On 25 February 1888 Annie Millwood was admitted to Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary with stabs to her legs and lower torso it was believed to be the first Ripper victim. Severn Klosowski was hanged on 7 April 1903 for the poisoning of his wife, his three other spouses had died under mysterious circumstances. Inspector John Abberline the policeman in charge of the Ripper case suspected Klosowski was also the Ripper.

On 25 February 1899 Edwin Sewell became the first to die in a car accident when the rear wheels collapsed testing a Daimler down Grove Hill, Harrow

In Wapping bodies of hanged pirates were left in the Thames for three tides to wash over them before being removed for burial

From 1808 to 1814 Hampstead Heath had a shutter telegraph chain conveying information by visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, connecting the Admiralty to naval ships in Great Yarmouth

Missionary David Livingstone laid in repose at 1 Savile Row, HQ of the Royal Geographical Society, now it’s the bespoke tailors Gieves and Hawkes

Thatcher used to stand on a chair in her Commons room to check the top of the door, “It’s the way you know if a room’s really been cleaned”

The fictitious station of Walford East, which features in the long-running soap opera Eastenders, is supposed to be on the District Line

Upper Street, nicknamed as Supper Street, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the United Kingdom

Formed in 1886 Queen’s Park Rangers have moved 15 times and had 12 grounds, a record for any other London football club

The Seven Sisters Underground station is believed to have been named after a line of elm trees which stood nearby until the 1830s

In South Street, Mayfair there is a plaque to Catherine Walters known as ‘Skittles’ and described as London’s last Victorian Courtesan

The Museum of London has a whole drawer of codpieces that one embarrassed Victorian curator catalogued as ‘shoulder pads’

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 18 February 1478 George Duke of Clarence was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine at the Tower of London. Convicted of treason against his brother, Edward IV, and was executed by this dubious method. It was said to have been instigated by his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester. It was Dick, the last Plantagenet who on 22 August 1485 would die on Bosworth Field, presumably more sober than his late brother did.

On 18 February 1901 Winston Churchill made his maiden speech in The House of Commons, justifying the burning of Boer farms

In the 16th century, a London law forbade wife beating after 9:00pm, but only because the noise disturbed people’s sleep

The settled road surface of Charterhouse Square, laid down in the 1860s has been given Grade II listed status by English Heritage

Playwright Ben Jonson couldn’t afford normal burial in Westminster Abbey determined by plot size was buried upright standing for an eternity

During the outbreak of World War II London Zoo killed all their venomous animals in case the zoo was bombed and the animals escaped

The Travellers Club in Pall Mall is the fictional start to Jules Verne’s book Around The World In Eighty Days later made into a film

London has the oldest bicycle shop in the world (Pearsons of Sutton, established as a blacksmiths in 1860), and the second oldest cycle track in the world, Herne Hill, opened in 1891

Twickenham and Harlequins home Twickenham Stoop are a mere 700 yards apart, nowhere in London are two such high profile stadiums in such close proximity

The first crash on the Tube occurred in 1938 when two trains collided between Waterloo and Charing Cross, injuring 12 passengers

Gropecunt Lane once ran north from Cheapside so called as it was a famous haunt of prostitutes it was renamed by kllljoys in the Reformation

On 18 February 1888 the very first Salvation Army hostel was opened by General William Booth at 21 West India Dock Road

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.