It's not everyday that a non-specialist gets a commission to write a coffee table book about bridges in just six weeks. So this month, Bookshelf goes behind the scenes on Tim’s fascinating commission from the AA, which he shared with his wife Anne.

Tim admits he was slightly in awe of the idea as civil engineering is such a technical subject, but once he and Anne started their research, they realised how much there was to write about.

‘Not just in the sheer variety of bridge structures, but also the number which tell a story,’ he says. ‘Some bridges were spectacularly bungled affairs that wobbled, buckled or simply fell to bits. Some became film icons, whilst others transformed entire regions or even countries.

‘Some are famous for people doing odd things like jumping off them for fun or flying under them for a bet. Some were brilliant engineering concepts; others were just downright strange.
 

‘The world’s second iron bridge, for instance, built by revolutionary writer Thomas Paine, was plonked on Paddington Green simply to advertise the virtues of iron. And the Clifton Suspension Bridge was largely made of recycled bits of Brunel’s earlier bridge, Hungerford Bridge, which started out as a very fetching pedestrian bridge over the Thames – the pillars still stand next to the railway bridge.’

Great Bridges of the World retails at £25 but costs £16.25 post free from Amazon. Tim and Anne have covered both old and new bridges with about 70 main features and many extras written as side panels.

Buy from Amazon.