Westminster Bridge - by Malcolm Root 636 Piece puzzles - 685mm x 320mm Box Dimensions - 410mm x 210mm x 50mm This view of the British Houses of Parliament from London's Westminster Bridge has been a favourite subject for artists and photographers for over a hundred years. With a full view of Big Ben and a fine summer evening, the new 2008 Gibsons jigsaw puzzle entitled Westminster Bridge is set in the early part of the 20th century. Although horse drawn omnibuses were in use in London as far back as 1850 the mechanised buses did not make their appearance until 1902. Buses were originally established as private enterprises and there were eventually three different methods of powering the omnibuses: horse, steam and mechanised. In this puzzle it is worth noting that the buses had no roofs which is baffling given the rainy London weather. Today only tourist buses have no roofs and the famous doubledecker buses are also disappearing giving way to the extra long articulated buses seen in many North American cities. In order to display as much of the panorama as possible Gibsons has chosen to create the jigsaw puzzle in its 636 piece format which elongates the puzzle along its horizontal. Malcolm Root was born in Colchester, England and has lived in North Essex ever since. He left school at sixteen and trained as a printing apprentice, with a view to a career in design and typography. In 1982, Malcolm left the printing trade and set up in business as a full-time artist. His works were featured at a number of small exhibitions and it wasn't long before commissions started coming in on a regular basis. In 1983, Malcolm was elected to full membership of the guild of Railway Artists and some of his paintings were published in books and magazines. Following this, three books devoted to the paintings of Malcolm Root were published; one on twentieth century transport and two on railways, the most recent being Malcolm Root's English Railway Paintings. Malcolm has always been interested in the period when public transport was at its peak, when trains and buses were used by the majority and only a few fortunate could affort to own a car. In those days, every decent-sized town and many villages were connected by branch lines that covered the British Isles, making travel a real adventure. Malcolm's hobbies are football, cycling and local history. At present, he is busy painting for calendars, collector's plates and of course, jigsaw puzzles. Malcolm's technical eye for buses, trains, cars and even scooters has made his jigsaw puzzles a mainstay of the Gibsons jigsaw puzzle catalogue. He currently has several jigsaw puzzle designs in the Gibsons puzzle catalogue from 636 piece puzzle to 1000 Piece Puzzles.
