On 13 February 1907 with the continuing protests for female emancipation, it had been expected that the King’s Speech would outline giving votes for women. Without that assurance, leaders of the Suffragettes and 400 supporters marched on Parliament only to be confronted by massed police outside Westminster Abbey. Scuffles ensued and 60 were arrested, but several managed to get into the lobby of the Houses of Parliament.

On 13 February 1247 an earthquake was felt in London “. . . which threw downe many of the houses . . and occasioned other considerable damage . . .”

Thames River Police formed by dockland merchants from hired privateers in 1798 to prevent theft is the world’s oldest surviving police force

There are 61 human figures on the Albert Memorial (Albert died 1861); 19 men (born 1819); 42 women (died age 42); 9 animals (had 9 children)

On 13 February 1832 saw the appearance of cholera at London, before it had run its course the disease had claimed some 52,000 lives.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Communist Manifesto was first published in German in Liverpool Street by German printer J. E. Burghard in 1848

Big Ben chimes in the note of E. So if you play guitar, you can play along by hitting your bottom string open, note that the pitch of the Big Ben is closer to F than E in modern concert pitch

On average the London Eye receives more visitors per year than the Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids of Giza

Wembley Stadium is the most user-friendly stadium known to man, its 2,618 toilets are more than we will find at any other venue in the world

During the First World War some London buses were modified to transport carrier pigeons and 900 were used to transport troops

Supermodel Kate Moss has been on the London Eye 25 times – the record for a United Kingdom celebrity, no one has asked her. Why?

On steps by the National Gallery are the Imperial measures of length set into granite paving check out length of perch, pole, chain or yard

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.