On 21 January 1670 Claude Duval the ‘Gallant Highwayman’ was hanged. Caught drunk at Mother Maberley’s Tavern in Chandos Street. When passing judgement Sir William Morton refused to commute the death sentence, and threatened to resign rather than sparing the highwayman despite mercy pleas from Ladies’ of the Court and even King Charles II himself. Duval was buried in St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden.

On 21 January 2006 a juvenile botlenose whale was spotted swimming up the Thames, she beached near Albert Bridge, watched by thousands efforts were made to return her back to the sea – it died

For writing ‘this Adonis in loveliness is a corpulent man of 50’ Leigh Hunt was imprisoned for 2 years in 1813 for libelling the Prince Regent

The last wolf in the City of London is commemorated at the spot it was killed, where a wolf’s head forms the waterspout of the Aldgate pump

On 21 January 1950 George Orwell, author of 1984 who penned the idea of Big Brother, died at University College Hospital aged 46

Henry I decreed that a street could not be named a Street unless it was paved and wide enough for 16 knights to ride abreast

The 1949 Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico was shot in Lambeth starring Stanley Holloway documents revealed Pimlico an independent nation

The Lamb in Lamb’s Conduit Street had etched glass partitions preventing wealthy drinkers having to watch common men drinking in next bar

When Billy (the police horse who controlled spectators at the 1923 FA Cup final) died, his rider was given one of his hooves as an inkwell

On 21 January 1976 the first two Concordes entered service. BA’s from Heathrow to Bahrain while Air France’s from Paris to Rio de Janeiro

Jack Dee once worked in the Ritz’s kitchen. One night he cooked a doorman’s dinner, got a 50p tip. Made him realise his life was in a mess

London’s shortest street name is Hide, not Hide Street or Hide Lane, just Hide. At 150ft in length the street’s not so terribly long either

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 14 January 1896 the first public film show to an audience took place at the Queen’s Hall in Langham Place, Birt Acres, a Fellow of The Royal Photographic Society demonstrated his Kineopticon system to Society members and their wives. Acres had last year previously made the first successful movie in Britain filming Clovelly Cottage outside his Barnet home. He is credited with inventing the first amateur cine camera.

On 14 January 1926 Actor Warren Mitchell was born Stoke Newington he was of Russian Jewish descent and originally surnamed Misell

Wapping’s Execution Dock was similar to that at Tyburn and Newgate but dealt with executions for piracy, murder at sea and mutiny

Smithfield Market was designed by Sir Horace Jones who also designed Billingsgate and Leadenhall markets and Tower Bridge

There is a mosquito named after the Tube the London Underground mosquito, which was found in the London Underground. notable for its assault of Londoners sleeping in the Underground during the Blitz

The Red Flag was inspired by a guard’s flag at Charing Cross station as the song’s writer travelled home from a dock strike meeting in 1889

The Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury in Avenue was built in 1886 on the site of William Hunter’s dissecting room and anatomy theatre

Samuel Scott’s speciality was tying a noose around his neck jumping off dancing in the air and returning safely-at Waterloo bridge – he didn’t

In 1874 an ice rink, the Glacarium, opened on the King’s Road, Chelsea. Freezing was achieved by means of a rotary engine and pump

There were no loos on early trains with foresight those with weak bladders purchased ‘travelling conveniences’ of rubber strapped to the leg

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge when a more humble Kate Middleton worked as a buyer at Jigsaw Clothing Store, 9 Argyll Street, Regent Street

On 14 January 1929 two Harley Street surgeons committed suicide by cutting their own throats after donating their instruments to a hospital

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.