The B-of-the-Bang



B of the Bang was a competition winning sculpture for the City of Manchester Stadium where the 2002 Commonwealth Games were hosted, now the home of Manchester City Football Club.  The tallest sculpture in the UK, it was inclined at an angle of thirty degrees from the vertical and represented a major challenge in both construction and engineering.  It cost £1.42 million to design and construct twice the original estimate.  The sculpture took its name from a quotation of British sprinter Linford Christie in which he said that he started his races not merely at the 'bang' of the starting pistol, but at 'The B of the Bang'.   It was designed to look like an exploding firework, but was nicknamed KerPlunk by the locals after the popular children's game from the 1970s.



After a long period of controversy - all sorts of structural problems and legal cases, the B-of-the-Bang was dismantled in the summer of 2009.










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