On 14 April 1471 the decisive battle of The Wars of the Roses was fought in Arkley, north of Barnet between Edward IV of the House of York and Henry VI who led the House of Lancaster. The battle lasted from two to three hours, most of it in thick fog. Contemporary sources say that at least 10,000 men died in the battle. The subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury would ensure the House of York was victorious.
On 14 April 1913 The Royal Geographical Society opened their new premises at Kensington Gore. Now known as ‘Hot and Cold Corner’ for the Livingstone and Shackleton statues
Magpie and Stump pub until 1868 would charge extra for drinks taken upstairs where punters could enjoy viewing the public hangings at Newgate
At 141ft, Adelaide House was the tallest office block in London when it was completed in 1925 and was the first office building in England to have electric and telephone connections on every floor
Now located in Beckenham, King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry was originaly named bedlam, meaning uproar and confusion
The future Mary II is said to have wept for a day and a half when she was told that she would have to marry William of Orange in 1677
Off Greville Street, Clerkenwell is the cobbled Bleeding Heart Yard mentioned by Charles Dickens in Little Dorrit
The world’s oldest public zoo opened in London in 1828 it was initially known as the ‘Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society of London’
Greyhound racing’s first superstar ‘Mick the Millar’ was so popular his stuffed body was put on display at the Natural History Museum
The Peter Lodge recording of “Mind the Gap” is still in use, but some lines use recordings by a Manchester voice artist Emma Clarke
Tesco was founded in 1924 when Jack Cohen and T. E. Stockwell sold tea in bulk opening a store in Tooting
The corgis also have hot scones every afternoon, served with butter and crumbled onto the kitchen floor by the Queen herself
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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