| Pontis |

Commuters in the Northeast became time travellers yesterday when they arrived at their station to find every sign translated into Latin. To the bafflement of local people in Wallsend, signs at the Metro station are now accompaned by a linguistic tribute to their town’s Roman heritage. Giving emphasis to the nearby fort, which marked the end of Hadrian’s Wall, large photographs throughout the station have given a Latin facelift to every shop in the town centre. The Latin rebranding is the work of Michael Pinsky, commissioned to promote Segedunum museum, but for the bemused Geordies, the more pressing challenge yesterday was what to make of instructions to Noli Fumare (Do Not Smoke) and whether they should be in the Locus ubi necesse est tesseram tenere (compulsory Ticket Area).

| The Times, Andrew Norfolk (excerpt) |