London Bridge is tourist bait in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. -- Folks laughed when chainsaw magnate Robert McCulloch announced he was bringing the 140-year old London Bridge to the Arizona desert.

Nobody laughs anymore.

In the late '60s, the London Bridge was sinking into the clay of London, England's Thames River. Built in 1831, it was the victim of its own immense weight.

London officials said they'd have to replace the bridge. But what to do with the old one -- the one of children's nursery rhymes?

Enter McCulloch. He and a buddy purchased the falling down bridge for $2.4 million. At the time it was the highest price ever paid for an antique.

For the next three years, workers disassembled the bridge in London, then flew its bricks to America where they were hauled to then-tiny Lake Havasu City where they were reassembled over a newly dug out lagoon alongside Lake Havasu. The bridge was ready for business in 1971.

It wasn't long before tourists started showing up, and pretty soon, thanks to McCulloch and his bridge, the town was fat with cash, partly from all the money local real estate companies (including McCulloch's) were making from folks who came to see the bridge then bought homes to stay.

Nowadays, the London Bridge is one of Arizona's biggest attractions. Lake Havasu City has golf courses, affordable homes and a winter population of retired folks in Winnebagos. It's even got a Wal-Mart, just a few blocks north of the bridge.

Town visitors can explore a one-acre London village at the foot of the old bridge. For entertainment, they can tune into local radio station KBBC, identified on the air as "BBC radio."

Chuck Woodbury is the editor and publisher of Out West, "America's on-the-road" newspaper. Woodbury travels the West by motorhome writing about the people and places he encounters along the way.

London has many bridges.

Tower Bridge is one of the most instantly recognisable bridges in the world, and has become a symbol of London. It is easy to forget that it was not designed as a tourist attraction but as a response to the pressing needs of the times. Today it forms a scenic entry to Southwark.

Last century London Bridge was the only practical way over the Thames and the horse drawn carriages could queue for hours to cross. Hence in 1876 it was decided build a new bridge, to be designed by a public competition. To allow the large masted ships of the day to sail up the Thames the bridge had to offer 140 feet clearance. Another consideration was that the approaches had to be shallow enough for a horse drawn carriage to negotiate. It was to solve these problems that John Wolfe Barry and Sir Horace Jones designed a raising bridge in 1884. After Jones died in 1887 his assistant, George Daniel Stevenson took on the project. He added much of the design detail that we see today, for example he changed it from a red brick to a stone cladded building.

The bridge was built at a cost of £1 184 000, and ten lives, and was opened on 30th June 1894 by the Prince and Princess of Wales. It was a masterpiece of its time and remains an evocative symbol of London, and Great Britain to this day. Such is its importance that it is one of the few bridges in the world to have a museum dedicated to it. Not only can you learn more about its fascinating history, you can also admire the view of London from the walkway high above the River Thames and visit the steam pumping engines that operated the bridge on the day it opened. Great care has been taken to ensure that this exhibition will appeal as much to children as to any engineers in the family. Tower Bridge is on the itinerary for all tourists who visit London, you should also allow time to visit the exhibition.