15 Comments

• At 2010.09.09 07:55, Sam Judson said:

  It’s been there for years! It’s called Articulated Opposites: http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/pubartcitycentre#opposites

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• At 2010.09.09 10:06, D.H. said:

  I have no recollection of it at all, either. And could someone please give me a hint about what the lego men (day before yesterday) are?

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  • At 2010.09.17 00:47, Beth said:

    DH i’m sorry, i misread your comment to say ‘where’ not ‘what’ and only just noticed my error. but sam has replied below!

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• At 2010.09.09 10:51, alf stone said:

  It appears to be this:

  Articulated Opposites - Raymond Arnatt 1969′Articulated Opposites’ by Raymond Arnatt

  Location - Swan House Roundabout
  Materials - Bronze
  Commissioned by - NCC

  Articulated Opposites is an abstract work designed as a memorial to Sir Joseph Swan, who was from Newcastle. Swan invented the incandescent light. T. Dan Smith suggested the memorial to JosephSwan. The work was unveiled on the 16th of September 1969 by Joseph Swan’s son, Sir Kenneth Swan. The work draws its inspiration from the forms of the first filament bulbs.

  I can’t remember ever seeing it either.

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• At 2010.09.09 13:10, Beth said:

  Thank you Alf! I like that it’s a memorial to Swan. I’m glad neither of you have seen it before either, I thought i was going mad!

  Daniel if you go back to the comments your hint is there :) If I find them I’ll say exactly where they are! :)

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• At 2010.09.09 13:32, Sue said:

  I hadn’t seen this either - someone in our office says that they thought it was originally inside somewhere in a courtyard.

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• At 2010.09.09 17:47, MikeM said:

  I met my wife November 1969, and Swan house roundabout was a building site at that time, so I think it must have been somewhere else then. MikeM

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• At 2010.09.09 20:50, alf stone said:

  I think Sue’s colleague is right. This old picture shows it in a completely different context:

  http://www.vads.ac.uk/x-large.php?uid=75316&sos=10

  Click on the “Full catalogue record” and it tells you that it was once surrounded by water. Now that my memory has been prompted I vaguely remember having seen it many years ago but I didn’t recognise it in its new surroundings.

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• At 2010.09.09 21:26, Beth said:

  isn’t that outside the civic alf?

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• At 2010.09.09 21:27, Beth said:

  or, no - isn’t that outside Swan House still? just in a different place?

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• At 2010.09.09 21:32, Beth said:

  just approved sam’s comment from this morning - if only we’d all seen it sooner! thanks sam!

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• At 2010.09.09 23:06, mrs K said:

  Sam’s comment is not quite true, it has always been at Swan House, but it was on a lower level, you could only see it if you looked over the railing. Sometimes the pebbles were covered by water and sometimes not.

  When it was moved onto that level on the roundabout I have no idea.

  I passed it at least three times a week, as I worked for BT.

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• At 2010.09.09 23:08, mrs K said:

  Beth

  I meant to add, I drop in everyday and love them all. But am up to my neck in work (yes 72 and still busy).

  I would miss this all if you did not keep posting.

  LOL

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• At 2010.09.10 07:59, Sam Judson said:

  D.H: The lego men: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesbessant/388367015/in/pool-74267373@N00/ - they have now been replaced by the castle barrier seen in the previous photo.

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• At 2010.09.14 23:39, Dean said:

  It was situated on the lower level by the entrance to the Royal Arcade. If I remember correctly, it had a fountain in it and the pebbled enclosure it sat in used to be filled with water.

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