All posts by Gibson Square
Spot the odd one out
From these seemingly diverse cities spot the odd one out: Barcelona, Spain; Buffalo, New York; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Vancouver, Canada; Frankfurt, Germany; Anchorage, Alaska; Austin, Texas; Oslo, Norway; Reykjavik, Iceland; London, England. Yes, you guessed it – London. The city voted many times as having the best cabbies, and with the most stringent taxi licensing regulations in the world has allowed Uber to operate with predictable consequences.
Protected: Missing London Quiz
London in Quotations: William Shakespeare
I hope to see London once ‘ere I die.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Henry IV, Part 2
London Trivia: The Tower’s last prisoner
On 17 May 1941, Rudolf Hess was interned for 4 days at the Tower of London where he signed autographs for the warders – one of which is still in the warders bar. Hitler’s deputy had parachuted into Scotland asserting that he wanted to open peace negotiations. He would be the final state prisoner to be held at the castle. Hess would only remain for a few days, he was later tried at Nuremberg and given a life sentence.
On 17 May 1993 at the cost of £345 million, the Limehouse Link opened, becoming the most expensive road per foot to be constructed in Britain
The Seamens’ and Soldiers’ False Characters Act 1906 makes it an offence to walk London’s streets in military fancy dress – fine £20
Affixed to a wall of the Charterhouse is London’s oldest surviving sundial dated 1611 marking the year Thomas Sutton established the school
Postman’s Park near the site of the old General Post Office has a memorial to those dying – many of them children – trying to save others
Incarcerated in the Tower of London King John II of France while awaiting for his ransom to be paid had his own court jester to cheer him up
Named after London’s famous comic, Joseph Grimaldi Park in Islington plays host to an annual ceremony populated by clowns
The Savoy Hotel which reopened at 10.10 on 10.10.2010 was built 1889 and was London’s first luxury hotel and the first with electric light
Abe Sapperstein, a Jewish businessman, born in Flower and Dean Street in 1900 was the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, he was neither black nor American
The longest distance between Underground stations is the Metropolitan line from Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles
London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company founded the world’s first gas works in 1812 to supply gas to Westminster
Rare before, Sysimbrium irio a native plant of the Mediterranean prolificated in the City which had been devastated after the Great Fire
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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