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| - Britain's Prince Philip dubbed himself the world's most experienced plaque unveiler, after 70 years of public duties. Here are 10 things opened by the Duke of Edinburgh: On behalf of his wife Queen Elizabeth II, the Australian head of state, Prince Philip wore his naval uniform as he opened the Melbourne Olympics on November 22, 1956 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He later declared his very brief speech as the best of his life. He spent several days watching the Games. It was part of a lengthy solo Commonwealth tour on the new Royal Yacht Britannia, his longest time away from the queen, during which he visited the Antarctic. Queen Elizabeth was due to open Arsenal Football Club's new 60,000-capacity stadium in north London on October 26, 2006, but pulled out due to a strained back muscle. Prince Philip deputised, unveiling the plaque which had his wife's name on it. He met manager Arsene Wenger and captain Thierry Henry. His grandson Prince Harry's favourite team is yet to win the English Premier League since moving to their new ground. Opened on February 22, 1965, the mint in Canberra has been the sole producer of all of Australia's coins since it switched from pounds to decimalised dollars in 1966. All Australian coins feature Queen Elizabeth on the obverse. Since opening, the mint has made more than 15 billion circulating coins and can produce two million per day. Opened on May 29, 1964, the redevelopment at the heart of Britain's second city was seen at the time as the height of modernity, containing Britain's first indoor, city-centre shopping centre. However, over the years it came to epitomise the worst of Brutalist architecture. Featuring boxy, grey concrete surrounded by ringroads and accessible through grim subways, it was eventually demolished and replaced in the early 2000s. On opening the new building in October 29, 1969, Prince Philip memorably declared: "It gives me great pleasure to declare this thing open, whatever it is." He later explained that the name kept changing between the annex and the east wing, and people were standing waiting in the rain so he kept it brief. Damaged by an earthquake, the "East Thing" was demolished in 2017. The prince is certainly the world's most experienced Commonwealth Games opener, having done the honours six times. He opened the Cardiff 1958, Perth 1962, Kingston 1966, Edinburgh 1970, Christchurch 1974 and Brisbane 1982 games. The duties involve reading Queen Elizabeth's opening message, contained inside a baton carried around the Commonwealth in a relay. The dome-roofed building was a famous London landmark and one of the city's major tourist attractions after the science-minded duke opened it on March 19, 1958 as the space race took off. It enchanted visitors with 3D educational shows about space exploration. The astronomy screenings stopped in 2006 and it is now part of the Madame Tussauds waxwork museum. Prince Philip opened the museum in York, northern England, on September 27, 1975. The duke tried his hand at driving a Green Arrow steam locomotive, and, according to one staff member, banged his head on it. The museum has locomotives from the golden age of steam, plus royal train saloons giving visitors the chance to imagine life as a royal on the rails, including queen Victoria's "palace on wheels". The world's most slender tower, a 162-metre (530-foot) high steel pillar ringed by a doughnut-shaped glass observation pod that slides up and down, was officially opened by the prince on October 28, 2016 as he checked out the views over the English south coast resort. He unveiled the plaque saying: "What's this going to turn out to be?" The new stand at the spiritual home of cricket in London was the final thing opened by Prince Philip, on May 3, 2017 -- the day before he announced his retirement. With one last tug of the rope, he declared himself "the world's most experienced plaque unveiler". The prince was a keen cricketer and was president of the MCC, which owns famous Lord's cricket ground, in 1948 and 1974. rjm/phz/am/kjl/wdb
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