The presents have been unwrapped; you’ve had more than your fill of turkey; and the kids are ensconced in their bedrooms playing with their latest gadgets. To while away your free time CabbieBlog gives you 20 questions about London, no prizes, just the satisfaction of being as knowledgeable as a London cabbie.
If you have been paying interest to the daily trivia posted @cabbieblog you should know most of the answers.
[B]ut don’t worry you can find the answers lower down beneath the mistletoe. And as a special weekly bonus I’ll be posting trivia every Sunday from next year to arm yourself with enough knowledge to try next year’s Quiz.
Good Luck!
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1. Which toilets in one Victorian pub are of such historical interest they have a protection order slapped upon them?
- (a) The Princes Louise, High Holborn
- (b) The Red Lion, St. James’s
- (c) The Flask, Hampstead
2. In Waterloo Place there stands the 124-foot tall Duke of York’s Column. Standing majestically on top is a statute of Prince Frederick, the 2nd son of George III. When it was built, why did wits say the column was so high?
- (a) So onlookers would not notice his large nose
- (b) So that he could escape his creditors
- (c) It gave him a sense of superiority, looking down upon common folk
3. Kasper the Cat joins diners at certain times. Where can this wooden feline be found?
- (a) The Savoy Hotel
- (b) The Guildhall
- (c) The Tower of London
4. The Museum of London has many exhibits worthy of your perusal, but which type of World War II gas mask is on display?
- (a) One suitable to protect a horse from breathing noxious gases
- (b) A walking stick with a mask hidden within its ferrule
- (c) A Mickey Mouse gas mask for a child
5. Attending a service at St. Dunstan-in-the-West Samuel Pepys would record in his famous diary that on the 18th August 1667 he was not as attentive to the sermon as he should have been. What distracted him?
- (a) He eat some oysters
- (b) He was distracted by a comely woman
- (c) He decided to write up his diary for the day
6. Bar Italia coffee shop in Soho is popular with local and tourists alike, but what invention was first demonstrated in a room above?
- (a) The television
- (b) The world’s first espresso machine
- (c) A vacuum cleaner which blew instead of sucked
7. Colonel Pierpoint is celebrated for inventing what life-saving device in the 19th century?
- (a) The first traffic island
- (b) The first parachute
- (c) The world’s first hard helmet
8. Brown’s Hotel in Dover Street bore witness to a London first which took place in a ground-floor room in 1876. What ground breaking event happened?
- (a) Roller skates were first demonstrated by its inventor
- (b) HP Brown Sauce was invented
- (c) The first telephone call
9. In 1905 two brothers named Stratton were convicted of robbery and murder at a paint shop in Deptford High Street. What methodology was used to secure convictions?
- (a) The first identikit portrait from a witness, the local milkman
- (b) The first case in which fingerprints were successfully used to convict
- (c) Their getaway car, which had an early number plate was identified leading to the police tracking them down
10. In the 19th century Radcliffe Highway – now just The Highway – was a dangerous part of London. Nevertheless Charles Jamrach made a living selling what from his store?
- (a) Exotic animals
- (b) Opium supplied by Chinese seamen
- (c) Sex aids
11. What did Sir Richard Whittington (Dick of Lord Mayor fame) in the 15th century pay to have built by the Thames near to modern day Southwark Bridge?
- (a) A church
- (b) A memorial celebrating his benevolence
- (c) A public lavatory seating dozens at a time
12. Playwright and poet Ben Jonson as one might expect is interned in Westminster Abbey’s poets’ corner. But what was unusual about his burial?
- (a) He was buried standing up
- (b) He was buried at 6pm on 6th June 1666 – all the sixes
- (c) His burial was attended by all members of the Royal family
13. By Victoria Gate in Kensington Gardens away from preying eyes is a cemetery. But what lies entombed there in the unconsecrated ground?
- (a) Suicide victims
- (b) Dogs
- (c) Slaves
14. On 17th October 1814 eight people met an untimely and unusual end, but what was the cause of their demise?
- (a) The Great London Earthquake
- (b) The Great London Fireworks Display
- (c) The Great Beer Flood
15. A performance of La Traviata at Sadler’s Wells theatre in 1952 had to be abandoned, but what was the reason?
- (a) Smog drifting into the theatre obscured the stage from the audience
- (b) The tenor in mid-aria collapsed with a heart attack
- (c) Sadler’s Well overflowed flooding the auditorium
16. At the junction of Kensington Gore and Exhibition Road is known by cabbies as ‘Hot and Cold Corner’. Why?
- (a) Either you are inundated with work or there’s nothing
- (b) The statutes of David Livingstone, explorer of Africa and Ernest Shackleton hero of the Antarctic is to be found there
- (c) Cold air rolls off Hyde Park, while the Albert Hall shelters you from the icy blast
17. You probably see it every day, but what is Johnston Sans?
- (a) The design of a street waste paper bin
- (b) The typeface used on London Underground
- (c) French for an Oyster card
18. In a little courtyard off St. James’s Street lays Pickering Place, it once housed an embassy, but which short lived nation-state was represented?
