London is a hell, where the Moloch of globalization is worshipped through the nightshifts.
Yosefa Loshitzky (b.1952), Screening Strangers: Migration and Diaspora in European Cinema
London is a hell, where the Moloch of globalization is worshipped through the nightshifts.
Yosefa Loshitzky (b.1952), Screening Strangers: Migration and Diaspora in European Cinema
On 7 March 1804, the Royal Horticultural Society was formed by Sir Joseph Banks and John Wedgwood. Its first meeting chaired by John Wedgwood was held at Hatchards bookshop in Piccadilly, committed the society to ‘the encouragement and improvement of the science, art and practice of horticulture’. The Society’s first garden was in Kensington, from 1818–1822. Wisley is now the society’s oldest garden.
On 7 March 1895 out of work plasterer Frank Taylor from Fountain Road, Tooting murdered his wife, and six of his seven children by slitting their throats
Until 1886 City of London police used rattles not whistles, helmets were strengthened top hats, so could stand on them to look for villans
Dukes Hotel, once part of St. James’s Palace, has knee height locks on doors because the staff used to have to enter and exit whilst bowing
The finest dentures of 19th-century London contained real human teeth, some gleaned from casualties of the Battle of Waterloo
Parliament’s jail was last used in 1880 imprisoning atheist Charles Bradlaugh for refusing taking oath of allegiance to the Queen on a Bible
Douglas Adams based characters of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe on Islington where he lived, Hotblack Desiato was an estate agent
Until recently Londoners consumed a prodigious amount of champagne, by volume they equalled the entire amount exported by France to America
London Fives is a dartboard game with 12 large segments counting down from 505, players standing 9ft away. Henry VIII was said to play it
The term ‘tube’ was first coined in 1890 when the first deep level electric line was commissioned 17 years before the brand name was adopted
When John Noakes climbed Nelson’s Column (removing pigeon poo) for Blue Peter a sound engineer didn’t record the stunt Noakes had to reclimb
On 7 March 1926 the first transatlantic telephone call was made between London and New York, the following year it was available with an initial capacity of one at a time costing $75 for 3 minutes
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.
Ihope you enjoyed February’s questions and even managed to answer a few. This month’s quiz is about firsts in London I’ve posed these questions before so that should give you a fighting chance. As before the correct answer will turn green when it’s clicked upon and expanded to give more information. The incorrect answers will turn red giving the correct explanation.
Oh! How we would laugh on The Knowledge, finding two strand hotels situated on Strand (note the absence of the definite article, unlike The Knowledge).
The first hotel, the Strand Palace – 4-star, 785 bedrooms, doorman, concierge service, gym and afternoon tea – with a room rate of £400 a night.
Its namesake, the exotically named Hotel Strand Continental with a tea maker, shared bathroom, twin bed and breakfast thrown in for £37.
Basic, but not bad considering Theatreland is opposite and the Strand Palace at £400 is 150 yards down the road, and curiously the more expensive is currently closed due to coronavirus, while its cheaper brother is still open.
But what we didn’t realise while on The Knowledge was that the Hotel Strand Continental has hidden up a flight of stairs a social and dining club. Founded in 1951 when its founder members included Lady Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru, it still retains its original colonial features with portraits and photographs from India’s independence.
Unlike most London clubs, the India Club is open to all and feels like stepping back 70 years. The very reasonably priced food gets mixed reviews but there are few in such a central location offering this level of service and value.
Now this venerable institution looks to be lost as the building’s owners want to redevelop the hotel.
Marston Properties, the hotel’s owners tried two years ago to revamp the building. Following an outcry, the planning application was refused, due to the “loss of an important cultural and nighttime entertainment use (the India Club restaurant/bar)”. They did then offer to revamp the hotel while retaining “a restaurant” on the second floor but then withdrew that planning application.
Now they are trying to circumvent the planning problem of having an “important cultural venue” as a tenant by evicting that tenant by employing an 80 per cent hike in the rent.
During this pandemic, many landlords are helping to retain their tenants by coming to a compromise over the due fees. Marston Properties, however, are bucking the trend by nearly doubling the rent, if they succeed in evicting the India Club they’ll be able to resubmit their planning application and redevelop the hotel as they wish, and then no doubt increase the room rate.
Images courtesy of the India Club
But hail thou giant City of the world, / Thou that dost scorn a canopy of clouds, / And in the dimness of eternal smoke, / For ever rising like an ocean-stream, / Dost mantle thine immensity – how vast / And wide thy wonderful array of domes, / In dusky masses staring at the skies!
Robert Montgomery (1807–1855), London, Religion and Poetry: Being Selections Spiritual and Moral