Pedicabs might meet their match

21 December, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

Amongst all the tradition and flummery, with Black Rod using his eponymous stick to hit a door and the new King making his first Gracious Address, between the promise to safeguard the future of football clubs and a commitment to tackle antisemitism, His Majesty uttered fifteen words that could be a relief for many Londoners: “A bill will be introduced to deal with the scourge of unlicensed pedicabs in London.”

This is not before time. Current laws governing pedicabs date back to the 1800s, but we’ve been down this road before, a similar announcement was made in the final Queen’s Speech last May, but the measure was kicked into the long grass before making any progress. but maybe Parliament will at last act to regulate these sometimes dangerous nuisance vehicles that plague the West End.

Puppydog tails

Johnson’s London Dictionary: O2 Arena

20 December, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

O2 ARENA (n.) Tent erected for the Millennia that lost a King’s ransom, that has transmogrified into the largest broadsheet for a purveyor of communications.

Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon

Puppydog tails

The List Season

19 December, 2023 Gibson Square 2 Comments

It is that time of year when the media publish lists. You know the sort of thing: recommended books, best Christmas puddings, annual weather data and gongs to people you’ve never heard of. So I thought I’d list the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree donated by the people of Oslo.
Common name: Norway Spruce
Scientific name: Picea abies
Symbolism: Greek mythology devoted to Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the Moon
Common title: The Queen of the Forest
Height: 70ft
Age: 70 years
Sourced location: Nordmarka, a heavily forested area north of Oslo
Felled: Mid-November
How long we’ve received the tree: 76 years
Lights: 500 halogen bulbs
Lighting ceremony: Thursday 7th December
Number of branches: Well over 100, just guessing!
Needles: Pointy evergreen glossy dark green, less than 2 inches long
After Twelfth Night: The tree is taken down, and turned into mulch, which is then used in gardens around London
The story behind the tree: The tradition of cutting down a tree and putting it up in Oslo’s Universitetsplassen is a long-held tradition. So sacred is it, that even when Norway was occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War, members of the Royal Norwegian Navy snuck back into their own country to cut down a tree each year, bringing it back to London for King Haakon in exile there. (now THAT is a Christmas film waiting to happen). Today, the tree symbolises not just what Britain did in the war, but also a respect for democracy, human rights, peace — and solidarity between the two countries and cities.

London in Quotations

London in Quotations: Neil Gaiman

Quote 18 December, 2023 Gibson Square 4 Comments

When he had first arrived, he had found London huge, odd, fundamentally incomprehensible, with only the Tube map, that elegant multicoloured topographical display of underground railway lines and stations, giving it any semblance of order. Gradually he realized that the Tube map was a handy fiction that made life easier but bore no resemblance to the reality of the shape of the city above. It was like belonging to a political party, he thought once, proudly, and then, having tried to explain the resemblance between the Tube map and politics, at a party, to a cluster of bewildered strangers, he had decided in the future to leave political comment to others.

Neil Gaiman (b.1960), Neverwhere

London trivia

London Trivia: Bowled over

17 December, 2023 Gibson Square 6 Comments

On 17 December 1849 the world’s first bowler hat was sold by James Lock & Co., hatters of St. James’s Street. Created for Edward Coke, younger brother of the 2nd Earl of Leicester for his gamekeepers. It was designed by hat-makers Thomas & William Bowler. To ensure it fulfilled his brief of protecting the wearer from low hanging branches Coke is said to have twice stamped on the hat’s crown before parting with his 12/-.

On 17 December 1983 an IRA bomb exploded outside Harrod’s, killing six and injuring 90, the car containing the bomb was projected onto the 5th floor of an adjoining building

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 tea

Caxton Hall has been the venue for celebrity weddings including Peter Sellers and Britt Ekland. Diana Dors liked it so much she used it twice!

Suicide victims were once buried at crossroads to bring absolution, last person was Abel Griffiths interred at Grosvenor Place/Lower Grosvenor Place 1823

In December 2005 the London Eye was lit pink in celebration of the first Civil Partnership performed on the wheel

The Proms came to the Royal Albert Hall in 1941 from the Queen’s Hall in Marylebone which was bombed in the Blitz

Before the statue of Nelson was placed on top of the 170-foot-tall column in Trafalgar Square in 1842, 14 stonemasons had dinner at the top

The place name Millwall originates from the windmills that previously lined the western embankment of the Isle of Dogs

There was great opposition to the building the London underground from Victorian Churchmen because they thought it would ‘disturb the devil’

Kenneth Williams was once employed as an apprentice draughtsman at Stanford’s Map Shop at 12-14 Long Acre, Covent Garden

Before he got the part of James Bond, Roger Moore moved into a new house where he inherited a telephone number ending ‘007’

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.