ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL

I have always liked making things and fixing things! Now I might not be very good but from time to time I have even impressed myself with my expert DIY skills! Although every now and again there has been a wee bit of an unmitigated disaster!!!

Something that has always fascinated me has been the work done by builders and engineers. From the Pyramids in Egypt to the current world's tallest building in Dubai I often find myself saying, 'how did they do that?"

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a magnificent engineer and builder who lived during the reign of Queen Victoria. He revolutionised engineering and some of his famous designs are still standing and in full operation today. His feats of engineering often helped to 'make life easier' for a great many people suffering from different forms of hardship and inspired other builders and engineers for many years after - indeed he still inspires people today.

It would be great if you could watch the video below and record some facts based on what you have read and listened to. Could you complete some art-work and draw a picture of the type of train that would have travelled along the Great Western line. I would love to be able to tell you to visit the Transport museum and to get the train from Bangor to Belfast so you could note some similarities and differences between train journeys from then and now! You will be able to those sorts of things again soon!

Can you conduct some extra research and discover other inventions, builds, engineering designs etc that I.K.B was responsible for? There really are a great many! How many are still in existence today? Would you even be able to attempt to make something based on one of Bunel's designs out of any material for recycling that you might have? If you are able to do anything like this please email your teacher with some pictures. Have fun and I hope you find our famous person for today to be as interesting as those from previous weeks.