On 16 April 1892 a letter to The Times was printed complaining about cyclists. Signed Pedestrian, London, W the writer wrote “Sir, . . . the growing number of cyclists is resulting in a Tyranny of the Road . . . and that his country walks were . . . regularly interrupted by hurtling wheelmen like a horde of Apache or Sioux Indians . . . woe betide the luckless man or aught else coming their way . . . can nothing be done?”

On 16 April 1969 Princess Anne saw the hippy musical Hair at the Shaftsbury Theatre surprising as it featured a nude sequence set to music

In the 17th and 18th centuries London thief-takers were rewarded £40+ the horse, arms and money of any highwayman they captured and were convicted

Meard Street is not named after the French word merde. It was the unfortunate name of its 1720s developer John Meard

On 16 April 1889 comedian Charlie Chaplin was born in Walworth, as his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine

London Bridge is Falling Down referred to Norwegian King Olaf who suggested destroying the wooden bridge while occupied by Danes

The nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel refers to the act of pawning one’s suit after spending all one’s cash in the pubs of Clerkenwell

In 1840s a ‘Dances of the Dead’ were held in the Enon Chapel, St Clements Lane where 12,000 bodies lay rotting under the floor

In 2012 London became the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948

The inaugural journey of the first Central line train in 1900 had the Prince of Wales and the American author Mark Twain on board

In the 1800’s London prostitutes were sometimes euphemistically referred to as ‘Fulham virgins’ inspired by the proximiy of Cremorne Gardens a 19th century ‘pleasure garden’

During a City clean up in 1,340 prostitutes were arrested, among them was Clarice la Claterballock but no record as to how she got her name!

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.

On 9 April 1626 Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author, died of pneumonia. He was the agent of his own demise having experimented at trying to freeze a chicken with snow. He argued that scientific knowledge must be based only upon inductive and careful observation of events. He caught a chill and was taken to the Highgate home of the Earl of Arundel and put into a damp bed. He would never get out of the bed alive.

On 9 April 1970 at the High Court in London a petition brought by Paul McCartney formerly wound up The Beatles

On 9 April 1976 then president of the Young Liberals, Peter Hain, was acquitted of bank robbery at the Old Bailey (£490 from Barclays bank)

The only London residence of William Blake that still remains is 17 South Molton Street where Blake lived on the first floor 1803-1812

On 9 April 1483 Edward IV died at Westminster, the crown passed to his son Edward V aged just twelve years old

On 9 April 1747 at Tower Hill Scottish clan chief Lord Simon Fraser Lovat was the last person in Britain to be executed by being beheaded

On 9 April 1914 the world’s first silent colour film, the sleezy sounding World, Flesh and the Devil was shown in London

The Old Mitre pub in Holborn contains a cherry tree trunk round which, it is claimed by the pub owners, Elizabeth I danced

West Ham United football club were originally founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks Football Club and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United

Seventeen different bus routes pass through Trafalgar Square it makes the square one of the busiest crossroads for London traffic

In 1100s human lavatories walked the streets of London wearing large cloaks and a bucket. Customers used the bucket whilst hidden by the cloak

On 9 April 1787 a fencing match between Chevalier de St. Georges and Chavaliere d’Eton took place at Carlton House, both were 1st class fencers, d’Eton 20 years older and dressed as a woman won

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.