Michael says to his nephew Angelo that Bristol has a famous bridge and ship, but can't remember the names. The ship is the SS Great Britain, a lovingly restored Victorian passenger ship, the world's first great ocean liner. She is a museum ship and former passenger steamship that was advanced for her time. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1853, measuring almost 100m in length. While other ships had been built of iron or equipped with a screw propeller, Great Britain was the first to combine these features in a large ocean-going ship. She originally had five schooner-rigged and one square-rigged masts; after 1853, she was converted to three square-rigged masts. She was also the first iron steamer to cross the Atlantic Ocean, which she did in 1845, in 14 days.
In 1970, the SS Great Britain Project brought the rusting shell of the SS Great Britain home from the Falkland Islands, braving 8,000 miles of stormy sea, in an attempt to save it from ruin and keep its story alive. It is now is a visitor attraction with between 150,000 and 200,000 visitors annually.
The bridge is the Clifton Suspension Bridge which is a suspension bridge spanning the Avon Gorge and the River Avon, linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset. Its length is 1,352 feet but only 31 feet wide. Since opening in 1864, it has been a toll bridge, the £1 toll provides funds for its maintenance.