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.

On 7 January 1928 a perfect storm hit London. Heavy snow, followed by a sudden thaw with heavy rain combined with a high spring tide and a storm surge raised the water levels on the Thames. A massive flood ensued, water overflowed from the City to Putney and Hammersmith, fourteen people drowned and 4,000 were made homeless. The disaster contributed to the eventual building of the Thames Barrier.

On 7 January 1618 Sir Francis Bacon, one of the cleverest of his generation, was made Lord Chancellor of England by his patron King James I.

A punishment in London’s Victorian prisons was oakum picking. Prisoners were given old ships’ rope with the task of unpicking the strands

On Admiralty Arch is a small nose said to be Lord Nelson’s second nose – it’s not. Placed there in 1997 by an artist as a form of protest

In 1924, the first baby was born on the Underground, on a train at Elephant and Castle on the Bakerloo Line

Harold Wilson always drank Lucozade during speeches – but from a blue glass, as he worried that in a clear one it would look like Scotch

Victorian poet Swinburne and artist Rosetti  shared 16 Cheyne Walk Chelsea with Rosetti’s menagerie including a pet wombat

London’s oldest hotel Claridge’s opened as Mivart’s Hotel in 1812 by French chef Jacques Mivart. He sold out to William Claridge in 1838

Charlton means ‘homestead belonging to the churls’. Churls were the lowest rank of freeman during medieval times

On the Metropolitan line, trains can reach over 60mph but the average is a mere 20.5 miles per hour including stops

Inventor Richard Arkwright who with John Kay invented the spinning-frame that produced a strong cotton thread lived at 8 Adam Street, Strand

There is evidence to show that in medieval London, off Cheapside, there was a road, probably frequented by prostitutes, named Gropecunt Lane

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.