On 19 February 1982 it was reported Brixton police had adopted a rather novel way of conducting identity parades. Suspects would mingle freely with crowds at the foot of escalators, the witness could then look down from the top and hopefully from some considerable distance identify the culprit. It was said to assuage ethnic minority’s reluctance in coming forward to formal identity parades. It possibly gave the suspects a chance to disappear.

On 19 February 1401 William Sawtrey thought to be the first English religious martyr was burned at the stake at Smithfields

In 2005 drug-crazed squirrels eagerly dug up and ate the secreted stash of crack cocaine buried in garden flower beds by a dealer to avoid being caught by police in Brixton

One of the first houses in England to be lit by electricity was that of scientist Sir William Crookes at 7 Kensington Park Gardens

Seven people have died by falling off the Monument to the Great Fire of London before the safety rail was built, curiously the majority were bakers

In February 1820 in a stable in Cato Street the Bow Street Runners captured radical revolutionaries who planned to murder the Prime Minister

On 19 February 1965 in just two takes The Beatles recorded You’re Going To Lose That Girl at Abbey Road Studios, site of the famous pedestrian crossing

Brixton Market was the first market in London to have electric lighting and stands, as a result, Electric Avenue

In the 16th century Elizabeth I decreed that, ‘no foteballe (football) play to be used or suffered within the City of London’

On 19 February 2015 The Tube Challenge, for visiting all 270 stations on the Underground was beaten by Ronan McDonald and Clive Burgess in 16 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds

As well as ferrying passengers from A to B, Watermen would pull bodies from the Thames, landing them at Southwark

The Queen has nine Royal thrones – One at the House of Lords, two at Westminster Abbey, and six in the throne room at Buckingham Palace

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.