London, thou art the flower of cities all! Gemme of all joy, jasper of jocunditie.
William Dumbar (c.1459-1530)
Monthly Archives: June 2025
London Trivia: Horniman Museum opens
On 29 June 1901, the Horniman Museum was opened to the public, it contained a collection collected by a member of the famous tea brand. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, and is known for its large collection of taxidermied animals.
On 29 June 1920 Croydon Airport replaced Hounslow Airport as London’s civil airport
It is illegal to die in the Palace of Westminster on the grounds that anyone who dies in a royal palace is technically entitled to a state funeral, unfortunately, this has been proved to be a myth
The world’s first underwater tunnel was the Thames Tunnel opened in 1834 between Wapping and Rotherhithe was until 1866 used by pedestrians
The Museum of London has in its collection 6,500 skeletons comprising for study every period in London’s 2,000-year history
Charles I, rather ungallantly it has to be said, after his own nuptials declared that “you can get used to anyone’s face in a week”
The figure of The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street on the facade of the Bank of England has a model of the bank on her lap
On 29 June 1905 the Automobile Association was founded in a meeting at London’s Trocadero restaurant. The RAC was founded 8 years earlier
Staying in London after winning the U.S. Open American golfer Walter Hagan celebrated driving a ball across the Thames from the Savoy’s roof
Before motorised vehicles, horses were involved in an average of 175 fatal accidents a year in London and eat over 1 million tons of fodder
The Press Association was formed from an idea hatched in the back of a Hansom Cab stuck in a London smog in 1868
On 29 June 1960 the BBC Television Centre opened in Shepherd’s Bush. The first studio production featured comedian Arthur Askey
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.
Previously Posted: An icon’s swansong
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.
An icon’s swansong (19.06.12)
The other day my cab broke down – gearbox in case you were wondering – and I found myself driving, as a replacement, an old Fairway of the type American tourists love. It’s hardly surprising, if your vision of London is of a rather quaint city that is still stuck firmly in the 50s, then the classic Fairway fits the bill for our colonial visitors.
Little changed since its launch in July 1958, few vehicles have matched its longevity. Although the indicators were moved from their original position on the roof (giving them the sobriquet ‘bunny ears’) the vehicle still has the little round indicators last seen on a car being driven by Jack Regan in The Sweeny.
Manual sliding rear windows locked by means of an ineffectual metal lever, no intercom, brakes fit for a go-kart with 2 tonnes of momentum to slow down, top-heavy necessitating roundabouts need to be negotiated at half the speed of a modern car and its acceleration beyond 30 mph is almost impossible especially when travelling up a hill. Clunking doors which open the wrong way – the driver can reach out and open the offside passenger door without leaving his driving seat. Oh yes! and plastic seats.
It was a trip down Memory Lane. The hardwood 3-spoke steering wheel, imitation walnut trim to the doors and a top speed of 60mph. Many passengers could not fathom out how to open the doors and with the stiff buttons on the outside handles, ladies needed strong thumbs to open the door. The chrome door handles have a plastic guard, presumably an early health and safety requirement.
For all its faults driving this London icon has been a privilege, evocating days when London changed little and we worked at a gentler pace. I’m not the only one who loves this cab. Tourists love its quaintness, choosing it over the more brash upstarts. I’ve even had a guy chase me down the road offering to buy the vehicle. Apparently, they are very much in demand abroad and a rather enterprising cabbie buys them for export to of all places Saudi Arabia.
So it looks like the old girl might have a second life after being taken off the road by the Burgers at the Public Carriage Office who following the dictats of Europe have decreed that cabs over 15 years old must die.
Or she might stay in England many owners like them some even write blogs about them.
London in Quotations: Stephen Sondheim
There’s a hole in the world / Like a great black pit / And the vermin of the world / Inhabit it . . . / And it goes by the name of London.
Stephen Sondheim (b.1930), Sweeney Todd
London Trivia: 10 Rillington Place
On 22 June 1953, Reginald Christie was tried for the murder of his wife at 10 Rillington Place, he had previously admitted to 7 murders, corpses were found in the house, garden and shed.
On 22 June 1814, the first cricket match was played at the new Lord’s cricket ground in St. John’s Wood between Marylebone and Hertfordshire
On 22 June 1535 John Fisher was martyred at the Tower refusing to submit to the Act of Succession his head was displayed on London Bridge
Waterstone’s elegant premises in Piccadilly was the world’s first steel-framed shop built at the time for Simpsons the previous owner
50 Berkeley Square is reported to be the most haunted house in London, the attic room is haunted by a young woman who died there, and a whole range of deaths followed throughout the 19th Century
The Thames is the second oldest geographical name in the country only Kent pre-dates it. Julius Caesar called it Tamesis, no one knows why
Lilian Baylis, the manager of the Old Vic, cooked her meals backstage during the show and the aroma filled the theatre
The Great Eastern Hotel once boasted two Masonic temples, its own railway siding and weekly sea water deliveries for its natural brine baths
Old English skittles, once popular in pubs across the southeast, but now confined to a single alley at the Freemasons’ Arms in Downshire Hill, Hampstead
A taxi rate of a shilling (5p) a mile was established in an Act of 1662 by King Charles II it was not increased until 1950 nearly 300 later
St. Margaret Pattens Church in Rood Lane has a memorial to James Donaldson, a ‘City Garbler’, and a person who specialised in selecting spices
The Japanese term for a business suit is a sebiro, a simple transliteration of Savile Row a street famous for London’s finest tailors
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.
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