On 23 August 1305, famous thanks to Hollywood, one of Britain’s most famous rebels, died this day. William Wallace, the Scots resistance fighter had taken on one of England’s most formidable kings, Edward I, and lost. Tried at Westminster Hall, found guilty of treason and murder, he was dragged to Smithfield to be hanged, drawn and quartered. A memorial attesting to his martyrdom is to be found in Smithfield.
On 23 August 2010 the flat of GCHQ operative Gareth Williams was searched by police, here they found his body locked in a holdall placed in the bath
HMP Pentonville built in 1842 at a cost £84,186 12s 2d was intended to be a holding prison for convicts awaiting transportation
If London was a country it would be the 8th biggest in Europe in monetary terms and the greenest city of its size in the world with two-thirds covered in green space or water
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum has a collection of over 45,000 objects including a collection of English delftware drug storage jars amongst which is the oldest known dated piece in the world
On 23 August 1940 the German Luftwaffe began night bombing on London, when Ju88s dropped more than sixteen tons of high explosives
A pyramid to cover Trafalgar Square was proposed by Irishman, Colonel Frederick Trench, MP to commemorate the triumph at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805
The Grosvenor Hotel (now Thistle Victoria) was one of the first hotels in London to have a lift called at the time ‘a rising room’
On 23 August 1933 the first televised boxing match took place in London between Archie Sexton and Laurie Raiteri
On 23 August 1617 the first one-way streets opened in London, they ran into Thames Street, the next one-way street in London was Albemarle Street
In 1661 the first postmarks in the world were struck at Post Office Court near to where today’s Bank of England now stands
In 1661 the world’s first postmark was struck at the General Post Office located in Prince’s Street opposite the Bank of England
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.
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