On 16 August 1897, the Tate Gallery was opened on Millbank, it contained a collection of 67 Victorian paintings donated by sugar magnate Sir Henry Tate. Starting a grocery shop, which grew to a chain of six stores by the time he was 35. Selling the grocery business, Tate became a partner in John Wright & Co. sugar refinery, and in 1872, he purchased the patent from German Eugen Langen for making sugar cubes.

On 16 August 2008 as Notting Hill Carnival drew to a close, 40 young men fought a running battle with police, a tradition repeated on many a August bank holiday

The 1950’s Teddy Boys (originally ‘Cosh Boys’) were first seen in London, mainly Elephant & Castle, and became Britain’s first youth cult

Pall Mall was the first street in England to be lit by gas by the splendidly named New Patriotic Imperial and National Light and Gas Company

Bread Street in the City of London, is the birthplace of 17th century English poet John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost

Found in Westminster Abbey after the Queen’s coronation: 3 pearl ropes, 20 brooches, 6 bracelets, a diamond necklace, 20 coronet gold balls

Contrary to popular myth, the statue of Nelson on his column in Trafalgar Square doesn’t have an eye patch

Green Park comes from when Charles II picked a flower giving it to the most beautiful woman, not his wife who ordered all flowers be removed

The Artillery Garden, Finsbury is the oldest venue for archery in the world, Fraternity of St. George 1509 uses traditional longbows

The reason London taxis are so high is so that gentlemen don’t have to remove their top hats, particularly when going to Ascot

Benjamin Franklin invented the lighting conductor and St Paul’s Cathedral was the first public building in the world having it affixed to it

Of the 700,000 dogs in London 10,000 each year end up at Battersea Dogs Home where contrary to urban myth only the old and dangerous are destroyed

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.