Listening to the excellent WizzAnn Podcast, one of the contributors advanced the idea that TfL has inserted a mole among London’s cabbie fraternity. The theory goes that how is it that an organisation filled with desk wallas knows all the cut-throughs we learned on The Knowledge? Once informed the road is then blocked to vehicles – thanks!
All posts by Gibson Square
Johnson’s London Dictionary: New Year’s Day Parade
NEW YEAR’S DAY PARADE (n.) Annual walk around central London by 10,000 participants demonstrating the local council’s ability to remove 85 tonnes of street rubbish before the procession.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
The London Grill: Toby Osmond
We challenge our contributors to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don’t take “Sorry Gov” for an answer. Everyone sitting in the hot seat they will face the same questions ranging from their favourite way to spend a day out in the capital to their most hated building on London’s skyline to find out what Londoners think about their city. The questions are the same but the answers vary wildly.
Toby is an Actor and Scriptwriter who lives in and loves London. He’s appeared in Game of Thrones as the Last Prince of Dorne, Summerland opposite Dame Penelope Wilton and 5* play Diary of a Somebody in Covent Garden. In Spring you can see him in Tennessee Williams’s The Rose Tattoo at The Arcola Theatre, Dalston and he has just completed filming on Moonquake which will be released in 2024. He lives on a boat, roams the canals and rivers of London fighting crime and wearing outrageous coats and in his spare time is a Royal Navy Reservist. You can find him on Instagram at mr.t.osmond.
What’s your secret London tip?
VAULT Festival – a surprising number of Londoners don’t know about this scintillating, months-long extravaganza of comedy, theatre and performance arts. It’s London’s answer to the Edinburgh Festival, and you only need to go to Waterloo station to get there! Even if you don’t watch a show there, the bars are an Alice in Wonderland-esque environment to get lost in and meet a wonderful cross-section of London’s nightlife.
What’s your secret London place?
There’s a chamber in Tottenham Court Road tube station, near the bottom of the escalators along the central line entrance route, with beautiful acoustics. If you ‘Ahhh’ as you walk from the entrance, as soon as you hit the centre of the chamber your Ahhh becomes an AHHH and it’s magnificent.
What’s your biggest gripe about London?
Currently the Canal and River Trust’s campaign to get rid of a lot of the wonderful canal boats. They want to monetise as much of the river as possible, despite having semi-charitable status, and they’re failing in their duties to large sections of the community of boaters as well as their responsibility to maintain our wonderful London treasure that is the canal and river network.
What’s your favourite building?
While BFI and the National Theatre are strong contenders, the Barbican takes it. The brutalist beauty is right up my street and if I’m there I usually see the Royal Shakespeare Company or a visiting company from abroad and I’ve yet to be let down by one of these touring productions. Truly wonderful art on the stage here – and I love it when all of the mechanical doors silently slide shut to usher in the beginning of the play.
What’s your most hated building?
Westfield Stratford. Everything about it.
What’s the best view in London?
Dusk or Dawn on the canals with the mists rising to join the smoke of the multitudinous beautifully unique canal boats while the sun rises or sets. I’d highly recommend walking the towpaths if you haven’t.
What’s your personal London landmark?
While the Canal Aqueduct that goes over the North Circular is a very strong contender (bet you didn’t know about that. I sure didn’t until I went over it!), it has to be the Islington Tunnel for me. This is London’s longest river tunnel and can’t be traversed by land. It feels like a scene in a horror film, like some kind of monster will rear out of the darkness at any moment. It’s 960 yards long, and going through by boat takes a little while. It feels like half an hour but it’s probably a couple of minutes. You can see it from the towpaths in Islington in the East and King’s Cross for the Western entrance. A semi-circle of pure darkness, even on the brightest day.
What’s London’s best film, book or documentary?
My current favourite is The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitc. My mate John recommended the audiobook and as a born and bred Londoner, I love the descriptions of landmarks, lesser-known places and even the A-roads that go around the area I grew up.
What’s your favourite restaurant?
Oi Vita Pizzeria South of Newington Green. A small and wonderful restaurant where you actually enjoy Limoncello outside of Italy.
How would you spend your ideal day off in London?
A cruise along Walthamstow Marshes followed by a trip to the National Theatre then hitting Soho. The French House for a couple, The Phoenix Arts Club for a show then Gerry’s, the Actors Club to see the end of the night in.
London in Quotations: Garry Crystal
You can see the people who thought they could come to London, bend over and pick gold off the streets. They’re all lying on benches in Trafalgar Square with hernias and cans of Special Brew.
Garry Crystal (b1976), Leaving London
London Trivia: Jurassic junket
On 31 December 1853 celebrating the installation of life-sized dinosaur models at Sydenham Park. A 20 strong dinner party was held inside the stomach of the partly completed a concrete iguanodon made by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins of the Crystal Palace Company. The model was surrounded by a tent decorated with a chandelier and four plaques honouring famous palaeontologists. Guests were served by waiters, what was on the menu is unknown.
On the 31 December 1923 the chimes of Big Ben were first broadcast by the BBC and every evening since are transmitted live via a microphone
On 31 December 1919 the first woman law student was admitted to study at Lincoln’s Inn which had been in existence since at least 1422
Westminster Catholic Cathedral, Victoria Street stands on the foundations of Tothill Fields Prison demolished in 1884
In 1952 pollution was so bad a theatre performance at Sadler’s Wells had to be abandoned as smog crept into the auditorium
The Palace of Westminster has 8 bars, 6 restaurants, 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, 11 courtyards, a hair salon, and rifle-shooting range
The harrowing battle scenes in the last hour of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket were filmed at Beckton Gas a latticework and appropriate advertising hoardings added make it believable
Russian for railway station ‘vokzal’ derives from Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens as its first track went from St. Petersburg to a pleasure garden
Arsenal are the only football team to have a Tube station named after them, called Gillespie Road it was renamed in 1932 when the team went to Highbury
Heathrow Airport is so named because the land it was built on was once a sleepy hamlet called Heath Row
Cock Lane didn’t get its name due to any association with poultry, but because it was the only street to be licensed for prostitution
Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg who lived off Farringdon Road predicted there would be a special part in heaven reserved for the English
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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