All posts by Gibson Square

A Licensed Black London Cab Driver I share my London with you . . . The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Grill

The London Grill: Mark Monroe

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We challenge our contributors to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don’t take “Sorry Gov” for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London’s skyline to find out what Londoners think about their city. The questions are the same but the answers vary wildly.

My name is Mark Monroe first and foremost I’m a London cabbie. A few years ago, I started a YouTube Channel partly as a way of documenting everything I’ve learnt about London, mostly concentrating on the peculiar, strange, bizarre oddities of this incredible city. I’ve been lucky enough to have some of my content aired on a local TV station called London Live. Everything I film is free to discover and visit and offers an insight into London from the life of a London Cabbie. I hope you enjoy Secrets of London with Mark Monroe.

What’s your secret London tip?

When visiting London don’t try and do everything in one day. London is Big! Pick an area and spend time exploring that, you’ll absorb much more and won’t be sitting on public transport all day.

What’s your secret London place?

St Dunstan in the East, a unique Wren church whose ruins are situated in the heart of the city a green oasis of tranquillity and calm.

What’s your biggest gripe about London?

Road closures and other drivers who fail to indicate when turning.

What’s your favourite building?

Senate House in Malet Street. (It belongs in a moody New York Batman film).

What’s your most hated building?

Trellick Tower.

What’s the best view in London?

On a summer evening stand in the centre of Waterloo Bridge and be prepared for a magical vista.

What’s your personal London landmark?

Big Ben, everything in London seems to start here and then works outwards.

What’s London’s best film, book or documentary?

All the Bond films! Sherlock Holmes and the Krays documentaries.

What’s your favourite restaurant?

Without a doubt Rules in Maiden Lane. London’s oldest restaurant serving traditional English fare.

How would you spend your ideal day off in London?

I love to head for the river, I feel more connected with London and its history when I’m there.

London in Quotations

London in Quotations: Dylan Thomas

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It really is an insane city . . . its intelligentsia is so hurried in the head that nothing stays there; its glamour smells of goat; there’s no difference between good and bad.

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

London trivia

London Trivia: London-wide rioting

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On 7 August 2011 rioting and looting spread across London and beyond. Brixton, Enfield, Islington, Wood Green and Oxford Circus were scenes of the rioting – many looters didn’t even bother to mask themselves.

On 7 August 1746 Jacobite captain, James Dawson, was hanged, drawn and quartered on Kennington Common, his fiancée died seconds after watching the execution

In 1959 at Wandsworth Prison Guenther Podola became the last man to be hanged in Britain for killing a police officer

Sir Christopher Wren’s first design proposal for St Paul’s featured a 60ft high stone pineapple atop the dome, it would be one of many rejections

The terracotta animals on the façade of the Natural History Museum extinct creatures are to the east of the entrance, the living to the west

At 4 Henrietta St, Covent Garden in August 1922 writer T. E. Lawrence (…of Arabia) tried to enlist in the RAF as John Hume Ross

When the rebuilt Covent Garden Theatre in 1809 raised ticket prices by 1/- riots broke out during the première of Macbeth

In summer 1974 Nude Show what is now the Peacock Theatre had Lindy Salmon’s bikini removed by dolphins Pixie and Penny

In the London 2012 Olympics Sarah Attar later became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete in an Olympic athletics event, when she ran in a heat of the 800m

London buses were not always red. Before 1907, different routes had different-coloured buses, London General Omnibus Company painted their fleet of buses red in order to stand out from the competition

7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham was the home of Luke Howard, the ‘namer of clouds’ who proposed the nomenclature system in use today

Etched into the frosted windows of the Albert Tavern in Victoria Street is an image of Prince Albert’s penis, just don’t ask the barmaid where it is situated

CabbieBlog-cab.gifTrivial 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

Previously Posted: A Brave New World

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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.

A Brave New World (16.07.09)


Take note of the time and date of this post, for it was exactly 40 years ago that three men lifted off on top of the most powerful rocket ever constructed.

After 12 years work by the Americans, that cost $25 billion ($250 billion at today’s prices), amounting to 5 per cent of America’s gross domestic product, and it must be said a few lives, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins headed for the moon.

Scarcely believable now, but five days later 600 million people, an incredible one-fifth of the global population at the time, watched the subsequent moon walk on television.

It would not be unreasonable to question why this is featured on CabbieBlog. Well, I tell you this, in 1969 with a contentious major war in Asia slowly being lost by America, Apollo 11 gave the world hope in the human spirit of endeavour, and for once, just once, humanity rose above the petty squabbles seemingly to have beset us all. It’s just a pity we didn’t have a new uniting spirit.

I will finish this post with a quote from Bill Anders, astronaut Apollo 8:


“We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”

Puppydog tails

Test Your Knowledge: August 2022

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As a precursor to the publishing of my memoir, and as a shameless piece of self-promotion, this month’s quiz is about cabbie slang, although since it stems from a closed, occupational group, the terms should be referred to as jargon. As before the correct answer will turn green when it’s clicked upon and expanded to give more information. The incorrect answers will turn red giving the correct explanation.

