So Sadiq Khan has set up a ‘brains trust’ to look into ways of reducing congestion in London: more bikes; banning cars on certain days; no deliveries during daylight hours; you know the sort of thing. It would be less risible if he hadn’t issued 40,000 Uber licences.
Monthly Archives: April 2020
London cab quiz
With work on London’s streets almost non-existent most cabbies are finding other ways to occupy their enforced sabbaticals. Today’s quiz is a reminder of the halcyon days when cabs were in demand. We start with the easy one, and if you don’t get this one you shouldn’t be wasting your time reading CabbieBlog.
Questions
1. All licensed taxi drivers in London need to pass a comprehensive test before they can ply for hire. What is the test called?
(a) The Knack
(b) The Knowledge
(c) The Opinionated
2. Where was London’s first cab rank?
(a) In Piccadilly
(b) In the Strand
(c) In Oxford Street
3. When a cabbie is awarded a license, he is given a Bill and Badge. His badge is then displayed whenever he is working, but what is his Bill?
(a) An invoice detailing his expenses up to that date
(b) A police mentor, as in the nickname ‘old bill’
(c) His licence
4. Frederick Hitch was once London’s most famous cabbie, but for what?
(a) He was awarded the Victoria Cross
(b) He was a music hall entertainer
(c) He was also King George V’s chauffeur
5. Who or what was The Resistance?
(a) Cabbies who once fought alongside the Partisans in German-occupied France
(b) Harley Street
(c) Spoken ironically about poor brakes on early cabs
6. When were licences first issued to London cabbies?
(a) 1654
(b) 1754
(c) 1854
7. The passenger compartment is jolly spacious, but what are the origins of the roof height?
(a) A gentleman didn’t have the inconvenience of removing his top hat when boarding
(b) With any lower head height, passengers would hit their heads on the roof when the vehicle hit potholes
(c) So that up to three hay bales could be stacked inside to feed horses
8. How, or where should you not hire a cab?
(a) Outside one of those cabbies’ green shelters
(b) Emulating a scene from your favourite black and white film by shouting “TAXI” while simultaneously waving in a frantic fashion
(c) Poking your head into the nearside window of a stationary cab at traffic lights
9. What is the entomology of the word taxi?
(a) The word comes from the penal rates once charged to the proprietors of vehicles
(b) It comes from the taximeter now found on all legal cabs
(c) Queen Victoria didn’t like Joseph Hansom the inventor of the famous Hansom cab and always referred the classic horse-drawn vehicles as ‘taxites’, her term for unaccountable
10. When boarding a licensed London cab, apart from your destination, what must you tell the driver
(a) If you have the bubonic plague
(b) If you are registered disabled
(c) That you might change your mind as to the destination
Answers
1. All licensed taxi drivers in London need to pass a comprehensive test before they can ply for hire. What is the test called?
(b) The Knowledge
To gain the coveted Green Badge that allows them to work anywhere in Greater London, all cabbies must learn 320 routes and everything in between. It can take between 3 and 5 years to pass. You can read more about it HERE.
2. Where was London’s first cab rank?
(b) In the Strand
Charles Bailey, a retired mariner, in 1635 placed four hackney coaches for hire at the Maypole in the Strand where St. Mary’s Church now stands. Later, blue posts denoted cab ranks, hence several pubs by that name. You can read more about it HERE.
3. When a cabbie is awarded a license, he is given a Bill and Badge. His badge is then displayed whenever he is working, but what is his Bill?
(c) His licence
Who would guess that a cab driver’s licence, referred to as his ‘bill’, is short for ‘bill of health’? This is ironic considering that most Victorian cabbies worked until they died, or ended in the workhouse if they couldn’t continue working, despite the efforts of the Cabmen’s Benevolent Association. You can read more about it HERE.
4. Frederick Hitch was once London’s most famous cabbie, but for what?
(a) He was awarded the Victoria Cross
Most would not know of the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 if it wasn’t for the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, and its popularisation by Michael Caine’s first major film, where 155 British soldiers repulsed 4,000 Zulus warriors, resulting in 32 British killed or wounded against nearly 900 Zulus. After the conflict medals which everybody would have heard of – the Victoria Cross – were awarded to 11 men one of which was Frederick Hitch. It was the largest number of gallantry medals ever given to a single regiment, for actions on a single day. You can read more about it HERE.
5. Who or what was The Resistance?
(b) Harley Street
The Resistance was a derogatory nickname given to Harley Street as it was populated by doctors opposed the formation of the NHS after the War. You can read more about it HERE.
6. When were licences first issued to London cabbies?
(a) 1654
Oliver Cromwell ordered the Court of Aldermen of the City of London to grant licences to 200 hackney coachmen. A 6-mile limit was imposed as London’s chain of defences, that had been erected during the Civil War in 1642, only extended to that perimeter and beyond it was considered unsafe. You can read more about it HERE.
