On 10 January 1930 a letter in The Times from George Buchanan offered some sage advice to road users when joining major roads such as Piccadilly from a side street, suggesting it should be obligatory to sound one’s horn alerting others of your intention. His suggestion seems to have gained traction as today horns are forever used when grids to a halt traffic. Rather surprisingly he advocated a 25-30mph speed limit in London – if only.

On 10 January 1885 Toynbee Hall formally opened, named after social reformer Arnold Toynbee who improved the lives of many in Whitechapel

In the 14th century London had a higher murder rate than any United States city does today at around 50 per 100,000 population, today it’s 1.8

The Coade Lion, Westminster Bridge previously stood over the entrance to the Lion Brewery by Hungerford Bridges

On 10 January 1945 Roderick David ‘Rod’ Stewart was born above his father’s newsagents at 507 Archway Road, Highgate

On 10 January 1946 the first General Assembly of the United Nations was held in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster

In The Italian Job Michael Caine says “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” was filmed inside Crystal Palace Park athletics track

The Cheshire Cheese was once famous for serving huge beef, oyster and lark pies that weighed 50 to 80lbs and served up to 100 people

When Usain Bolt ran the 100m at the 2012 London Olympics, his feet only touched the ground for two seconds

Around 30,000 passengers went on The Metropolitan Line on its first day of public business – January 10, 1863

Constantia Philips, a retired courtesan, opened London’s first sex shop in 1732. Her ‘preservatives’ – condoms – were hugely popular

On 10 January 1985 8 people killed in a gas explosion at Manor Fields Estate Putney Police found bags stuffed with £20 notes in the debris

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.

On 3 January 1804: When Francis Smith joined a group patrolling the Hammersmith Bridge in the wake of sightings of a ghostly figure and saw a figure dressed in white, naturally he assumed it was a deadly apparition. Shooting Thomas Millwood who was dressed in pale clothes after a day’s plastering. Smith was tried for wilful murder, found guilty the hanging sentence was commuted to a year’s hard labour.

On 3 January 1946 William Joyce, ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, an fascist who had broadcast German propaganda from Germany to Britain during WWII was hanged at Wandsworth

On 3 January 1911 The Siege of Sidney Street, popularly known as the ‘Battle of Stepney’ took place in the East End

No. 1 the Strand was the very first house in London to be numbered, although Apsley House at Hyde Park is now called No. 1 London

According to the burial register at St Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch Thomas Cam died in 1588 at the ripe old age of 207

Carter Lane was once a main thoroughfare through the City and where at the Hart’s Horn Tavern Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators met

When the allegorical novella Animal Farm was published in 1945 George Orwell was living at 27b Cannonbury Square, Islington

When the Can Can was performed at the Alhambra Leicester Square in 1870 the theatre’s dancing licence was suspended

Shergar won the 1981 Derby was so far ahead the short-sighted jockey in second place didn’t see him and thought that he had won the race

From 14th to the 18th century the area occupied by Trafalgar Square was the courtyard of the Great Mews stabling serving Whitehall Palace

As a boy Charles Dickens worked in a boot polish or blacking factory on Villiers Street the Strand. Embankment station now occupies the site

The streets named Savoy take their name from the Savoy Palace where in 1381 thirty-two men trapped in the cellar drank themselves to death

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.