On 15 September 1964 the Sun newspaper, printed on Fleet Street, was published for the first time, replacing the Daily Herald promising to follow a ‘radical’ and ‘independent’ agenda – unlike its predecessor the Daily Herald which had strong ties to the Labour party. The TUC sold its 49 per cent stake in the paper in 1960. It hit the streets on the day an announcement of a general election by Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home.

On 15 September 1928 Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin while studying influenza at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, the University of London

Garnet Street was the scene of four victims from the famous Radcliff Murders of 1811, Johnny Speight used the name for his character Alf Garnet

London’s oldest statue King Alfred in Trinity Church Square with an estimated date of 1395 originally stood in the old Palace of Westminster

Europe’s largest crypt is under St. Paul’s Cathedral and the first person to be interred was its architect Sir Christopher Wren

During the First World War Alexandra Palace was used to detain German civilians living in Britain in what was called a concentration camp

The lions of Trafalgar Square were sculpted from life. The artist Landseer used dead lions supplied by London Zoo until neighbours complained of the smell

Gordons Wine Bar is London’s oldest wine bar founded at its present location in 1890 by Arthur Gordon. Current owners are unrelated Gordons

On 15 September 1930, the first international bridge match was held in London United States team defeated England

With 207,000 items handed into Transport for London’s Lost Property Office in Baker Street last year made it the highest total in its 77-year history

N, S, E, and West Tenter Street surrounded a ground where tenters- wooden frames used to stretch woven cloth- were; hence “on tender hooks”

On 15 September 1784 Vincenzo Lunardi commenced England’s 1st hydrogen balloon flight from the Honourable Artillery Company area, Moorfields

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 8 September 1915 the first bomb of World War I to fall on the City of London hit Fenchurch Street; the first bomb of World War II fell at the junction of Wood Street and Fore Street, and curiously on 8 September 1944 the first V2 long-range rocket fell on Chiswick killing three. Altogether 1,050 V2 rockets reached Britain, killing 2,754 and injuring 6,523. For some reason, the Germans liked 8 September to start their assaults.

On 8 September 1961 the gallows at Wandsworth Prison’s E Wing were used for the last time to hang Henryk Niemasz

In 1780 during the Gordon Riots volunteers from the Bank of England repelled rioters using bullets made by melting down their inkwells

Until the 1990s the City’s Square Mile was exactly that, then pesky boundary changes made it an annoying inexact 1.16 square miles

When Humphrey Lyttelton host of Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue died, people left flowers outside Mornington Crescent Tube station

The MI6 building at Vauxhall is as deep below ground as it is tall above-its river frontage is one of the few places inaccessible to walkers

London’s first Punch and Judy show was in 1662 at Covent Garden commemorated by the Punch and Judy pub in the modern Piazza

The oldest gentleman’s club in London is White’s, St James’s Street originally opened in 1693 as a chocolate house which evolved into a club

Theobalds Road was once a track that led to the Stuart kings’ hunting grounds at Theobalds Park in Hertfordshire

Hardy (as in Nelson’s ‘kiss me ..’) refused to travel from London Bridge station in 1836 because he saw the newfangled trains as ‘too risky’

All-American Marlboro Man’s name comes from London’s Great Marlborough Street, where the cigarette manufacturer had their headquarters

They’re over 25 places in the world called London 17 in the USA, there’s even an asteroid called 8837 London discovered in 1989 by Eric Elst

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.