- (a) Texas
- (b) The Republic of Crimea
- (c) The State of Somaliland
19. The Russian word for a railway station is also a main line terminal in London, which one?
- (a) Waterloo
- (b) Marylebone
- (c) Vauxhall
20. London has experienced many ‘Great Storms’, but one in 1703 dislodged a well-known icon, what was it?
- (a) The lantern on the roof of St. Paul’s just recently completed
- (b) Oliver Cromwell’s head
- (c) The plaque commemorating the beheading of King Charles on Whitehall Palace
1. Which toilets in one Victorian pub are of such historical interest they have a protection order slapped upon them?
- (a) The Princes Louise, High Holborn. Once the inebriated would be surprised to find the sight of live goldfish swimming majestically around the glass cisterns in the gent’s toilets. Built in 1872, named after Queen Victoria’s fourth daughter it boasts original interior decorative tile work by the firm of W. B. Simpson of Clapham. The building (including the loos) are Grade II listed.
2. In Waterloo Place there stands the 124-foot tall Duke of York’s Column. Standing majestically on top is a statute of Prince Frederick, the 2nd son of George III. When it was built, why did wits say the column was so high?
- (b) Remembered as the ‘Grand Old Duke of York’ he of marching them up the hill and down again, was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. Not only upon his death was he in debt to the tune of £2 million, every soldier had 1/- (5p) deducted from his pay to pay for the monument.
3. Kasper the Cat joins diners at certain times. Where can this wooden feline be found?
- (a) Superstition has it that 13 diners is unlucky. If your companions make up that unlucky number a 1920s three-foot-high black wooden cat is introduced to a 14th chair, a napkin is placed around his neck and he is served with each course by a diligent waiter.
4. The Museum of London has many exhibits worthy of your perusal, but which type of World War II gas mask is on display?
- (c) Micky Mouse gas masks were manufactured in bright primary colours intended to be less distressing to wear for young children.
5. Attending a service at St. Dunstan-in-the-West Samuel Pepys would record in his famous diary that on the 18th August 1667 he was not as attentive to the sermon as he should have been. What distracted him?
- (b) The young woman responded to his advances by taking several pins out of her pocket and threatened to jab the old reprobate.
6. Bar Italia coffee shop in Soho is popular with local and tourists alike, but what invention was first demonstrated in a room above?
- (a) In 1924 John Logie Baird rented an attic room at 22 Frith Street using it as a workshop, it was there on 26th January 1926 members of the Royal Institution made up the first television audience.
7. Colonel Pierpoint is celebrated for inventing what life-saving device in the 19th century?
- (a) At his personal expense in 1864 Colonel Pierpoint had London’s first traffic island constructed in St. James’s Street opposite his club in Pall Mall. On its completion his excitement (and possible inebriation) encouraged him to dash across the road to admire his contribution to society. Alas he was knocked down and killed by a passing cab.
8. Brown’s Hotel in Dover Street bore witness to a London first which took place in a ground-floor room in 1876. What ground breaking event happened?
- (c) Alexander Graham Bell visited London in 1876 to tell the Government about his latest invention. He chose to stay at Brown’s during his trip — and made the first ever telephone call from the hotel to the family home of the hotel’s owner in Ravenscourt Park.
9. In 1905 two brothers named Stratton were convicted of robbery and murder at a paint shop in Deptford High Street. What methodology was used to secure convictions?
- (b) On 27th March 1905 Chapman’s Oil and Paint Shop was raided and the shopkeeper murdered. A thumb mark was left on the emptied cash box. Using a method of identification that had been in use for a couple of years, it was the first time the Crown achieved a conviction.
10. In the 19th century Radcliffe Highway – now just The Highway – was a dangerous part of London. Nevertheless Charles Jamrach made a living selling what from his store?
- (a) At Tobacco Dock there is a statue of a small boy in front of a tiger. It commemorates the incident when a fully grown Bengal tiger escaped from Charles Jamrach’s shop which supplied exotic creatures for the circus. Seizing a small boy in its mouth the tiger was persuaded by the shop’s proprietor himself to release the boy unharmed.
11. What did Sir Richard Whittington (Dick of Lord Mayor fame) in the 15th century pay to have built by the Thames near to modern day Southwark Bridge?
- (c) ‘Whittington’s Longhouse’ used the outgoing tide to flush away the effluent discharged by the toilets users.
12. Playwright and poet Ben Jonson as one might expect is interned in Westminster Abbey’s poets’ corner. But what was unusual about his burial?
- (a) He told the Dean of Westminster that ‘six feet long by two feet wide is too much for me: two feet by two feet will do for all I want’. The small grave also, of course, reduced the cost of internment.
13. By Victoria Gate in Kensington Gardens away from preying eyes is a cemetery. But what lies entombed there in the unconsecrated ground?
- (b) The Dogs’ Cemetery was started in 1881 by the gatekeeper at Victoria Lodge, a Mr Winbridge, who started burying dogs in the lodge’s garden. The first dog to be buried was called Cherry, a Maltese Terrier, who died of old age. Cherry’s owners used to visit the park regularly and were friends of Mr Winbridge, so when Cherry died they thought it would be a fitting tribute to be buried in Hyde Park. By the time the cemetery closed in 1903, three-hundred tiny burials dotted the grounds.
