BEEFEATERS (n.) Yeomen Warders who doth guard The Tower of London whose name could derive from their diet.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
Monthly Archives: January 2023
Protected: Prime Ministers on the Underground
London in Quotations: Henry Fielding
Gin . . . is the principal Sustenance (if it may be so called) of more than an hundred thousand People in this Metropolis.
Henry Fielding (1708-1754)
London Trivia: England expects
On 8 January 1806 after laying in state in the Painted Hall at Greenwich Nelson’s body was carried by state barge along the Thames to the Admiralty in Whitehall in preparation for his internment the next day in St. Paul’s. With the commercial value of good viewing places The Times carried advertisements such as ‘Those ladies and gentlemen who are desirous of seeing . . . may be accommodated with seats in a spacious loft, fitted up for the occasion’.
On 8 January 1991 one person died and 542 were injured in a train crash at Cannon Street station. A further passenger died three days later
In 1952 a Nigerian visitor was fined £50 for committing an indecent act with a pigeon in Trafalgar Square and £10 for having it for his tea
On Carting Lane, which runs down from the Strand towards Embankment, there’s a sewer gas destructor lamp hence its nickname of Farting Lane
The worst death toll on the Underground occurred at Bethnal Green Tube tragedy in 1943 when 173 people died. It is the largest loss of life in a single incident
Brompton Road (now disused) on the Piccadilly, Line was apparently used as a control room for anti-aircraft guns during World War II
Scenes from the film Sliding Doors were shot at Waterloo station on the Waterloo and City Line and at Fulham Broadway tube station on the District Lines
The various streets named Savoy take their name from the Savoy Palace where in 1381 thirty-two men trapped in the cellar drank themselves to death
The Lord’s pavilion is only in red terracotta because a strike by masons meant stone, which the architect had wanted was unavailable
The shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the underground is only 260 metres between Leicester Square and Covent Garden and takes about 20 seconds
222 Strand was London’s first air conditioned restaurant, ladies from local cycling club pedalled a bicycle in the basement powering bellows
On 8 January 1938 a German tourist Willie Hitler told journalists that his uncle Adolf was peaceful “who thinks war is not worth the candle”
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.
Previously Posted: New Year’s Resolutions
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.
New Year’s Resolutions (01.01.10)
A Happy New Year to anybody who stumbles across this blog, whether by accident or design.
In keeping with the tradition of making a New Year resolution only to break it within one week, I submit for your consideration a selection, which might if adopted, make travelling in London less odious. With more than a glancing nod at an excellent post by my erstwhile colleague The Cabbies Capital, I give you CabbieBlog’s New Year Resolutions:
THE GOOD: Cab drivers are in the main professional, courteous and, well nearly always right. Anyone who drives in London has had a cab stop for no apparent reason in front of him, and if we protest, the cabbie looks done from his eyrie at you in a smug and self righteous manner. Equally cabs are prone to make unexpected u-turns holding up the traffic while the driver completes his manoeuvre sometime without a word of thanks to anyone inconvenienced.
Most cab drivers try to be considerate, it makes no sense for us to damage our vehicles, by careless driving, and it’s our business for God’s sake. So my New Year Resolution will be to thank you profusely for letting me stop, start, pull away, reverse or u-turn near you.
THE BAD: 4×4 drivers. Never I repeat, never give the drivers of these contraptions any consideration. They now have halogen light to mesmerise you in their presence, just like a cobra with its prey. They approach you and expect you to wait for their next move; they now even have LED running lights and fog lights to warn the rest of us to get out of their way. If you only keep one resolution this year make it this one.
This is for all of you. Give way means pausing at the line in the road, not with your nose sticking out, its bloody frightening on a bike having a car block your passage (it doesn’t do much for that part of your anatomy either). And that line at traffic lights indicates where you stop BEHIND, not the green coloured tarmac section for bikes.
THE SAD: Pedestrians. Why of why do you migrate like lemmings near Oxford Street oblivious to the traffic and deep in conversation on your mobile phones. Why stand near a pedestrian crossing often on the zigzags blinking and wondering why the cars don’t stop for you. When you do have the inspired logic to use a pedestrian crossing, wait for the approaching vehicles to stop, don’t walk straight off the pavement expecting that bus to have the stopping power of an F1 car. And why oh why do you have to stand by a pedestrian crossing deep in conversation when you have no intention to cross the road? So just use the grey matter between your ears for once, it might just save your life.
THE MAD: Pizza couriers. These motorised push bikes have the road holding ability of a blancmange. Don’t ride as if you have a death wish, if the pizza is 30 seconds late arriving, tough.
Cyclists. These are some of the most competent of road users, but please, please don’t jump red lights, that boy racer in his dad’s BMW M3 hasn’t seen you, all he is interested in seeing is the green light. And one last comment, pedestrians have right of way on pedestrian crossings, the clue is in the title. I know it’s hard to have to stop once in a while, but your foot will have to touch the tarmac once or twice during your journey home.
THE UGLY: As ugly as the back of a bus, is never more true than when one of these 18m monsters pulls out as you are making a feeble attempt to pass it. Just because the Highway Code says we have to give way to you, doesn’t give you the absolute right to move out into traffic at a whim, just use your indicators. And one final comment, when you are ahead of the timetable don’t drive at 8 mph.
That’s it then, I know most of this will be ignored, but you know keep just one of these resolutions this year and moving around London might become enjoyable. Just don’t hold your breath for it to happen.
CabbieBlog 