On 18 March 1789 counterfeiter Catherine Murphy was burned at the stake outside Newgate Prison after first being strangled while tied to the stake. It was to be the last case of roasting a human being in London. She was brought out and made to stand on a foot high, 10-inch-square platform in front of the stake. In 1790 the law was changed, not for the condemned benefit, but law officers were offended by the stench of burning meat.
On 18 March 1932 Stuart Hibbard read the first BBC news bulletin from Broadcasting House in Langham Place
In the 18th century to reduce the cost of incarcerating prisoners new capital crimes where created including one that was impersonating a Chelsea Pensioner
Designed by Thomas Eddison the world’s first public electric generating station opened near Holborn Viaduct in 1882 to light the bridge lamps
On 18 March 1848 Queen Victoria gave birth to her 6th child and 4th daughter, Princess Louise, at Buckingham Palace
In 1957 after giving a speech on the importance of road safety the Duke of Edinburgh drove his Lagonda into another vehicle
Jeremy Lloyd while working in Simpsons of Piccadilly’s menswear department got the inspiration to write the comedy Are You Being Served?
When a special Buckingham Palace Brownie Pack was formed for Princess Anne one 9-year-old handpicked to join was a London cabbie’s daughter
In 1913 Arsenal moved 9.5 miles from Plumstead to Islington, further than any English club other than Wimbledon’s bizarre relocation to Milton Keynes
The London Transport Museum contains the world’s first and last spiral escalator. How it worked, no-one’s quite sure
On 18 March 1838 In the East End William Perkin, inventor of the 1st synthetic dye – mauve, later christened at St Paul’s Church Shadwell
On 18 March 1958 the ‘coming of age’ ceremony of debutants being presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace took place for the last time
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.
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