My Dad says that being a Londoner has nothing to do with where you’re born. He says that there are people who get off a jumbo jet at Heathrow, go through immigration waving any kind of passport, hop on the tube and by the time the train’s pulled into Piccadilly Circus they’ve become a Londoner.
Ben Aaronovitch (b.1964), Moon Over Soho
On 13 April 1984 during an anti-Gadaffi rally at the Libyan People’s Bureau, No. 5 St James’s Square, shots were fired from a window at the Bureau, one of which killed PC Yvonne Fletcher, a few yards away from her fiancé who was also a policeman.
On 13 April 1999 a nail bomb exploded in Brixton, injuring at least 45 people, it was thought that the target was the largely black clientele of Brixton Market
In Oliver Twist Charles Dickens sited Fagin’s Lair in the notorious area that existed around the current Saffron Hill
In the 11th century, Brixton was known as ‘Brixistane’ meaning ‘the stone of Brihtsige’. Locals used the stones as a meeting place
Behind the stalls of Islington’s Sadlers Wells Theatre is the well containing medicinal water which Thomas Sadler found in 1684
The House of Commons’ press gallery bar is named Moncrieff’s in honour of respected political journalist, Chris Moncrieff – a teetotaller
George Orwell used Senate House in Bloomsbury as the inspiration for The Ministry of Truth in his book 1984
Birdcage Walk was the site of the 17th century Royal Aviary. Diarist John Evelyn spotted “many curious kinds of poultry” here
In 1922 in the rafters of Westminster Hall was found a tennis ball dating from before 1520 made of leather and stuffed with dog’s hair
In between Golders Green and Hampstead the tube slows down for the ghost station “Bull and Bush”, a station which was never built
In the early 80’s comic Jo Brand worked as a psychiatric nurse at the Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, a fact of her life she will often talk about
Chains from Brunel’s Hungerford Bridge, demolished in 1864, were re-used as part of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol
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.
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.
Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends, were the lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the musical Oklahoma! And one would think by the rhetoric surrounding the pedicab/licensed taxi debate that a turf war was being engaged by the two proponents along the lines of the ranch disputes in America’s mid-west.
Nothing could be further from the truth, the dent in a London cabbie’s income caused as a consequence of business lost to ‘rickshaws’ is minuscule.
Anyone with a desire to climb aboard a pedicab wants to do just that, they don’t want to undertake a journey in the luxury of a London taxi.
No, the grievance we, the London cab trade, have with pedicabs is that ‘Plying for Hire’ is not practised on a level playing field. We have to undergo up to five years of arduous study while on The Knowledge; have a Criminal Records Bureau check and take an enhanced driving test before we can ply for hire.
Private hire now has vigorous checks upon cab offices and their drivers and they are not allowed to prowl London’s streets picking up passengers.
But pedicab riders can pitch up, undergo the minimum of training, have no formal checks upon their suitability and then pick up tourists including children from the Capital’s streets.
We have to take any assurances from pedicab operators at face value when they tell us of their vehicle’s roadworthiness.
There is also a question of whether just about anyone can buy one of these carriages and go out on London’s roads without even the cursory checks that a pedicab company would undertake.
Public transport in London has been regulated for centuries, in fact, it was Oliver Cromwell who first brought some order to cabbies’ behaviour. But now we have a group whose only regulation is self-regulation – it’s just not enough.
But cabbies’ biggest gripe is the sheer numbers clogging up the streets of the West End, and instances of them riding in contravention of the road traffic regulations with seeming impunity from prosecution.
And this last point might be just a personal observation, but how is it that large numbers are allowed to congregate around West End theatres at the end of a performance? Not only do they impede pedestrians, including the disabled, but if an evacuation of the theatre should be necessary theatregoers would be confronted by a wall of steel preventing safe egress with possible tragic circumstances.
No, if we are to continue promoting pedicabs as yet another London ‘icon’ they need to be regulated. Turf wars it is not, but we do need a level playing field. If not they should be restricted to London’s parks where curiously they are never to be found. Now, why should that be?
A person who is tired of London is not necessarily tired of life; it might be that he just can’t find a parking place, or is sick of being overcharged.
Paul Theroux (b. 1941), Sunrise with Seamonsters
On 6 April 1580, an earthquake struck London at about 6 pm, half a dozen chimney stacks and a pinnacle at Westminster Abbey came down. Thomas Grey, an apprentice cobbler was killed by falling masonry.
On 6 April 1966 The Beatles recorded the start of their album, ‘Revolver’, with ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, at Abbey Road Studios
In Oliver Twist Charles Dickens sited Fagin’s Lair in the notorious area that existed around the current Saffron Hill
In the 11th century, Brixton was known as ‘Brixistane’ meaning ‘the stone of Brihtsige’. Locals used the stones as a meeting place
Behind the stalls of Islington’s Sadlers Wells Theatre is the well containing medicinal water which Thomas Sadler found in 1684
On 6 April 1895 Oscar Wilde was arrested for gross indecency and sentenced to 2 years hard labour. At the time homosexuality was a crime
George Orwell used Senate House in Bloomsbury as the inspiration for The Ministry of Truth in his book 1984
Birdcage Walk was the site of the 17th century Royal Aviary. Diarist John Evelyn spotted “many curious kinds of poultry” here
In 1922 in the rafters of Westminster Hall was found a tennis ball dating from before 1520 made of leather and stuffed with dog’s hair
In between Golders Green and Hampstead the tube slows down for the ghost station “Bull and Bush”, a station which was never built
In the early 80’s comic Jo Brand worked as a psychiatric nurse at the Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, a fact of her life she will often talk about
Chains from Brunel’s Hungerford Bridge, demolished in 1864, were re-used as part of the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol
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.
CabbieBlog 