On 4 January 1946 the day after William Joyce became the last Briton put to death for treason, 27-year-old Theodore Schurch a British soldier of Anglo-Swiss parentage was hanged for treachery by Albert Pierrepoint at Pentonville Prison, the last person to be hanged for a crime other than murder. Tried by court-martial at the Duke of York’s Headquarters in Chelsea during September 1945. He was found guilty of nine charges of treachery.

On 4 January 1962 Galton & Simpson sitcom Steptoe & Son was first broadcast from the BBC’s Shepherds Bush

In 1736 gravedigger Thomas Jenkins received 100 lashes for selling dead bodies from St. Dunstan and All Saints Church, Stepney High Street

On the site of Bridewell Court, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars once stood Bridewell Palace the residence of Henry VIII from 1515-1523

In 1938 a pedestrian was killed by a stone phallus falling from a statue on Zimbabwe House in the Strand other appendages removed for health and safety

During World War II French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle set up Le Bureau Centrale de Renseignements et d’Action at 10 Duke Street, Marylebone

England’s first public playhouse was The Theatre built in Curtain Road in 1576 by actor James Burbage. It was the second permanent theatre ever built in England

Comedian and actor Will Hay English comedian, who first became well-known for his theatrical sketch as a joke-school master lived at 45 The Chase, Norbury from 1927 to 1934

Spurs’ first competitive match was versus St. Albans in the London Association Cup in 1885, Spurs won decisively 5-2

The George Inn, Borough High St. dates back to 1676, is the last galleried coaching inn in London and is mentioned in Dickens’ Little Dorrit

Abbey Road Free Church members formed the Abbey Road Building Society in 1874 in 1944 it merged with the National to form the Abbey National

In 1969 Laurence Olivier started a petition demanding that the dining car of the London to Brighton train reintroduce kippers – it worked

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.