BAYSWATER STATION (n.) Underground stagecoach stop that doth erroneously claim to be on Her Majesty’s highway Bayswater Road when situated in Queensway.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
The dismal quarter of Soho seen under these changing glimpses, with its muddy ways, and slatternly passengers, and its lamps, which had never been extinguished or had been kindled afresh to combat this mournful re-invasion of darkness, seemed, in the lawyer’s eyes, like a district of some city in a nightmare.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), The Carew Murder Case
On 23 July 1863 Alexandra Park named after Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII officially opened with a flower and fruit show along with other entertainments. The Times described it as ‘The Bois de Boulogne of Holloway or Highgate’. Until September 1970, it hosted horse racing, including many evening meetings televised by the BBC. The racecourse was nicknamed ‘the Frying Pan’ owing to its shape, its most prestigious race was the London Cup.
On 23 July 1690 at aged 76 Richard Gibson, court dwarf to Charles I died. His wife Anne Shepherd dwarf to Queen Henrietta Maria suvvived him by 10 years
The London Silver Vaults subterranean strongrooms have never been broken into, they are surrounded by steel-lined walls over 1-metre thick
Staple Inn located next to Chancery Lane Station is the only surviving Inn of Chancery its lopsided timber-framed façade dating back to 1545
On 23 July 2011 the greatest singer of the generation, Amy Winehouse, the daughter of a London cabbie, was found dead in her Camden apartment
In 2008 a one ton bomb found at Bromley-by-Bow during railway work, the largest found in 30 years was detonated by controlled explosion after it started ticking
Tony Hancock, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Bruce Forsyth and Tommy Cooper all had their first success at the Windmill Theatre
The London Silver Vaults have more than 40 subterranean shops which reputedly hold the largest collection of silver for sale in the world
The first Wimbledon Championships were suspended for the weekend so as not to clash with the annual Eton v Harrow cricket match at Lord’s
Heathrow was the world’s first airport connected to an underground railway when what was known as Heathrow Central opened in December 1977
Ealing Studios is the world’s oldest working film studios established in 1931 by the theatre producer Basil Dean
The Blind Beggar pub, Whitechapel est. 1654 takes its name from a ballad was reputedly built on the spot where Lord Montford used to beg
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.
This is a perfect post for your humble scribe, for the term Grub Street describes the world of impoverished journalists and literary hacks. Originally Grub Street possibly meant a street infested with worms, or more likely named after a man called Grubbe. But since the 17th century is has been used in connection with needy authors and poor journalists. Dr Johnson said it was “much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries and temporary poems”, which seems to sum up CabbieBlog perfectly.
Even though this street was renamed Milton Street in 1830, the world of hack writers is still known as Grub Street. The inhabitants of this now metaphorical place churn out words without any regard for their literary merit. They were often called penny-a-liners. A Grub Street writer is also called a hack writer, which is another London allusion: Hackney in East London, was the place where horses suitable for routine riding or driving were raised. The word hack, in related senses, is a short form of hackney, and now, of course, refers to taxis or Hackney Carriages.
As any writer would tell you, publishing is a long and slow journey, but according to London cabbies it’s only five minutes from Grub Street to Fleet Street. There was much rebuilding in the area following war damage, and since the 1960s the pedestrian seeking to turn into Milton Street from Fore Street is faced with a solid block of buildings. The coffee shops and mean lodgings have long gone, and we will surely not meet Johnson and Savage on their late night wanderings. No matter: as long as there are writers in the land, Grub Street lives on.
“To succeed in journalism”, the late Nicholas Tomalin once wrote, “you need three qualities: a ratlike cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability . . . There are still some aspects of the Grub Street trade that can be learnt with a little application.”
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