They come, not to see what London is, or even what it was, but to confirm a kind of picture-postcard view of both, all red telephone kiosks and fog-wreathed alleyways.
Anna Quindlen (b.1953), Imagined London: A Tour of the World’s Greatest Fictional City
On 19 November 1994 defying the odds of 1-in-14-million seven lucky lottery winners won Britain’s first national lottery aired live from a London studio. 35 million tickets were purchased and the winning numbers as drawn were 30, 3, 5, 44, 14 and 22. The bonus ball was 10. A lottery took place in 1566 for a jackpot of £5,000 according to a letter from Queen Elizabeth I, giving instructions for collecting money, commanding that persons of ‘good trust’ be entrusted with the prizes.
At the Royal Albert Hall on 19 November 1987 a rare 1931 Bugatti Royal was sold for £5.5 million at the time a semi-detached house cost £50,000
For some crimes the guilty were locked in the pillory then had their ears nailed to the frame, upon release were forced to leave them behind
King Street, St James’s is named after Charles II, King Street, Covent Garden is named after Charles I and Kingsway after Edward VII
The American talk show host Jerry Springer was born at Highgate during the Second World War: his mother had taken shelter in the station from an air raid
Trafalgar Square was to have been called ‘King William the Fourth’s Square’; however, George Ledwell Taylor suggested Trafalgar Square
It was at 9A Denmark Street (Tin Pan Alley), then La Gioconda, where David Jones (Bowie) and his first backing band – Lower Third – met
The Sanderson Hotel, Berners Street was a showroom for Sandersons wallpaper, the listed sign meant the hotel could have no other name
The oldest (and possibly most bizarre) medal winner was John Copley who won Silver in the London 1948 Olympics for an etching he was 73 at the time, drawing was in the Olympics until 1948
Charles Pearson, MP and Solicitor to the City of London, is credited with successfully campaigning for the introduction of the Underground. He died in 1862 shortly before the first train ran
During the war, some stations (now mostly disused) were converted into government offices: a station called Down Street was used for meetings of the Railway Executive Committee
Brydges Place named after Catherine Brydges daughter of 3rd Baron Chandos at 15 inches at its narrowest point is London’s tightest alley
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.
If ever evidence was needed to support the claim that London’s streets were paved with gold the place to find it would be Exhibition Road. This 3/4mile long road is undergoing a transition that in the words of Nick Paget-Brown, Kensington and Chelsea’s Cabinet Member for Transport will transform it into “the most beautiful road in London”.
Unable to source enough granite locally the Tory council has obtained enough stone to match the colour required from China and by using a slow boat from China the council claim the “carbon footprint” is much reduced. An alternative supplier in the north of England would presumably have parachuted in the granite sets by a gas guzzling Tornado jet.
The total project is estimated to cost £29 million which equates to £22,000 per yard; truly London’s streets are paved with gold.
When completed both drivers and pedestrians will share the same space in what is termed a “transition zone”. The most recognisable characteristic of shared space is the absence of street clutter, such as conventional traffic signals, barriers, signs and road markings. This according to the council encourages motorists to slow down, engage with their surroundings and make eye contact with pedestrians – resulting in a higher quality and more usable street area, with enhanced road safety.
When writing last year I described Kensington and Chelsea’s attitude to both pedestrians and vehicles sharing this road as:
“For most of us who use London’s roads encounter inappropriate speeding, overtaking on the nearside, rude and careless drivers, and a complete disregard of pedestrians and cyclists.”
But it would appear that The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s roads department don’t populate the world that I live in (or most accurately the world that I drive in).
Their world is akin to Camberwick Green when everybody is aware of other road users, greeting them with a cheery riposte, and continuing on their journey unimpeded. They help little old ladies cross the road and slow down for children.”
The Royal National Institute for the Blind have been objecting to the plan since its inception even resorting to 150 blind and partially sighted people campaigning outside the London Assembly. The western side of Exhibition Road is used by 19 million pedestrians a year visiting the many attractions in the area, surely there is still time to ban vehicles for most of the day and let everybody enjoy the space of “the most beautiful road in London”.
Nowadays we mostly read on our phones or tablets, and it’s easy to forget the pleasurable visceral experience that you feel upon reading a printed book.
This large format book certainly doesn’t disappoint, written in collaboration with London Transport, giving the publishers access to the transport authority’s vast photo library to reproduce dozens of historic photographs and retro posters showing the development of the London Underground. Award-winning photographer Benjamin Graham gives this book its magnificent pictures of the modern Underground.
As a research fellow at the London Transport Museum, Oliver Green demonstrates his detailed knowledge of the subject. Unlike many academics, he can engagingly write about tunnel engineering, graphic design, station architecture and rolling stock design in an accessible style which moves you effortlessly through the history of the Underground.
This excellently designed book makes use of the Johnson typeface (the corporate style of the Underground). For the folios and the break-outs, an adaption of Beck’s coloured map lines is a clever device.
Frank Pick, who did more to unify the Underground to the transport system we’ve inherited today described the Tube as “the framework of the town”, this book brilliantly describes this framework.
Featured image: A 1992 stock London Underground train calls at the Central Line platforms of Oxford Circus tube station by J Cornelius under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
I have recently received my car insurance renewal and was surprised to find that it’s risen by over 56 per cent. As you might imagine my domestic vehicle covers very few miles a year, and I’ve many years no claim bonus. So, like many, I asked a small South African mongoose to find me a cheaper deal. Curiously the ‘cheapest’ listed of any insurance company I’ve heard of was Churchill, the very one I’m with, but at nearly £18 dearer (that pays for the adverts and cheap cinema tickets). So what are the reasons given by insurers to justify increasing premiums? The excuses are many and varied to fleece you: Increase in vehicle claims; Increase in stolen vehicles; Parts are more expensive to order due to backlog; Parts are taking longer to order due to backlog, subsequently, customers are in courtesy cars for longer which costs insurance companies more; Cars are generally more expensive (both new and used); Insurers paid out more than they took in last year. So there you have it, since covid, when we all didn’t drive and stayed at home, costs have gone up.
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