Quacking taxis waddled and pushed. A scarlet bus snorted. Bicycles got in everybody's way. A scrofulous old horse and barouche tangled with an American jeep. Bobbies waved their arms, even raised their voices.
Then, at one minute to ten, the confusion subsided; all ears were cocked. The husky gong of Big Ben clanged. London's assorted traffic raced for the first time across the Thames's new Waterloo Bridge, and a nineteen-year-old political squabble ended.
Home Secretary Herbert Morrison and an agile-kneed schoolboy, Leonard Mitchell, were the winners. Leonard pedaled his bike furiously, through lanes of bridge workmen perched on railings, reached the Waterloo (South)...
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