1. What is a Sherbet?
A foolish cabbie
WRONG The cab itself, better known as a Sherbert (dab) has also been given the moniker after a popular modern author Andy McNab, while many of the old hands still refer to it by its Russian-Jewish name a Droshky.
A cab
CORRECT The cab itself, better known as a Sherbert (dab) has also been given the moniker after a popular modern author Andy McNab, while many of the old hands still refer to it by its Russian-Jewish name a Droshky.
A fizzy drink
WRONG The cab itself, better known as a Sherbert (dab) has also been given the moniker after a popular modern author Andy McNab, while many of the old hands still refer to it by its Russian-Jewish name a Droshky.
2. Who’s A Butterboy?
A greasy operator
WRONG Butterboy is a novice, as butter won’t melt in that innocent’s mouth.
A newly qualified cabbie
CORRECT Butterboy is a novice, as butter won’t melt in that innocent’s mouth.
Someone who gets the best jobs
WRONG Butterboy is a novice, as butter won’t melt in that innocent’s mouth.
3. Who might be termed A Musher?
A cabbie who owns his vehicle
CORRECT An owner-driver has been a Musher since the 1880s, the cab roof being equivalent to a mush, an umbrella.
A fast driver
WRONG An owner-driver has been a Musher since the 1880s, the cab roof being equivalent to a mush, an umbrella.
Someone without teeth who mushes their food
WRONG An owner-driver has been a Musher since the 1880s, the cab roof being equivalent to a mush, an umbrella.
4. What on Earth is a Gantville Cowboy?
A cabbie living near Gant’s Hill
CORRECT Gantville Cowboys are predominantly Jewish cabbies who live around Gants Hill, Newbury Park, Ilford and Claybury.
A dodgy garage
WRONG Gantville Cowboys are predominantly Jewish cabbies who live around Gants Hill, Newbury Park, Ilford and Claybury.
A well-known dodgy East London cabbie who rents out vehicles
WRONG Gantville Cowboys are predominantly Jewish cabbies who live around Gants Hill, Newbury Park, Ilford and Claybury.
5. A Shtumer refers to what?
A lost job
CORRECT A Shtumer, originally a bad cheque, is a booked job that on arrival has evaporated.
A private job
WRONG A Shtumer, originally a bad cheque, is a booked job that on arrival has evaporated.
An illegal practice
WRONG A Shtumer, originally a bad cheque, is a booked job that on arrival has evaporated.
6. When would you need The Iron Lung?
When entering the airless Rotherhithe Tunnel
WRONG This is a urinal in Regency Place opposite Portuguese Tony’s Café where you can have a Splosh (cup of tea) with other Mushers.
When you need to urinate
CORRECT This is a urinal in Regency Place opposite Portuguese Tony’s Café where you can have a Splosh (cup of tea) with other Mushers.
When frightened by being warned by a Carriage Officer
WRONG This is a urinal in Regency Place opposite Portuguese Tony’s Café where you can have a Splosh (cup of tea) with other Mushers.
7. What’s a Copperarse?
Someone who will work for coppers, or take short jobs
WRONG Copperarse or Leatherarse works long hours hence the condition of their trousers.
Someone who’s also a policeman
WRONG Copperarse or Leatherarse works long hours hence the condition of their trousers.
Someone working excessive hours
CORRECT Copperarse or Leatherarse works long hours hence the condition of their trousers.
8. Where would you find The Dead Zoo?
Regent’s Park
WRONG Dead Zoo unsurprisingly refers to the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road.
House of Lords
WRONG Dead Zoo unsurprisingly refers to the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road.
Natural History Museum
CORRECT Dead Zoo unsurprisingly refers to the Natural History Museum on Cromwell Road.
9. Who, or what, was The Resistance?
Medical practitioners in Harley Street
CORRECT Harley Street was The Resistance as consultants were then in 1948 fighting against the nascent National Health Service.
Cabbies who were awarded medals during World War II
WRONG Harley Street was The Resistance as consultants were then in 1948 fighting against the nascent National Health Service.
London Taxi Drivers Association when resisting the introduction of Uber
WRONG Harley Street was The Resistance as consultants were then in 1948 fighting against the nascent National Health Service.
10. Where would find The Dirty Dozen?
The Carriage Office
WRONG The Dirty Dozen refers to twelve streets that take you east from Regent Street to Charing Cross Road without using Oxford Street – Crossrail has seen that one-off. Great Marlborough Street, Noel Street, Berwick Street, D’Arblay Street, Wardour Street, Hollen Street, Great Chapel Street, Fareham Street, Dean Street, Carlisle Street, Soho Square, Sutton Row.
Soho
CORRECT The Dirty Dozen refers to twelve streets that take you east from Regent Street to Charing Cross Road without using Oxford Street – Crossrail has seen that one-off. Great Marlborough Street, Noel Street, Berwick Street, D’Arblay Street, Wardour Street, Hollen Street, Great Chapel Street, Fareham Street, Dean Street, Carlisle Street, Soho Square, Sutton Row.
Twelve boroughs South of the River
WRONG The Dirty Dozen refers to twelve streets that take you east from Regent Street to Charing Cross Road without using Oxford Street – Crossrail has seen that one-off. Great Marlborough Street, Noel Street, Berwick Street, D’Arblay Street, Wardour Street, Hollen Street, Great Chapel Street, Fareham Street, Dean Street, Carlisle Street, Soho Square, Sutton Row.