On 27 April 1831 Apsley House, the London home of the Duke of Wellington, was targeted by ‘an unruly and indecent mob’ incensed by his opposition to the Reform Bill. They ‘broke the windows … and he caused to be put up those blinds which remain to this day as a record of the people’s ingratitude’.

On 27 April 1970 actor Tony Curtis was caught in possession of cannabis at Heathrow Airport and fined £50. He had flown in to star alongside Roger Moore in the long-running series The Persuaders

One for the Road and On the Waggon derive from condemned prisoners going to Tyburn being given a drink at the Angel PH St Giles High Street

Richard Rogers’ Lloyds building was completed in 1986 and Grade I listed in 2011 the youngest building ever to gain that level of protection

St George’s Hospital has a cowhide belonging to Blossom who gave cowpox to Sarah Nelmes in 1796 Jenner developed smallpox vaccine from virus

The clock at Horse Guards has a black square on the dial denoting the time King Charles I was executed outside Banqueting House opposite

The location shots in the 1950s film Passport to Pimlico were shot not in affluent Pimlico but poorer Lambeth and Vauxhall in south London

On 27 April 1828 the Zoological Gardens at Regent’s Park opened, it was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study, the zoo didn’t open to the public until 1847

In 1895, an American visitor demonstrated a new type of basketball where the girls played with wastepaper baskets at both ends of the hall

The first man ever to fly from London to Manchester did so by following the whitewashed sleepers of the London and North Western Railway

Established in 1805 Truefitt and Hill of St. James’s Street remains the world’s oldest barbershop having served nine consecutive Monarchs

Only members of the Royal Family are allowed to drive through the central arch at Horse Guards – Kate Middleton did so after her marriage

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.