On 28 July 1906 the Tooting Lido, at 50 metres England’s largest public swimming pool, opened, with the catchy title of The Tooting Bathing Lake. It still holds the record as the UK’s largest fresh water swimming pool by surface area and contains a million gallons of unheated water. The alternating bright red, yellow and Green changing room doors are a popular film location. Brad Pitt’s boxing ‘pool’ scene in Snatch was filmed at the Lido.

In 28 July 1866 Beatrix Potter was born at 2 Bolton Gardens, she was looked after by a nanny, spending most of her time in the big nursery at the top of the house only seeing her parents at bedtime

On 28 July 1879 Kate Webster was hanged for murder of Julia Thomas whose skull was later found in Sir David Attenborough’s garden in 2010

From the early 19th century to the late 20th century Holborn/Clerkenwell was home to London’s Italian community and known as “Little Italy”

1769 – St Katharine Cree Church – man wins bet he can dig grave 10ft deep – but as climbs out to collect winnings it collapses and kills him

On 28 July 1964 Winston Churchill awoke at his London home to find himself no longer a Member of Parliament for the first time since 1901

The Phoenix, East Finchley is London’s oldest continuously working cinema. Opening in 1910 and restyled to it’s Art Deco glory in 1928

The Naval and Military Club known as the ‘In and Out’ refers to its previous home in Piccadilly with the in and out painted on the gateposts

As the boat race is taking place Spitalfields City Farm raise funds for animal feed by racing three goats: ‘Oxford’, ‘&’, ‘Cambridge’

In 1633 the Horse Ferry sank in the Thames with the weight of Archbishop Laud’s possessions en route to Lambeth Palace

Finchley Central on the Northern line was the local station of Harry Beck, who designed the Underground Map, it displays an original copy

The Great Fire of London 1666 raged for 5 days despite Mayor Thomas Bloodworth’s doubts when he declared, “Pish! A woman might piss it out!”

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 21 July 1921 a coroner’s court jury returned a verdict of death caused by strychnine poisoning, on the death of Sir Alfred Newton. The chairman of Harrod’s had died in his store. It transpired that his indigestion medication prescribed by Harrod’s own pharmacy contained enough of the poison to kill a large number of people. The post-mortem discovered he had a weak heart and would not have lived much longer.

On 21 July 2005 explosions at two trains and a bus came exactly a fortnight after four suicide bombers killed 52 on the transport network, this time only the detonators exploded

The Queen can still exact the maximum penalty on souvenir traders using her coat of arms without permission – beheading

The first permanent bridge into what would become London was built near the site of London Bridge by Emperor Claudius’ Roman army in AD55

On 21 July 1964 Tottenham Hotspur’s Scottish striker John White was killed by lightning playing golf in North London

The 1782 Land Tax Act, as with all other Acts is written on vellum, at a quarter of a mile it is longer than Parliament

The corner of Lapstone Gardens/Mentmore Close, Kenton where Basil Fawlty thrashed his car with a tree, nowhere near the fictional coastal hotel

More than 42 million people have visited Tate Modern since Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s Bankside Power Station was converted and opened in 2000

London Fives is a dartboard game with 12 large segments counting down from 505, players standing 9ft away. Henry VIII was said to play it

4 Tube stations have names that contain the colour of the line the station is on: Redbridge, Stepney Green, Turnham Green and Parsons Green

Burlington Arcade built to remove an alleyway beside the mansion is patrolled by Beadles who stop whistling running and unfurling umbrellas

Early phone boxes were made tall enough for a man wearing a top hat to use them in comfort, later versions had sloping floors because people were using them as urinals

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.