Captain of the Titanic

On Friday evening we visited our friends R & K who live near Whittington in Staffordshire. We spent much of the evening viewing photos of the holiday we shared in Rome in September. We stayed the night and then on Saturday morning we went for a walk with K in Lichfield town centre.

For my blip I have chosen this photo of the statue of the captain of the Titanic, Commander Edward Smith. It was sculpted by Kathleen Scott, the wife of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, and was unveiled in Lichfield's Beacon Park in 1914.

There has long been an urban myth about the statue: that it ended up in Lichfield, instead of Smith's birth town of Stoke-on-Trent, because it was shunned by the outraged folk of the Potteries. Recent research suggests that Lichfield was actually picked because it was a major coaching route between London and Liverpool.

It was recently restored in time for this year's centenary of the sinking of the Titanic.