On 1 March 1966 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan announced in Parliament the “historic and momentous” decision to change to decimal coinage. The switch to be implemented in February 1971 and the £1 retained being divided into units called either ‘cents’ or ‘new pennies’. The changeover was estimated to cost £120 million. Companies obliged to invest in new equipment would not be compensated.

On 1 March 1711 the first edition of the Spectator founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele was published

On 1 March 1950 nuclear scientist, Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs, was jailed for 14 years at the Old Bailey for spying for the Soviet Union

The Monument stands on the site of St Margaret’s, the first church to burn down during the Great Fire of 1666, its height is exactly the distance it stands from the start of the fire

Clerkenwell is named after the ‘Clerk’s Well’ that supplied Charterhouse. It can be seen through the window of Well Court, Farringdon Lane

Suffragette Emily Davison died beneath the King’s horse at Epsom, recent research suggests she was attaching a sash, not martyring herself

On 1 March 1968 the first performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Old Assembly Hall, Colet Court was shown

Britain’s first purpose-built department store, Bon Marché, was built in Brixton in 1877 on the proceeds of racehorse winnings

In March1905 in The Butcher’s Hook pub Gus Mears & co held a meeting that decided a name for his newly formed football club – Chelsea FC

M25 J8: Reigate Hill Interchange has the longest motorway slip road in the country climbing up Reigate Hill for 1.5 miles to a roundabout

As late as the 1940s, waiters at the Savoy Hotel were forbidden from wearing watches, rings, spectacles or false teeth

St. Ethelburga’s font is inscribed with the longest known Greek palindrome: NI?ON ANOMHMTA MH MONAN O?IN ‘Cleanse my sins, not just my face’

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.