Lunchtime on a skyscraper in 2011: Flat caps swapped for hard hats and safety harnesses as builders recreate famous 1930s image
The famous original photo showed 11 workers in flat caps precariously perched on a steel beam 800ft (240m) above the ground.But
in 2011, these construction engineers in London swapped vests for
high-visibility jackets and safety harnesses as they ate out on a 755ft
(230m) tall building.The
photo - modelled on Charles C Ebbets's famous 1932 original, Lunch atop a
Skyscraper - was taken by Michael Crompton, 61, as he worked on Heron
Tower in central London last year. The 46-floor building is the third
tallest in the capital.

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Safety harnesses and high-visibility
jackets: Eleven workmen 'eat out' as they recreate the famous Lunch atop
a Skyscraper photo taken by Charles C Ebbets in 1932
Mr Crompton said that the 11 workmen had tried to create a modern version of the famous image.

'We
changed it slightly — one of the workers had a can of cider in our
shot, while in the original they had a bottle of whisky. And underneath
our coats we all have harnesses and lanyards,' he told The Sun.
'But it was almost minus 10C out there on the 46th floor and a few of the lads were telling me to hurry up.'The original was taken in New York on the 69th floor of the RCA Building as it neared completion.

The group in London, who did not get permission from management, wore safety harnesses when the picture was taken.



Original: Eleven workmen in New York sit and eat lunch on this beam in
1932. One of the workmen, far right, is holding a bottle of whisky
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