The ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) is to be expanded across all of Greater London by the end of next year, Sadiq Khan has announced. This will mean that drivers of more polluting vehicles will have to pay £12.50 a day to drive anywhere in the capital – effectively meaning only “clean” vehicles can drive within the M25 without paying the charge. As night public transport is abysmal, that should see off all low-pay shift workers from getting to work.
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Johnson’s London Dictionary: Eastenders
EASTENDERS (n., a.) Television species much given to shout for no apparent reason in the name of entertainment
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
The road that didn’t exist
There is a real street in London that never actually existed, in the sense that one minute it wasn’t there, then it was, and then it was gone again.
It was called Broad Streete, and it appeared on 8th January 1683 in, what is, the most central part of the city. A great many shops opened on it, many thousands of people visited and traders arrived, a bullring was built and there were games and displays of strength and skill. Oxen were roasted and drink was sold, and a great time was had by all along its length.
Broad Streete could only be built because between the 14th and 19th centuries the Thames froze solid more than a dozen times. John Evelyn describes the street thus: “The ice was now become so incredibly thick, as the beare not onely whole streets of boothes in which they roasted meate, & had divers shops of wares…but coaches and horses passed over.”
In early January 1683, the Thames had frozen to a thickness of almost a foot and stayed that way for two months. At other times the ice grew to several feet thick, especially between Blackfriars and London Bridge. There are various reasons for the existence of Broad Streete. One was the ‘Little Ice Age’ that hit England, another was that the Thames had yet to be embanked, so it flowed more slowly and was prone to icing over. At that time London Bridge has several supports, called starlings, sunk into the river bed which also slowed the flow.
Rapid thaws sometimes caused the loss of life and property. In January 1789, melting ice dragged away a ship that was anchored to a riverside pub, pulling the building down and causing five people to be crushed to death.
In the pedestrian tunnel under the south bank of Southwark Bridge, there’s an engraving by sculptor Richard Kindersley made of slabs of grey slate, depicting a frost fair.
The global climate grew milder, the river was banked and flowed faster, and that was the end of Broad Streete.
That is until we get more climate change.
London in Quotations: Charles Knight
London is a world in itself … It contains within itself all that is gorgeous in wealth, and all that is squalid in poverty; all that is illustrious in knowledge, and all that is debased in ignorance; all that is beautiful in virtue, and all that is revolting in crime. Adequately to chronicle and to describe such a city … is a task beyond any individual powers.
Charles Knight (1791-1873), The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
London Trivia: Student protests
On 13 March 1967 hundreds of students at the London School of Economics took part in a sit-in over disciplinary action taken against two union officials, following their part in a demonstration on 31 January against the appointment of the LSE’s next director, Dr Walter Adams, in which a college porter died of a heart attack during the demonstrations. Students opposed the appointment as he had links with Ian Smith’s racist regime.
On 13 March 1961 five members of Portland Spy Ring went on trial at the Old Bailey charged with plotting to pass plans of HMS Dreadnought, Britain’s first nuclear submarine, they were all found guilty
The London Hackney Carriage Act makes it illegal to hail a cab whilst the vehicle is moving, thankfully the police don’t enforce the law
London’s first Russian Orthodox Cathedral was consecrated in 2000 look down on its blue onion dome from Chiswick Flyover’s eastbound lane
The corpse of Henry V’s wife Catherine de Valois was dug up and put on display for 200 years, Samuel Pepys records kissing the lips for a bet
In 1940 Winston Churchill met at St. Ermin’s Hotel promising to ‘Set Europe Ablaze’ the genesis of the SOE which ultimately became the SAS
Harry Potter’s magic luggage trolley sticks out of a wall between platforms 8/9 not 9/10 because J.K.Rowling was thinking of Euston
Kaspar the Cat was a large feline figure used at the Savoy Hotel if a table setting totalled 13 increasing it beyond that unlucky number
Ping-pong bar Bounce at 121 Holborn is on the site where John Jacques created and patented the game in 1901
The taximeter invented in 1891 giving the cab its alternative name wasn’t used in London until 1907 in a attempt to prevent rows about fares
In the Royal Mews the carriages are the responsibility of the Master of the Horse a position created by Edward III after the Siege of Calais
The world’s first ATM was installed outside Barclays Bank, Enfield in 1967 it was opened by actor/comedian Reg Varney who withdrew £10
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.
