On 9 May 1662, the first performance of a Punch and Judy show at Covent Garden was recorded in Samuel Pepys’s diary entry, it is believed a similar puppet show has been seen there every year since. The original was performed by the Italian puppet showman Pietro Gimonde from Bologna, otherwise known as Signor Bologna and was honoured with a royal command performance by Charles II at Whitehall.

On 9 May 1949 Britain’s first coin-operated launderette, Central Wash, opened for a 6 month trial in Queensway, Bayswater

On 9 May 1726 five men found at Mother Clap’s molly house (“molly” being slang for a gay man at the time) were hanged at Tyburn

The Brick Lane Mosque’s building has also been a protestant church and a synagogue, the only building in the world to have done so

Pugin designed St. Thomas of Canterbury Church on Rylston Road it has Joseph Aloysius Hansom, who invented the Victorian cab in its graveyard

St. Edward’s Crown the centrepiece of a coronation is only ever touched by The Monarch, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Crown Jeweller

It cost a penny to watch the Bard’s plays at the Globe, standing they were called ‘groundlings’, mockingly referred to as ‘penny-stinkers’

On 9 May 1914 William Newell made the first parachute jump in Britain from an aeroplane over Hendon Aerodrome. He survived

Mitcham cricket green is believed to be the oldest in the world continuously used to play the game, it has seen the game played since 1685

Britain’s first ubiquitous speed bumps were installed on Linver Road and Alderville Road, Fulham in 1984, the nightmare had begun

Chancery Lane was previously known as Chaunceleres Lane, and prior to that New Street, it has been home to the legal profession since 1377

The Queen Mother started the enduring royal wedding tradition of leaving the bride’s bouquet on the Abbey’s Tomb of the Unknown Warrior

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.