In this world where we have many celebrations and ‘days’ to raise the profile of aspects of our life, it struck me that we don’t celebrate engineers as much as we should? (I myself got married on “International talk-like-a-pirate day” – yes it exists!).

So, we end up forgetting about people that had an immense impact on our modern world. Take the civil engineer Bazalgette (pronounced like Basil Jet apparently). Not a world renowned figure? He designed and installed London’s waste system in Victorian times, moving dirty, disease-ridden water safely away from the populous, and is widely considered to have achieved much for the health of the modern world as his systems were copied and life expectancy increased. Some say Bazalgette did more for public health than many in the medical profession of the time.

Do we celebrate him? Do we give thanks every time we use the loo?

Please start a trend and tomorrow, when you go to brush your teeth and clean water comes out of the tap, stand back and applaud, for the unknown, unrecognised engineers that deliver this miraculous service!