On 7 May 1849 Lady Blessington and her lover, the Comte d’Orsay left for France. The purpose of their hurried departure was to escape their debtors after having been served papers demanding repayment. Phillips, the auctioneer, who gave his name to the famous auction house sold her house with its contents in Kensington. His advertising blurb stated: ‘Grove House . . . required neither substantial repair nor decorations as very large sums have been lately expended thereon’.
On 7 May 1960 the London Museum opened a reconstruction of an Iron Age settlement found on the site of the BOAC air terminal at Heathrow
In the 1940s and 1950s Metropolitan Police Officers using their own bicycles to cover police beats were paid an allowance of threepence
The New Exchange was a kind of early shopping mall which was built on the south side of the Strand in 1608 and stood there until 1737
All but one of the ravens at the Tower of London died from stress during the Blitz, fortuitously as legend has it that should they leave the Tower England will fall
London was once the capital of six countries in World War II it was safe haven for the governments of Poland, Norway, Belgium, Holland, France
Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of band Pulp, wrote a song called 59 Lyndhurst Grove after being thrown out of a party at that address in Peckham
The first London Eye was erected in Earls Court in 1894 for an Empire of India exhibition, 300ft high, as opposed to 442 for the London Eye
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
Cockfosters Underground station was originally going to be called Trent Park or ‘Cock Fosters’ (an early spelling of the area’s name), the original site hoarding displayed the name as a single word
In 1981 Soho had 184 sex establishments today only Brewer Street the upstairs windows of Old Compton Street and alleys near Berwick Street belie its past
At 135ft Candover Street off Riding House Street is London’s shortest street, Rotherhithe Street the longest named street at 1.5 miles
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.
