On 18 August 1668 Samuel Pepys wrote: “ . . . turned into St. Dunstan’s Church . . . stood by a pretty, modest maid, whom I did labour to take by the hand and the body; but she would not, but got further and further from me; and, at last, I could perceive her to take pins out of her pocket to prick me if I should touch her again – which seeing I did forbear, and was glad I did spy her design. And then I fell to gaze upon another pretty maid . . .

On 18 August 1274 arriving in London, a full two years since his accession, King Edward I received an enthusiastic welcome

On formal occasions judges attending at the Old Bailey carry nosegays of aromatic herbs their scent were once thought to ward off typhus

Under Clapham Common are three wartime shelters which were a temporary home for Jamaicans arriving via the Windrush in 1948

Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots never met but are entombed within yards of each other (one without her head on her shoulders)

In 1940 from Room 36 at Brown’s Hotel the Dutch government in exile declared war on Japan as it wasn’t broadcast Japan was hardly terrified

Bob Dylan’s cue card video for Sub.Home.Blues – you’d think it was New York City, right? But actually shot at the back of the Savoy in London

The American Bar at the Savoy – where the barman used to be called Joe – hence “set ’em up Joe” in Sinatra’s One For My Baby

The German Gymnasium by St. Pancras station was built in 1864 by the German Gymnasium Society for use of visiting German businessmen

The woman recording the Tube announcements was asked for different pronunciations of Marylebone – including (no word of a lie) “Mary-Lob-On”

18th-century artist Hogarth was an Inspector of Wet Nurses in Chiswick near his home which is open to the public

The only Celtic name in London not a river is Penge from penn ced ‘the woods end’, originally a woodland swine pasture by Battersea manor

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 11 August 1982 Ronnie and Reggie Kray were allowed out of prison to attend their mother’s funeral. The service was attended by Diana Dors who arrived wearing a fetching black dress and sunglasses. Ronnie was brought from Broadmoor for the criminally insane, Reggie from Parkhurst where he was held as a Category ‘A’ prisoner. The brothers were not allowed to attend the graveside service at Chingford Mount Cemetery.

On 11 August 1897 Enid Blyton was born at 354 Lordship Lane, she would go on to sell more than 600 books and have been translated into 90 languages

Marc Brunel invented a tunnelling machine to bore the first Thames Tunnel after watching the common shipworm while in a debtors’ prison

The site of the previous New Scotland Yard was originally to be an opera house, after spending £103,000 they couldn’t afford the roof and it was pulled down

In 1878 Britain’s worst river disaster happened on the Thames when the paddleboat Princess Alice was struck by a collier with the loss of 640 lives

Fearing its gold would illuminate Kensington Palace at night the Albert Memorial was painted black during World War I, it wasn’t restored until 1998

In 1970 Dan Crawford founded The King’s Head Theatre, Islington the first pub theatre in the England since the time of Shakespeare

In 1905 millionaire George Kessler flooded the Savoy’s courtyard to float a gondola, a birthday cake on an elephant’s back and Caruso singing

Wisden were one of the original office tenants above Leicester Square station their name is still there in Cranbourn Street side of building

The 1695 London to Harwich Roads Act allowing country justices to collect tolls is to be repealed – traffic cameras have made the law obsolete

The former headquarters at 1 Cockspur Street of The White Star Line, owners of the Titanic, is now a US restaurant the Texas Embassy Cantina

In one of our favourite derivations, Chiswick is Old English for ‘cheese farm’, and was first recorded as Ceswican around the year

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.