7. In 1994 the sides of the Tower were painted gold for its Centenary Celebrations by abseiling painters.
8. Bolton comedian Peter Kay performed his show which later became ‘Live from the Top of the Tower’ on 10th and 11th April 2000. It was performed in the Tower Circus arena.
9. The Hydraulic lifts to the Tower Top were rebuilt and winding gear replaced by electric in 1956-57. Completely new lifts and winding gear were installed in 1991.
10. In 1984 a giant inflatable model of King Kong was placed against the Tower. It came from San-Diego, California.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - The top of the Tower was painted Silver in 1977 for the Queens Silver Jubilee
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (91 - 100)

1. There are more than five million bricks in the Tower Buildings.
2. The Tower alone contains 2,493 tons of steel and 93 tons of cast iron. The building at the base contains 985 tons of steel and 259 tons of cast iron.
3. Each of the four legs of the Tower rest on concrete foundations 35ft square and 12ft deep.
4. The height to the top of the flagpole is 518ft 9inches.
5. The original Tower was only going to be 450ft high.
6. There are 563 steps from the roof of the Tower building to the flagpole at the Tower Top. The steps are used by the maintenance teams for upkeep of the structure.
7. The men who maintain the steel structure are known as “Stick Men”.
8. Blackpool Venture Scouts camped out at the top of the Tower on 23rd February 1990. Their aim was to contact other towers around the world by radio link whilst also raising monies for charity.
9. Due to lack of maintenance it was found necessary to replace much of the Tower’s steelwork between 1920 and 1924. The original contractors carried out the work.
10. The Tower Top is closed if the wind speed exceeds 45 miles per hour.
 
Blackpool Tower & Circus - The maintenance team are known as Stick Men
BLACKPOOL TOWER HERITAGE TRAIL (101 - 110)

1. It takes seven years to paint the Tower structure from top to bottom. This time includes the replacement of any steel work.
2. Ten thousand light bulbs are used to illuminate the Tower.
3. It takes five miles of cable to feed the bulbs carrying 150 kilowatts per hour.
4. Between 1913 and 1946 the Tower’s telephone number was “Blackpool 1”.
5. The Tower Ascent lifts travel approximately 3,500 miles every year.
6. Over 650,000 people visit the Tower every year.
7. In a 70 miles per hour wind, the Tower Top sways by one inch.
8. On a clear day you can see the Tower from North Wales and the Lake District.
9. At peak times up to 250 employees form the Tower team, to ensure your visit is as enjoyable as possible.
10. The Tower has had five owners to date: Blackpool Tower Company, EMI, Trust House Forte, First Leisure and the present owners Leisure Parcs Ltd.
Blackpool Tower & Circus - Blackpool Tower lit up during the Illuminations
   

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