On 15 February 1822, William Abbott became the first to donate his body for dissection. Having been hanged at Newgate jail for the murder of May Lees his corpse duly arrived at Hosier Lane. Every year a congregation gathers at Southwark cathedral, close by Guy’s hospital, they come to a service of thanksgiving for those who, over the previous year, have donated their bodies for students to dissect and learn. Mortui vivos docent is the Latin phrase. The dead teach the living.

On 15 February 1986 Eight police officers were injured and 58 people arrested in an outbreak of violence outside the News International printing plant in Wapping with strikers protesting over new working conditions

The Old Bailey’s Blind Justice roof statue is unusual in not having a blindfold. Her impartiality is said to be shown by her ‘maidenly form’

Lower Robert Street is the only remnant of underground streets below the Adelphi buildings built by the Adam brothers in 1773

The gravestone of the famous Elizabethan actor Richard Burbage in the graveyard of St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, reads simply ‘Exit Burbage’

The Houses of Parliament has 8 bars, 6 restaurants, 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, 11 courtyards, a hair salon and a rifle shooting range

Senate House in Bloomsbury is the inspiration for The Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s novel 1984, it even has a Room 101

Cheapside get its name from the Saxon word for market – ‘chepe’ as this was London’s main market in medieval times

The highest concentration of public and private swimming baths ever recorded in Britain was in Islington, between 1743 and 1939, no fewer than 14 baths operated

Jaguar’s iconic C-type car was tested on the main runway at Heathrow. With 470,000 aircraft movements a year, it might be problematic today

Elephant and Castle derives its name from a craftsmen’s guild whose sign featured an elephant from the ivory handles of the knives they made

Shirts once only unbuttoned down to the chest. The modern front opening design was registered in 1871 by Aldermanbury gentleman outfitters

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.