SS Great Eastern SS Great Eastern SS "Great Eastern" was an iron sailing steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by J. Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers from England to Australia without refuelling. Her length of was only surpassed in 1899 by the 17,274-gross-ton RMS "Oceanic", her gross tonnage of 18,915 was only surpassed in 1901 by the 21,035-gross-ton RMS "Celtic", and her 4,000-passenger capacity was surpassed in 1913 by
Brunel FM renamed the station to Brunel FM, after Isambard Kingdom Brunel whose railway network had developed Swindon from a small village on the top of a hill, to a large town. Brunel Radio was also the previous name for Classic Gold Radio (now DAB Station Gold) when Wiltshire Radio/GWR (now Heart Wiltshire) launched on FM. However Brunel FM and Brunel Radio/Brunel Classic Gold had no connection other than their names and where their studios were based. The station launched at 10am on 2 September 2006, to the sound of many people from around the coverage area wishing the station luck. In