17 July 1981: The Queen officially opens the Humber bridge

The Humber bridge was officially opened on this day in 1981. The controversial bridge took nine years to build and cost over £150m.

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Humber bridge: 33 today

A bridge across the River Humber had been proposed as early as the 1860s, and approval was granted with the 1959 Humber Bridge Act. However, raising the funds proved to be a problem, and the project stalled.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.