Forget six counties overhung with smoke, / Forget the snorting and piston stroke, / Forget the spreading of the hideous town; / Think rather of the pack-horse on the down, / And dream of London, small, and white, and clean.
William Morris (1834-1896)
On 2 August 1833, the famous entertainment venue, Vauxhall Gardens, had its most successful day when an astonishing 133,278 people arrived to visit its paths being noted for romantic assignations, watching tightrope walkers, hot-air balloon ascents, concerts and fireworks providing entertainment, and a statue depicting George Frederic Handel. In 1817 the Battle of Waterloo was re-enacted, with 1,000 soldiers participating in our victory.
On 2 August 1921 residents of Hackney and Upper Clapton were summoned to the North London Police Court, found guilty, they were fined for illegally watering their gardens
London’s oldest tree a 2,000 year old yew in St Andrew’s Totteridge churchyard was used as the venue for an early type of magistrate’s court
Covent Garden takes its name from when the area was walled off as a garden for Westminster Abbey and the convent on the site
London’s first pedestrian refuge island was financed by a Colonel Pierpoint stepping back to admire his creation he was knocked down by a cab
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon at Edward VII’s wedding was so boring the orchestra started playing to drown him out
The Duke of Wellington has the unique honour of having two equestrian statutes of him erected in central London
Britain’s first bagel bakery opened in 1855 – it still is open every day of the year 24 hours a day in Brick Lane
Montague Burton set up a chain of shops selling 30/- suits, upper floors were builliard halls for use by customers as they waited for their clothes to be altered
On 2 August 1870 Tower Subway opened under the Thames becoming the world’s first underground railway, carrying up to 12 passengers at a time
Twining Teas opened 1707 on the Strand selling tea to Queen Anne, it’s the oldest business in Britain operating from their original premises
The former Abbey National Building Society (now Santander) was founded in a Baptist chapel in Abbey Road, St. John’s Wood
Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog.
A guide to the symbols used here and source material can be found on the Trivial Matter page.
For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.
My mother once told me that while on a holiday in Switzerland having walked for 20 minutes from a nearby town and ascended the funicular to take her up to view the Reichenbach Falls without encountering hardly a soul there standing alone on the viewing platform was one of her work colleagues.
A similar, if less than dramatic incident, occurred to me on Saturday. Taking a welcome break from driving a cab around London we went to Hatfield House. This superb Jacobean property is easily accessible from London having a main line railway station outside its front door.
The BBC are running a Tudor season and Hatfield House is one of the finest architectural examples from that time, and as one might expect visitor number could rise, coupled with a recently open children’s zoo and sculpture park.
Situated not far from where I grew up it’s a place we return to time and again, but this time we were there to see their garden show and look around at their beautiful gardens and sculpture trail.
One of the first exhibitors we encountered was Fiona Rule, an author I’ve featured in my Radio Taxi blog whom I’ve only corresponded with by email, having first listened to her being interviewed on the Robert Elms show on BBC’s Radio London.
A London historian promoting her books, hardly the sort of enterprise you would have thought would be featured at a gardening show. Even though Hatfield House is one of the finest Tudor houses in England it seemed to me a little incongruous until Fiona told me of her other venture.
As well as looking into one’s family tree those lucky enough to live in a house with some character now often want to know their home’s history and this is where House Histories comes in.
Your House History is reproduced in either a small book or a coffee table format and additional copies can also be printed. Each averages around 70 pages with numerous illustrations. Taking a few weeks to complete research is available for properties in any London or Hertfordshire postcode.
I doubt if the 7th Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury whose family have lived at Hatfield for 400 years will feel the need to commission a history of his house.
Hell is a city much like London – A populous and a smoky city.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
On 26 July 1994, a car bomb has exploded outside the Israeli embassy injuring 14 people and causing widespread damage. The Audi 100, driven by a woman was packed with 30lbs of Semtex, it blew up minutes after the driver left it. Although embassy staff were dazed and confused, the worst injury was a broken arm. Thirteen hours later, another car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of a London Jewish charity.
On 26 July 1818 to publicise the opening of the Royal Coburg Theatre, Usher the clown drove a carriage, pulled by 4 tom-cats along Waterloo Road. The theatre was later renamed the Old Vic
The Bishop of Rochester’s cook was boiled alive at Smithfield after poisoning fellow cooks. Boiling was struck off the Statute Book in 1548
The clock known by many as Big Ben completed in 1854 its original 2.5-ton hands had to be remade lighter as the mechanism couldn’t turn them
London’s 1845 International Exhibition saw the world’s first plastic using nitro-cellulose – the product failed as it tended to explode
Sadly for the UK’s richest city, London has the highest proportion of people living below the poverty line than anywhere else in the country
On New Year’s Eve 1853 a dinner was held inside the stomach of a iguanodon being constructed for Dinosaur Park at Crystal Palace
The Savoy was the first hotel with electric lifts known at the time as ascending rooms – it boasted en-suite rooms with hot and cold water
In 2014 the London Playing Fields Foundation reported that 20 per cent of London’s football pitches had been lost over 20 years
During rush hour motor vehicles average speed is 7mph while cyclists maintain 13mph – 15 per cent of Londoners spend over 2 hours commuting each day
Eurostar’s departure lounge has columns that are 3 beer barrels apart as the building was once where beer in transit was stored
Barnet Hill, the hill outside High Barnet Tube station is the one the Grand Old Duke of York marched his men up and down
Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog.
A guide to the symbols used here and source material can be found on the Trivial Matter page.
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