On 17 January 1934, The Times reported that Battersea Power Station was fully operational, known as Battersea A. The building as we know it would not be completed until 1955. During the 4 years of constructing Battersea A, there were six fatal and 121 non-fatal accidents. This history of this iconic building which went into decline on 17 March 1975 when A station was closed is now the subject of a book by Peter Watts Up in Smoke.
On 17 January 1712 Robert Walpole, England’s first ‘Prime Minister’ was imprisoned in the Tower of London following charges of corruption
Byng Street, Wapping named after a seafaring family, one of whom Admiral Byng was executed for cowardice on the deck of HMS Monarque in 1757
Adelaide House completed in 1925 was the first building in the City to employ the steel frame technique at 141ft the tallest block in London
The gravestone of the famous Elizabethan actor Richard Burbage in the graveyard of St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, reads simply ‘Exit Burbage’
Margaret Thatcher went to the same Mayfair hairdresser, Evansky as Barbara Castle, while Thatcher sat in main area Castle had a private room
The George Inn, Borough High St. dates back to 1676, is the last galleried coaching inn in London and is mentioned in Dickens’ Little Dorrit
In the early 1800s Thomas Britton ran a music club above his coal shop in Jerusalem Passage, Handel often attended
The footbridge outside Wembley Stadium is named White Horse Bridge after the police horse who controlled the 1923 FA Cup Final
There’s only one Tube station that doesn’t have any of the letters from the word mackerel in it: St John’s Wood
In 14th century London employed Rakers to rake the excrement out of toilets, notably one Richard the Raker died by drowning in his own toilet
Between 17-25 January 1963 the temperature at Kew failed to rise above freezing that winter is regarded equal to the infamous winter of 1740
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.
CabbieBlog 