On 7 May 1849 Lady Blessington and her lover, the Comte d’Orsay left for France. The purpose of their hurried departure was to escape their debtors after having been served papers demanding repayment. Phillips, the auctioneer, who gave his name to the famous auction house sold her house with its contents in Kensington. His advertising blurb stated: ‘Grove House . . . required neither substantial repair nor decorations as very large sums have been lately expended thereon’.

On 7 May 1960 the London Museum opened a reconstruction of an Iron Age settlement found on the site of the BOAC air terminal at Heathrow

In the 1940s and 1950s Metropolitan Police Officers using their own bicycles to cover police beats were paid an allowance of threepence

The New Exchange was a kind of early shopping mall which was built on the south side of the Strand in 1608 and stood there until 1737

All but one of the ravens at the Tower of London died from stress during the Blitz, fortuitously as legend has it that should they leave the Tower England will fall

London was once the capital of six countries in World War II it was safe haven for the governments of Poland, Norway, Belgium, Holland, France

Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of band Pulp, wrote a song called 59 Lyndhurst Grove after being thrown out of a party at that address in Peckham

The first London Eye was erected in Earls Court in 1894 for an Empire of India exhibition, 300ft high, as opposed to 442 for the London Eye

The foppish son and heir apparent of King George II died in Leicester House as a result of being struck in the throat with a cricket ball

Cockfosters Underground station was originally going to be called Trent Park or ‘Cock Fosters’ (an early spelling of the area’s name), the original site hoarding displayed the name as a single word

In 1981 Soho had 184 sex establishments today only Brewer Street the upstairs windows of Old Compton Street and alleys near Berwick Street belie its past

At 135ft Candover Street off Riding House Street is London’s shortest street, Rotherhithe Street the longest named street at 1.5 miles

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 30 April 1907 for 20 days history was in the making. At the Brotherhood Church, which once stood on the corner of Southgate Road and Balmes Road, the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party was held. Attendees included Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Rosa Luxembourg and Maxim Gorky. The rest is history. The site is now occupied by a mixed-use residential and business building, with the exact site of the church now a Tesco Express.

On 30 April 1980 gunmen took over the Iranian embassy at Prince’s Gate, under the full glare of the media the SAS stormed the building on 5 May killing 5 and releasing the hostages

In 1906 Messrs Spillberg, Nabian and Aaroris of Nelson Street, Stepney were convicted of smuggling saccharin which then was considered a drug

Liverpool Street’s Great Eastern Hotel (now the Andaz) opened in 1884 and was at one time the only hotel in the City

Builders working on the Builders working on the Bakerloo Line are reported to have suffered from the bends while tunnelling under the Thames

During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Holland Queen Wilhelmina moved her Dutch government into her London home at 77 Chester Square, Belgravia

The Cliff Richard musical Summer Holiday had a bus bound for ‘London to the South of France via Dover Paris’ most was shot in LT’s bus works Aldenham

Museum of London tracing the capital’s history from Prehistoric times to the present day is the largest urban history museum in the world

In 1966 actor, bodybuilder and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger lived at 335 Romford Road Ilford as a guest of bodybuilder Charles Bennett

The first section of the Underground ran between Paddington and Farringdon Street. The same section now forms part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines

Miles Coverdale who supervised the production of the first complete bible in English in 1535 was once Rector of St Magnus the Martyr

When the Millennium Dome was built, a Blue Peter capsule was buried containing amongst other items a spice girls cd, a tamagotchi and a Blue Peter badge!

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.