On 16 July 1910 the body of Thomas Atherston was found dead with gunshot wounds. Separated from his wife and their four children he had been living with actress Elizabeth Earles in Battersea. After an argument Earle threw him out and promptly started having an affair with one of his sons. Atherston was found dead in the adjoining apartment to his ex-lover, the police believed that he had been spying on the two lovers and disturbed a burglar.

On 16 July 1877 Spencer Gore won the first ever Wimbledon tennis tournament (men only) after a delay of three days due to rain

The Clink England’s first prison was notorious for its brutality, received its name from the clinking of prisoners’ manacles and chains

In 1110 Queen Matilda was crossing a ford at modern Bow, falling from her horse into the river the King Henry I ordered a bow-shaped bridge

A Black Death researcher claims the lack of rat corpses in London and the speed of contagion proves that it was spread by humans killing 40,000 in London

So many refugees arrived in the 1870/80s 150 synagogues were built and over 135,000 Jews were crammed into two square miles of the East End

In 1967 Finsbury Park was the setting for Jimi Hendrix’s first foray into his signature on stage guitar pyromania

18th century Fulham’s reputation for debauchery, gambling and prostitution echoes of which are used in gambling parlance, fulham means loaded dice

Steve Galloway was a 1980s semi-pro footballer who worked in the City – as part of his training NatWest let him run up their tower every day

At Heathrow the first aircraft to take off was a converted Lancaster bomber for Buenos Aires, passengers walked along duckboards over muddy airfield

In the early 20th century Great Portland Street earned the nickname Motor Row thanks to the 33 car showrooms that spanned its length

The Bank of England stores the country’s gold reserves in a subterranean crypt known as The Vault with a floor area over seven acres

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 July 1982 Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace and spent 10 minutes talking to the Queen in her bedroom. He scaled the walls around the palace and shinned a drain-pipe up to the Queen’s private apartments. Barefooted and wearing a t-shirt the unemployed father of four evaded electronic alarms before disturbing the Queen by opening a curtain. It was the first time that private royal apartments had been penetrated since Queen Victoria’s reign.

On 9 July 1991 a bank collapsed costing taxpayers millions, the closure of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International lost about 20 local councils up to £30 million in investments

On 9 July 1864 England’s 1st railway murder, 70 year old bank clerk Thomas Briggs body was found on the tracks near Hackney Wick

The Hanger Lane Gyratory System known as Malfunction Junction is so complicated was voted Britain’s scariest junction by anxious motorists

Karl Marx one of the many famous residents at Highgate Cemetery, his tomb has been bombed twice, in 1965 and 1970

St Mary Woolnoth’s past rector was reformed former slave-trader John Newton friend of William Wilberforce and author of hymn Amazing Grace

Founded in 1811 and designed by Sir John Soane, the Dulwich Picture Gallery is the oldest purpose-built gallery in Britain

Belsize House became a byword for scandal in the 1720s notorious for immoral parties, extravagant feasts, mud-wrestling and illegal gambling

On 9 July 1877 the first Wimbledon Championships began with a single event-The Gentlemen’s Singles Tournament, won by Spencer Gore, aged 27 against 22 competitors each paying a guinea to enter

Greenford station remains the only one on the Underground with wooden escalators all others were removed after large fire at King’s Cross

Jacob Cohen opened his first Tesco in Burnt Oak combining the initials of his tea supplier T.E. Stockwell with his surname’s first letters

In a bizarre episode Gunnersbury Station was badly damaged in 1954 when a tornado ripped off its roof injuring six people

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.