Tower Bridge Gunter made a split-second decision to accelerate, clearing a gap to drop onto the north bascule, which had not yet started to rise. There were no serious injuries. Gunter was given £10 (equivalent to £ in ) by the City Corporation to honour his act of bravery. The Hawker Hunter Tower Bridge incident occurred on 5 April 1968 when a Royal Air Force Hawker Hunter FGA.9 jet fighter from No. 1 Squadron, flown by Flt Lt Alan Pollock, flew through Tower Bridge. Unimpressed that senior staff were not going to celebrate the RAF's 50th birthday with a fly-past, Pollock decided
London Bridge Is Falling Down then adapted to fit the most famous bridge in England. One of the earliest references to the rhyme in English is in the comedy "The London Chaunticleres", printed in 1657, but probably written about 1636, in which the dairy woman Curds states that she had "danced the building of London-Bridge" at the Whitsun Ales in her youth, although no words or actions are mentioned. Widespread familiarity with the rhyme is suggested by its use by Henry Carey in his satire "Namby Pamby" (1725), as: <poem>"Namby Pamby" is no Clown, London Bridge is broken down: Now he courts the gay Ladee