DELIVEROO (n.) Steed riders whose perambulations doth obstruct Hackney carriages in their desire to feed their corpulent customers.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
We challenge our contributors to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don’t take “Sorry Gov” for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London’s skyline to find out what Londoners think about their city. The questions are the same but the answers vary wildly.
Jack Self is an architect and journalist based in London. He is Director of REAL and Editor-in-Chief of Real Review. Jack’s work is dedicated to promoting democracy, inclusivity and equality of many kinds. His clients and collaborators include the British Council, IKEA, MINI, Landsec, Prada, Virgil Abloh (LVMH), Alyx, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Price Waterhouse Cooper and Junya Watanabe (Comme des Garcons). In 2016, Jack curated the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale with the show Home Economics. Jack’s other work includes curation, exhibition design, spatial strategy, brand consultancy, communications, publishing, editing, writing and creative direction. Jack Self is a registered architect with the UK ARB.
One of my favourite trips around London is to begin by taking the DLR from Bank through the east and Canary Wharf, down the Isle of Dogs to Mudchute, then use the pedestrian tunnel to go under the Thames, walk up the hill at Greenwich to the observatory, then take a Clipper ferry back through the centre of London along the river to Westminster. In about 3 hours you see almost the entire centre of the city: from its ancient Roman core to its maritime and imperial periphery, and then back to its political heart.
When I’m in the West End, I like to go into the Angel pub in St. Giles for a pint (near Tottenham Court Road). Like all pubs run by Samuel Smith, it doesn’t have any music (making it relaxing) and the food is pretty good. It was originally designed with a mens’ and womens’ section, and while it is a simple Victorian pub in many ways, it reminds me of growing up in London in the 90s (minus the cigarette smoke, but still with the dartboard).
With total unoriginality, I would say it is the ever-accelerating, eye-watering, vertigo-inducing cost of rent.
The Lloyd’s of London headquarters by Richard Rogers is quite spectacular; designed inside out, and almost resembling the Pompidou in its mechanical complexity. Right next to Lloyd’s is the majestic Leadenhall Market, under which are the remains of the Roman Londinium forum (the largest building north of the Alps for over three centuries).
On a completely different note, I am also a fan of the modestly-sized, but rich and complex, 15 Clerkenwell Close (above) by architect Amin Taha.
The GLA headquarters at New London. It is a glass bollock, surrounded by a wasteland of privatised paving.
For my money (£3 last time I went) it is at the top of the Monument.
In the late 1800s, the ancient London Bridge was torn down to make way for a new bridge, and its stone arches were installed in Victoria Park. (The 19th-century bridge that replaced it was in turn sold to an American in the 1970s and carted across the Atlantic to become an attraction, do Google it).
I like London by Patrick Keiller – it is both very boring and monotonous and fascinating and intricate at the same time. This is how I feel about London.
Fish pie at J Sheekey’s.
Doing loops of Hampstead Heath with intermittent tea breaks at Kenwood House and the Spaniard’s Inn.
I love thee, London! for thy many men, / And for thy mighty deeds and scenes of glory.
Philip James Bailey (1816-1902), London, The Angel World and Other Poems
On 3 July 1996, it was announced in the House of Commons, due in part to the growing dissatisfaction among Scots at the prevailing constitutional settlement, that the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland. The handover was made on St Andrew’s Day.
On 3 July 1935 the Geological Museum at South Kensington opened, it was originally derived from a Museum of Economic Geology based in Whitehall
In 1597 Ben Jonson was charged with “Leude and mutynous behavior” and jailed in Marshalsea Prison for co-writing the play, The Isle of Dogs
To allow for high winds the skyscraper One Canada Square (Canary Wharf Tower) is able to sway 13.75 inches
Tomb of poet Edmund Spenser in Westminster Abbey contains unpublished works by admirers possibly Shakespeare who threw poems into his grave
Prior to 1707 Scotland was a foreign country and had an embassy in London. This was on the site of Great Scotland Yard
Manette Street in Soho is named after the character from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens describes the street having a golden arm
Dando the Notorious Oyster Eater’s trick was eating 30doz oysters a sitting ‘with proportionate quantity of bread, porter, brandy and water’
Millwall Football Club were formed in the summer of 1885 by workers at Morton’s Jam Factory on the Isle of Dogs mostly Scottish hence blue & white colours
There’s only one Tube station that doesn’t have any of the letters from the word mackerel in it: St John’s Wood
Howard House, 14 Fournier Street, Spitalfields is where the silk for Queen Victoria’s coronation gown was woven
The Great Fire of London 1666 raged for 5 days despite Mayor Thomas Bloodworth’s doubts when he declared, “Pish! A woman might piss it out!”
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.
For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.
Just off Piccadilly is a row of tiny Georgian shops virtually unchanged since 1819. Burlington Arcade was built to cover a narrow alley that ran alongside the London home of Lord Cavendish. As he sat in the garden of Burlington House he was constantly being hit by items thrown over the wall from an alley alongside his home. Having grown tired of oyster shells, apple cores, old bottles and the occasional dead cat landing on his head he decided that a row of shops would put paid to this nuisance. The shops remain almost unaltered to this day with the famous beadles on hand to stop you running, whistling or carrying an open umbrella.
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