14. On 17th October 1814 eight people met an untimely and unusual end, but what was the cause of their demise?
- (c) Beer was the drink of choice as water was often unsafe. The demand led to brewers constructing huge vats as an economical way of producing the beverage. One such vat burst its hoops which in turn ruptured nearby vats. Eventually more than 323,000 gallons became a tsunami drowning 8 people. The Dominion Theatre stands on the site of the ill-fated Horseshoe Brewery.
15. A performance of La Traviata at Sadler’s Wells theatre in 1952 had to be abandoned, but what was the reason?
- (a) It was The Great Smog of 1952, coal fires and industrial emissions had reduced visibility in London to inches, lasting from Friday 5th December to Tuesday, 9th December in those few days over 4,000 would die.
16. At the junction of Kensington Gore and Exhibition Road is known by cabbies as ‘Hot and Cold Corner’. Why?
- (b) The Royal Geographical Society building has a statute of Shackleton looking towards Exhibition Road by Charles Jagger, a sculptor best known for war memorials and Livingstone setting his sights on Kensington Gore by Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones.
17. You probably see it every day, but what is Johnston Sans?
- (b) Edward Johnston took the popular Gill Sans and re-designed it for all signage on the Underground, apart from slight changes it has remained the same since it was first used in 1916.
18. In a little courtyard off St. James’s Street lays Pickering Place, it once housed an embassy, but which short lived nation-state was represented?
- (a) Britain was one of the first nations to recognise the Republic of Texas when it broke away from Mexico in the 1830s, it would later become the twenty-eighth state of the United States.
19. The Russian word for a railway station is also a main line terminal in London, which one?
- (c) One theory is that a Russian parliamentary delegation visited London to view a fabulous new invention, the railway. Their hosts from the House of Commons took them over the river to the nearest station, Vauxhall in South London. When the Russians asked what it was called, meaning the type of building, they got the reply ‘Vauxhall’. So vokzal to this day means railway station in Russian.
20. London has experienced many ‘Great Storms’, but one in 1703 dislodged a well-known icon, what was it?
- (b) Upon the restoration of the Monarchy Cromwell’s body was disinterred from its tomb in Westminster Abbey, given a posthumous trial and subsequent execution. His head was then placed on a long spike upon the roof of Westminster Hall. It remained there for over 40 years before the storm dislodged the gruesome remains.
Did you manage to answer all twenty questions? From 1st January every Sunday CabbieBlog will post 11 pieces of trivia about London. They might help you in answering next year’s Christmas Quiz which will be published on 26th December.
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Starts every page and you might be tempted to read it as just that: what previously happened in London on a particular day. An unusual day might be: On 11 December 1937 cheetahs were raced at a packed Romford dog track there was no winner they lost interest after covering a short distance.
The capital has never been short of chancers, villains and the hapless criminal, among them is this gem: In 1952 a Nigerian visitor was fined £50 for committing an indecent act with a pigeon in Trafalgar Square and £10 for having it for his tea.
Living in London one cannot escape from the concrete jungle. Much of this trivia will consist of highest; lowest; deepest; or smallest, for example: You can find Britain’s smallest police station, designed in 1926 to monitor demonstrations, in the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square.
The most important facet of our lives, but what happens when “Mustn’t complain” just doesn’t cover it their demise arrives from an unexpected quarter: In 1938 a pedestrian was killed by a stone phallus falling from a statue on Zimbabwe House in the Strand rest removed for ‘health and safety’.
This is probably the richest sources of ridiculous trivia. The boys (and girls) from the Palace of Westminster just keep on giving: Harold Wilson always drank Lucozade during speeches – but from a blue glass, as he worried that in a clear one it would look like Scotch.
London has the largest number of theatres in the world, iconic cinemas and a world famous opera house, but some choose to make their own entertainment: In 1905 millionaire George Kessler flooded the Savoy’s courtyard to float a gondola, a birthday cake on an elephant’s back and Caruso singing.
London has the widest choice of ways to waste one’s time: walking in a park; going to the pub; or reading what some bloke has written as the odd best seller: Jeffrey Archer’s London phone number ends 007 – he bought the old flat of Bond composer John Barry, who’d chosen the number.
London has hosted three Olympic Games and even the oddest cricket match: The foppish son and heir apparent of King George II died in Leicester House as a result of being struck in the throat with a cricket ball.
As a London cabbie I’m pleased to note that other road users sometimes come unstuck: On 28 December 1952 a No.78 double-decker bus driven by Albert Gunter was forced to jump an opening Tower Bridge, he was awarded a £10 bonus.
Yes, we all have to do it, but are we as dedicated as the man who introduced the post box: Before Anthony Trollope started work at the General Post Office, St. Martin’s-Le-Grand each morning he would rise at 5.30 am and pen 1,000 words.
This is from the bits and bobs draw, trivia worthy of inclusion but without a home. How for example would you classify: In 1969 Laurence Olivier started a petition demanding that the dining car of the London to Brighton train reintroduce kippers – it worked.
Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog
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