Amazon have stopped accepting Visa cards, so I had to switch to my M&S Mastercard. But M&S don’t except cheques (my preferred method of payment), so I had to set up a direct debit. The only way for a direct debit to work was by opening an M&S online bank account. Easy peesy it only took an hour. Now all I have to worry about is that it’s ‘automatically’ paid and I’m not charged 39.9% interest. Thanks Jeff Bezos, happy landings.
All posts by Gibson Square
Johnson’s London Dictionary: Tube
TUBE (n.) An elektric powered stagecoach running upon rails through tunnels, by which means its numerous passengers are squeezed into its vehicles
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
Protected: The Wally Birds of Havelock Road
London in Quotations: Rachel Weisz
I think London’s sexy because it’s so full of eccentrics.
Rachel Weisz (b.1970)
London Trivia: Tottenham own goal
On 23 January 1909 two anarchist Latvian immigrants snatched the wages from a factory in Tottenham, making their escape using first a tram, then a milk float and finally a greengrocers van, but could not force the horse into more than the slowest of ambles because they had omitted to release the brake, they killed PC William Tyler and 10-year-old Ralph Joscelyne. The robbers shot themselves rather than face the hangman.
On 23 January 1552 the 2nd version of Book of Common Prayer became mandatory in England, the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI, more radical than the first, was authorised by a second Uniformity Act
It is illegal in London to impersonate a Chelsea pensioner – the offence is still theoretically punishable by death
On 23 January 1571 The Royal Exchange was opened by Elizabeth I who awarded the building its royal title and license to sell alcohol
When King George VI died in 1952 the code ‘Hyde Park Corner’ was used to inform the Government of his death
On 23 January 1985 the proceedings of the House of Lords were televised for the first time – as with nowadays not many tuned in to watch
Established in 1902, Ealing Studios in West London are the oldest continuously working film studios in the world
Almost every day at exactly one o’clock Oscar Wilde would sit down to lunch at the lavish Cafe Royal, 68 Regent Street
Footmen whose job was to run alongside carriages by 1700 were raced against each other for high stakes a pub in Mayfair is named after one
Colonel Pierpoint designed the world’s first ever traffic island in St James’s Street he tripped showing his creation and killed by a cab
Edward Turner, designer of Triumph motorcycles, the Ariel Square Four and the Daimler V8 engine once lived at 87 Rye Hill Park, Southwark
London’s thoroughfares once had Thieving Lane; Whores Nest; Pissing Alley; Cutthroat Lane; Foul Lane; Blowbladder Street; and Cats Hole
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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