by
Elizabeth Sanderson
Daily Mail

Yesterday at
The Ritz hotel in London, the Professor Clive Palmer show rolled
into town. And what a show.

He is still
relatively unknown in this country, but surely not for long. For
Prof Palmer is the Australian businessman who is going to bring
back the Titanic… or at least a modern-day replica of it.

Unveiling his
plans for Titanic II, the ebullient mining magnate insisted the
new ship will set sail in 2016, and dismissed his doubters with
a single word.

‘B******t,’
he said to those who questioned whether he would ever make his dream
a reality. ‘This is not a fantasy, this is not a movie. This
is going to happen,Â’ he added.

Titanic II
will seek to closely match the design of original vessel, which
sank on the fifth day of its maiden voyage in April 1912, killing
more than 1,500 passengers and crew.

It will boast
the same interiors, and even the same onboard gymnasium, complete
with Edwardian exercise machines.

The grand staircase,
smoking room, Cafe Parisien and various dining rooms will also be
recreated, as will the reading and writing room, the swimming pool
and Moorish-influenced Turkish baths.

There will
not be televisions or state-of-the-art music systems on board, nor
internet connections or mobile phones. But every passenger will
find period costumes in their cabin wardrobe so that they can enjoy
‘a true 1912 experience’.

However, the
plans include a safety deck (with more lifeboats obviously), a new
high-tech engine, air-conditioning and service lifts.

As with the
original ship, there will be First, Second and Third Class cabins
and passengers will not be allowed to mingle – apart from on
the safety deck, where there will be a casino and theatre.

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the rest of the article

March
4, 2013

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