On 28th January 1807 German Friedrick Albert Winzer who had patented coal-gas lighting in 1804 moved to a house in Pall Mall setting up gas lamps, lighting them on this day, making Pall Mall the first gas-lit street in the world. Later with a special exhibition on 4 June, 1807, in honor of the birthday of King George III, using gaslight to superimpose images against the walls of the buildings along his street.

On 28 January 1953 Derek Bentley was executed at Wandsworth Prison for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles. The 19-year-old was hanged after last-minute appeals for clemency were rejected

The hanging beam from Newgate gaol was taken to Pentonville prison and used for executions there. Now bricked up in the prison’s synagogue

The IMAX cinema roundabout is the capital’s only winner of the Roundabout Appreciation Society’s prestigious Roundabout of the Year award

The Sebastopol bell at Westminster Abbey is rung only on the occasion of a sovereign’s death, tolling once for each year of their life

George VI Reservoir left empty during World War II allegedly a mock Clapham Junction Railway Station was built inside to confuse Luftwaffe bombers

When Madame Tussaud first brought her waxworks to London they were exhibited at the Lyceum where Lion King now shows

One of the ‘original’ Disney Herbie cars in red, white and blue-striped with number 53 can be seen in Volkswagen’s west London showroom close to M4

London Marathon’s youngest male winner was 22-year-old Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru in 2009, he died two years later after falling from a balcony

The Jubilee Extension was hewn out by two tunnel boring machines called Sharon and Tracy, named after the characters in Birds of a Feather

Londoner Captain Edward Vernon invented grog-a concoction made from rum, water and lemon juice-the preferred tipple of pirates and old salts

Named after Samuel Pepys: Street EC3; Road SE14; Crescent E16; Court SE18 ; a Walk; several pubs and . . . A Launderette 1 Grove Street SE8

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 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.

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.

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.