7. The passenger compartment is jolly spacious, but what are the origins of the roof height?
(a) A gentleman didn’t have the inconvenience of removing his top hat when boarding
By law, taxicabs had to be tall enough for a passenger to sit comfortably while wearing a top hat, especially important during Ascot. Additionally, at one time, hackney carriages were required to carry a bale of hay for the horse. This law was held over for a time even after motorised cabs began to operate. You can read more about it HERE.
8. How, or where should you not hire a cab?
(b) Whilst emulating a scene from your favourite black and white film by shouting “TAXI” while simultaneously waving in a frantic fashion
Technically, it’s against the law for you to yell “Taxi!” to get their attention. If you see a cab with a lit sign, just hold out your arm to signal them, and if you’re not drunk he will stop. You can read more about it HERE.
9. What is the entomology of the word taxi?
(b) It comes from the taximeter now found on all legal cabs
The term ‘taxi’ comes from taximeter, the counter used to measure miles travelled and fare. ‘Cab’ was short for ‘cabriolet’, a French verb for ‘to leap’, which was a type of taxi and what one did to exit them. You can read more about it HERE.
10. When boarding a licensed London cab, apart from your destination, what must you tell the driver
(a) If you have the bubonic plague
It was also once supposedly illegal for people to hail a cab while suffering from the bubonic plague. This is still partly true, as the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act of 1984 requires a person suffering from a notifiable disease to inform the cab driver, who may then decide whether to ferry the passenger. If he does so, he is then required to notify the authorities and disinfect the cab before taking another fare. You can read more about it HERE.
London in Quotations: Oscar Wilde
Oh, I love London Society! I think it has immensely improved. It is entirely composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics. Just what Society should be.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), An Ideal Husband
London Trivia: First windscreen wiper
On 26 April 1908, the windscreen wiper was invented by a Newcastle United fan driving home from London in a blizzard. Gladstone Adams was driving home after seeing his team lose the FA Cup Final to Wolves. His journey was punctuated by repeated stops to clear snow from the windscreen. Adams vowed that when he got back home he’d do something to solve the problem. And so he did.
On 26 April 1921 the first motorcycle police patrols went on duty on the streets of London, it’s not recorded how many speeding offences were booked that day
When Scotland Yard’s foundations were being built the headless torso of a woman was found, the murderer was never caught
Crutched Friars, Tower Hill takes it’s name from Fratres Cruciferi a Roman Catholic religious order that settled in the street in 1249
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital is the oldest hospital in London having been founded in 1123 by a monk named Rahere
The first Lord Mayor of London (who is an officer of The City of London) was Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone who held the position in 1189
At Guildhall’s Art Gallery the eastern entrance of a Roman amphitheatre can be viewed underneath the artworks
Princess Elizabeth (before becoming Queen) was first seen with Philip Mountbatten in public at the recently re-opened Savoy Hotel in 1946
A tennis ball was discovered in 1922 in the rafters of Westminster Hall dating from before 1520 it was stuffed with dog hair
The Ryde to Shanklin train line on the Isle of Wight uses for its rolling stock 70-year-old London Tube trains from the Northern Line
Performed at 10 pm for 700 years The Tower of London’s The Ceremony of the Keys is the world’s oldest surviving continuous military ceremony
Over 25 per cent of all people living in London were born in another country and more languages are spoken than any city in the world
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.
Caught short
What is the connection between these numbers?
2 and 4 at the same time, then 3; 3574; C395ZY; 2088; and 1975
Here’s a clue: The numbers are all useful in the Tottenham Court Road area should you have an urgent need to use them.
When as a cab driver of advancing years, much of my thinking time was taken up looking for these facilities which these numbers allow access.
A young pressure group have produced an essential Twitter feed, and considering their needs would be far less urgent than we septuagenarians, they should be applauded.
Apparently, any establishment with an alcohol licence is mandatorily required to allow anyone to use their toilets, and offer a glass of water, isn’t stipulated in what order. This stipulation, of course, is never complied with.
How many times have you gone into an establishment to find a sign reading “For patrons use only”, or my favourite “Out of order, awaiting Plummer”, and if that is the case, just how to their employees take a comfort break or maybe they are not allowed to take a break during their working hours.
@LDNloocodes with nearly 7,000 followers aim to give everyone who gets caught short a selection of entry codes to the local toilets.
The five locations and their codes are:
Change Please, above the Halifax Bank, corner of Tottenham Court Road; Pret, New Oxford Street; Waterstone’s, Tottenham Court Road; Pret, Centre Point; Five Guys, next door to the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road.
CabbieBlog 