On 11 January 1993 at the High Court British Airways was forced into a humiliating climb down when their counsel apologised ‘unreservedly’ for an alleged dirty tricks campaign against Virgin Atlantic. Richard Branson’s top lawyer George Carman QC on winning the case claimed ‘distinctly hostile’ rumours against the airline forcing BA to pay nearly £4m in damages and legal costs. BA though still made a profit that year of £301 million while Virgin posted losses of £9.3m.

On 11 January 1858 Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges Department Store, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, USA

On 11 January 1950 Timothy Evans was wrongly found guilty & sentenced to death for murder of his daughter, Geraldine at 10 Rillington Place

The Brunei Gallery at SOAS on a wall is a plaque apologising for its being there-the only building in London to apologise for its existence

On 11 January 1890 Harold Bride, wireless operator on the Titanic, was born in Nunhead he washed off the ship as the boat deck flooded and was later rescued by the Carpathia

It was on High Holborn that Israel’s secret service, Mossad, killed one of the 1972 Black September Massacre terrorists by running him over

The movie Four Weddings and a Funeral was filmed at the Augustinian priory church of St. Bartholomew the Great

On Blackheath is an 18th century Pagoda designed by William Chambers used as a hideaway for Queen Caroline, wife of George IV

The 1908 London Olympics, the first of three held in London, were sponsored by Oxo, Odol mouthwash and Indian Foot Powder

Angel has the Underground’s longest escalator at 60m with a vertical rise of 27.5m. The shortest is Stratford with a vertical rise of 4.1m

Cock Lane was the only place licensed prostitutes could legally ply their trade in medieval London, although many roads took their name from the illegal sex industry

On 11 January 1569 Britain got its first state lottery when punters bought their tickets at the door at St. Paul’s Cathedral

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.