Here’s something that I hoped I’d never have to write: Recently the City of London police put out an appeal to black cab drivers after a father left an urn containing his child’s ashes in the back of a cab, and cabbies responded with gusto. Unfortunately the general secretary of a London cab drivers’ trade union, responded by saying “I’m not in the slightest bit surprised… The stuff that gets left in cabs beggars belief. We’ve had babies and tens of thousands in cash.” True, but did it need to be said?
All posts by Gibson Square
Johnson’s London Dictionary: London Bridge
LONDON BRIDGE (n.) Strukture spanning the Great River used to prove Freemen may for no apparent purpose cross whilst shepherding sheep.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
Protected: Fishy tales
London in Quotations: Max Schlesinger
Whenever a stranger is bold enough to hail a cab, not one, but half a dozen come at once, obedient to his call; and the eagerness the drivers display is truly touching.
Max Schlesinger (1822-1881), Saunterings in and about London
London Trivia: Heartening news
On 13 August 1985 an operation performed by Britain’s leading transplant specialist, Egyptian-born Magdi Yacoub, made history. A three-year-old boy from Dublin has became the world’s youngest heart and lung transplant patient. Jamie Gavin had a four-hour operation at Harefield Hospital in west London. He had been waiting for a donor since May, when doctors told his parents he had a congenital heart disease which was progressively weakening his heart and lungs.
On 13 August 1899 Alfred Joseph Hitchcok was born in Leytonstone, his father was a grocer. Hitchcock’s 10th film Blackmail is considered to be the first British talkie
Shoddy axeman Jack Ketch who bungled the execution of the Duke of Monmouth lives on today as the hangman in the Punch and Judy puppet shows
The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea is the most densely populated area in the UK-13,200 people per sq. kilometre (London average 5,000)
When Polly, resident parrot of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, died in 1926 her obituary appeared in numerous Fleet Street papers
The British Legion introduced the first artificial poppies in 1921 raising £106k. The Poppy Factory has been at Richmond for almost 90 years
Billy Elliot rehearses dance moves at a youth centre not in the north-east but at Hanwell Community Centre, Hanwell
Kew Gardens is unique on the Underground being the only station with its own pub The Railway which has a door that leads out onto platform 1
West Ham home ground once formed part of Anne Boleyn’s grand manor house known as Green Street House, which was demolished in 1890
Edgware Road is London’s oldest road 2,000 years ago it was a grassy track, the Romans incorporated it into their major road, Watling Street
The Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill, built the world’s first programmable computer known as Colossus Mk 1 the size of a small room
The Fairlop Oak one of England’s most famous trees was blown down in 1820, it was used to carve the pulpit in St. Pancras Church, Euston
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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