Isambard Kingdom Brunel: 8 things you might not know about the engineer of Bristol's ss Great Britain

... 1. Brunel had something of a charmed life - he nearly drowned when the River Thames burst in to the Thames Tunnel in 1828. He got stuck in a basket high over the Avon Gorge during the construction of the Clifton Bridge in 1836, fell down a ladder during the trials of the SS Great Western in 1838, and of course got a coin stuck in his throat when doing a conjuring trick with his children in 1843 that was only dislodged by his own ingenious invention. ...