On 14 September 1974, Chia Chia and Ching Ching, two giant pandas which had been presented to Prime Minister Edward Heath during his visit to China, arrived in London destined for London Zoo.

On 14 September 1680 Roger Crab, hermit of Bethnal Green, and inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter, was buried at St Dunstan’s

In the early 1900s police used the ‘Bischoffsheim’ hand ambulance, basically a long handcart, to move awkward prisoners to the station

Westminster Cathedral (the Catholic one on Victoria Street, not the Abbey) contains 12 million bricks – two million more than the Empire State Building

St. Thomas’s, a medieval foundation, had to move to make way for a railway line; its new site was beside the Thames, where the air was now pure

“The dreadful truth is that when people come to see their MP they have run out of better ideas” – Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

The chimes of Big Ben broadcast by the BBC every evening since 1923 are live, transmitted via a microphone hidden behind the famous clock

The Penderel’s Oak PH, High Holborn is named after yeoman farmer, Richard Penderel, who helped King Charles I escape by hiding him in a wood

Before 1914 corner pavilions were common in British clubs. Fulham FC’s ‘The Cottage’ which opened in 1905 is the sole survivor

Victoria Line the world’s first full-scale automatic railway enables a driver to close doors travel to next station at the push of a button

The Swiss Re: or Gerkin Tower’s upper windows can only be cleaned by steeplejacks absailing by ropes from a trapdoor in the roof

A Cockney is defined as being born within the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow Church, Cheapside in The City of London not East London

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 September 1931, the Granada Cinema on Tooting Broadway opened, it was the first cinema to be given Grade I listing due to its marble interior, hall of mirrors and sumptuous decor. Fred Astaire once performed there.

On 7 September 1978 Bulgarian writer Georgi Markov was stabbed by poison umbrella on Waterloo Bridge, he dies 4 days later

In 1999 a man tested his right as a Freeman of the City of London to drive two sheep named Clover and Little Man, across London Bridge

79 Pall Mall is the only building in the street not owned by the Crown. Charles II gave Nell Gwynn the freehold after she refused its lease

From the lower office windows of 16 Farringdon Lane can be seen the original medieval medicinal drinking water of ‘Clerks Well’ from which Clerkenwell takes its name

The future Mary II is said to have wept for a day and a half when she was told that she would have to marry William of Orange in 1677

Lambeth Bridge’s statutes symbolise human virtue: for men ironworking building working honour; for women agriculture housework cooking power

The oldest baths building in London which still serves the needs of a functioning swimming pool is the entrance block of Forest Hill Baths

Britain’s earliest supplier of rackets balls in the 19th century Mr Maling of Woolwich learnt his craft as an inmate at King’s Bench Prison

In 1989 a version of the famous FX-4 London taxi went on sale in Japan badged as the ‘Big Ben Novelty Car’, no records exist as to the number of buyers

During World War I a giant postal sorting office was located in Regent’s Park handling 2 billion letters in the world’s largest wooden structure

London has a population density ten times higher than anywhere else in Britain with its residents speaking over 300 languages

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 31 August 1854 a severe outbreak of cholera started at Broad Street, Soho, by the end 616 people had died. Dr John Snow deduced that the cause was contaminated water from the pump. A replica pump is to be found near the site of the original in Broadwick Street.

On 31 August 1888 Mary Ann Nichols’ body was found in Buck’s Row, she was Jack in Ripper’s first victim

Buckingham House built 1702 which would later become Buckingham Palace was built on the site of a notorious brothel

A ‘tot’ was an artificial Celtic beacon hill arranged along solstice lines London’s most famous tot hill was Westminster hence Fields and Street

Richard the Lionheart’s heart is believed to be buried in the churchyard of All Hallows by the Tower, beneath a demolished chapel

Pear Tree Court on Lunham Road has an 18-room nuclear bunker in the basement, now closed as Lambeth declared the borough nuclear free

