On 28 February 1975 the 08.37 tube from Drayton Park to Moorgate, packed with commuters overshot the platform and ploughed into a dead-end tunnel at over 30mph. The driver and 42 passengers died, a further 74 were injured, many seriously. Working to relieve the dead from the train took until 4 March before the last body, that of the driver was recovered. No cause of the crash was ascertained.

On 28 February 1948 King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, his two daughters went to see Danny Kaye at the London Palladium, the first non-command performance attended by a reigning monarch

Gallows Corner so called because the crossroads was popular with highwaymen holding up stagecoaches erecting gallows saved transporting them

When constructed the QEII Bridge was the longest cable-stayed bridge in Europe and the first bridge built east since Tower Bridge in 1894

London’s doctors prescribe 116 million items a year with amlodipine for heart disease/hypertension in the lead with 3,517,000 pills @ £1.42

During World War II 77 Baker Street was requisitioned by the Special Operations Executive, using it as a Homing Station for message-carrying pigeons

The 007 stage at Pinewood Studios is so large it housed the entire Greek fishing village in the 2008 musical Mamma Mia!

Ambassador Coach Travel of Great Yarmouth offered orbital coach tours of the M25 when it opened, the excursions were sold out for months

The placename Millwall originates from the windmills that previously lined the western embankment of the Isle of Dogs

Between 1984 and 2004 Russ Kane travelled 1.5 million miles of the M25 without any delays in the Flying Eye reporting on traffic jams

Truefitt & Hill at 71 St James Street are the world’s oldest barbers having been established in Long Acre in 1805

St Pancras was a 14 year old Christian orphan who was martyred in Rome in AD 303, his relics were returned to England in the 7th Century

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.