All posts by Gibson Square

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

London Trivia: Churchill’s finest hour

2 January, 2022 Gibson Square 2 Comments

On 2 January 1911, a botched attempt by Latvian thieves at Houndsditch jewellers and a gunfight resulted in the death of a police officer. They made their escape with its leader the well-known anarchist Peter The Painter and holed up at 100 Sidney Street. A gun battle ensued between 200 police and the fugitives. Home Secretary Winston Churchill was filmed directing police in the operation to apprehend the criminals.

On 2 January 1954 Eddie Calvert started a 9 week run at No.1 with Oh, Mein Papa, the first No.1 to be recorded at Abbey Road Studios

Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe described Newgate Prison as ‘that horrible place’, he should know he was imprisoned there in 1703

You can find Britain’s smallest police station, designed in 1926 to monitor demonstrations, in the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square

In 1906 Messrs Spillberg, Nabian and Aaroris of Nelson Street, Stepney were convicted of smuggling saccharin which then was considered a drug

In 1938 it was found the Woolsack in House of Lords actually contained horsehair rather than wool – it was duly rectified

The on-set voice of HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey was provided by a crew member, so the actor playing Dave had to respond to broad Cockney

Did you know: Cafe Rouge originally launched (in Richmond, 1984) as Cafe Bleu, but then switched colour?

The longest Rugby drop goal (85 yards) was kicked by Gerry Brand for South Africa against England at Twickenham on 2 January 1932

When Paddington Underground Station, as the western terminus of London’s first underground, opened in January 1863 it was called Bishop’s Road

Fortnum and Mason’s head of bakery is known as ‘Groom of the Pastry’ a tradition dating back two centuries

On 2 January 1608 Limehouse sea-captain Christopher Newport and Virginia settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia onboard the Susan Constant

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.

Previously Posted

Previously Posted: Make a cuppa and do The Knowledge

1 January, 2022 Gibson Square 2 Comments

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.

Make a cuppa and do The Knowledge (13.10.2009)

When I started the Knowledge 17 years ago you got yourself a bike, some warm clothes and set off most days to explore London whatever the weather. One anecdote at the time was of somebody buying a Travel card and attempting to gain that coveted green badge from studying the Knowledge from the top of a double decker bus. But for most of us it was the humble Honda C90. Along the way you first experienced Cabbies Scrotum a condition caused by sitting down for too long. The verbal exams also would be a challenge to your resolve, I was once asked to describe a journey from two places on opposite sides of the same road. When I queried it with the examiner he said “it’s raining, I’m pregnant and I’ve got a wooden leg so I need a cab”.

Now these clever people at Google have come up with a service which some lazy Knowledge students will want to try. Make yourself a cup of tea sit in the warm, call up Google Street View and bingo.

Google has spent almost a year collecting these images, with a fleet of specially modified cars, and the resultant images provide a snapshot of a bygone era before the recession hit the British high street. With many of the pictures were taken last summer, they show stores that have since gone bust, including Woolworths.

As well as the logistical challenges of taking tens of millions of individual pictures along Britain’s roads, Street View has also suffered intense criticism from privacy campaigners since it launched in the US two years ago. An American couple even went as far as to sue Google over invasion of privacy although they subsequently lost the case.

The resolution of Google Street View is amazing and you can examine every recess. Alright you still have go to Knowledge School to revise with other students, and yes, you don’t get some of your senses stimulated, like smelling the urine on the Paddington slip which for some perverse reason is used as a toilet by some cabbies.

But pursuing the Knowledge can be much more interesting than looking at images and studying a map all day, and you need a reasonable intellect to achieve your badge, but it’s a pity you’re not told how boring it can be.

So what will we have soon, a generation of cabbies who have strained their index fingers using a mouse?

I tell you what they’ll miss the smell of the urine!