165 Broadhurst Gardens was home to Decca Records until the early 1980s, on 1 January 1962, Brian Epstein paid for an hour audition for The Beatles, but they were turned down by Decca

Bleeding Heart Yard is almost certainly derived from an ancient religious symbol later adopted by a tavern which once stood on the site

The footbridge outside Wembley Stadium is named White Horse Bridge after the police horse who controlled the 1923 FA Cup Final

Building the tunnels for the first section of the District Line (South Kensington to Westminster, 1868) used 140 million bricks

Until Edward VIII changed the rules in 1936, Beefeaters at The Tower of London were required to sport a beard

Dulwich College founded in 17th century by actor Edward Alleyn has famous alumni including PG Wodehouse and Ernest Shackleton

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 24 August 1795 the Revd Samuel Henshall, later vicar of St. Mary-le-Bow, was granted patent number 2061 for the first corkscrew, with a button on top to break any residual bond between cork and bottle-top.

On 24 August 1967 two penguins from Chessington Zoo were taken on a day trip to Streatham ice-rink to cool off as temperatures reached 80F

Transport for London Byelaw 10(2): No person shall enter through any train door until any person leaving by that door has passed through it!

Once Britain’s largest enclosed space, if measured, the air within the Albert Hall would weigh in at over 30 tons

John St. John Long appeared at the Old Bailey on a charge of manslaughter, his victim dosing on his medicated vapours, he paid the £13,000 fine from his vast wealth accululated from selling quack remedies

The Dorchester was seen as safe during the Blitz it is built using 2,000 miles of steel rods, a host of political and military luminaries chose it as their London residence

St. George Church, Mayfair designed by John James, one of Sir Christopher Wren’s assistants, when completed in 1725 was the first church in London to be built with a portico

There are three tube stations on the Monopoly board: Liverpool Street Station, King’s Cross and Marylebone

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

Underground’s longest tunnel is from East Finchley to Morden totalling 17.3 miles but only 45 per cent of the network is actually in tunnels

The Daily Courant was London’s original newspaper first published in 1792 near Ludgate Circus, consisting of a single page, with advertisements on the reverse side

The Constable of The Tower of London can extract a barrel of rum from any naval vessel plying the Thames

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 17 August 1896, three imported Roger-Benz vehicles were being exhibited at the Dolphin Terrace, Crystal Palace. Arthur Edsall drove at bewildering speed, 4mph, and erratically knocked down and fatally injured Bridget Driscoll who was attending a Catholic League of the Cross fete with her sixteen-year-old daughter. She was the country’s first fatal car accident victim.

On 17 August 2010 Waterloo Bridge, then known as the ‘Strand Bridge’, was opened. It was pulled down in 1936

HMP Pentonville built in 1842 at a cost £84,186 12s 2d was intended to be a holding prison for convicts awaiting transportation

If London was a country it would be the 8th biggest in Europe in monetary terms and the greenest city of its size in the world with two-thirds covered in green space or water

Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum has a collection of over 45,000 objects including a collection of English delftware drug storage jars amongst which is the oldest known dated piece in the world

Winston Churchill attended the scene of the Siege of Sidney Street and narrowly escaped death when a stray bullet was fired through his hat

A pyramid to cover Trafalgar Square was proposed by Irishman, Colonel Frederick Trench, MP to commemorate the triumph at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805

The Grosvenor Hotel (now Thistle Victoria) was one of the first hotels in London to have a lift called at the time ‘a rising room’

Boxing legend Sir Henry Cooper trained in the gym above the Thomas a Becket pub previously at 320 Old Kent Road, Walworth

The Tube’s world-famous logo, ‘the roundel’ (a red circle crossed by a horizontal blue bar), first appeared in 1908

In 1661 the first postmarks in the world were struck at Post Office Court near to where today’s Bank of England now stands

In 1661 the world’s first postmark was struck at the General Post Office located in Prince’s Street opposite the Bank of England

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.