On 10 May 1940 after losing a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned at the same time that Germany was invading Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Winston Churchill stepped in as Prime Minister to lead a coalition Government. Within six weeks German forces had conquered all three countries with France capitulating a few weeks later.

On 10 May 1553 Sir Hugh Willoughby and his fleet set sail from Ratcliff Stairs to discover the North-East Passage

German Nazi Rudolf Hess was the last prisoner to be incarcerated in the Tower of London, captured in Renfrewshire after parachuting out of a plane

Westminster Catholic Cathedral stands on the foundations of Tothill Fields Prison demolished in 1885, which was deemed as a ‘house of correction’ for the compulsory employment of able-bodied but indolent paupers

The roof’s shape of the famous red telephone box was influenced by Sir John Soane’s tomb in St Pancras Old Church

The first bomb to drop on London in World War I is commemorated by a plaque at 16 Alkham Road in Stoke Newington, there were no injuries

Carlyle Mansions, a smart Victorian apartment block in Chelsea, was once home to authors Ian Fleming, T. S. Eliot and Henry James

Radio and music hall comedian Tommy Handley once lived at 34 Craven Road, Paddington – Known for the saying: “It’s That Man Again”

1912 was a bad year for the Boat Race on this day when both boats sank, the subsequent re-row on the following Monday was won by Oxford by six lengths

The Tube tunnel between Knightsbridge and South Kensington negotiates a massive curve to avoid a 17th century plague pit

On 10 May 1922 Ivy Williams was called to the Bar, becoming England’s first female barrister. She would never practice in a London court

In 2010, Eurostat calculated that Inner London’s Gross Domestic Product per capita stood at 328 per cent of the EU’s 27 average

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 3 May 1951 after the devastation and resulting austerity of the war years, the successful forerunner, of the Millennium Dome, was opened on London’s South Bank, aimed to raise the nation’s spirits whilst promoting the very best of British art, design and industry. It remained open for 5 months attracting 8.5 million visitors in that time. Of the buildings constructed only the Royal Festival Hall remains.

On 3 May 1968 the United Kingdom’s first heart transplant was undertaken at the National Heart Hospital in Marylebone, it was the 10th procedure of its kind in the world

Lady Elizabeth Hatton leaving a ball was found in a yard blood still pumping from her torn body Bleeding Heart Yard commemorates her murder

In the cloisters of Westminster Abbey is Britain’s the oldest door, in good nick, considering it was made in 1050 before the Norman Conquest

In 1739 Thomas Coram supported by Handel set up the Foundling Hospital for abandoned babies it was the world’s first incorporated charity

Christopher Wren built St Paul’s from both ends at same time so funding wouldn’t run out – money would have to be found to join halves up

The Trafalgar Square lions were sculpted from life Landseer used dead lions supplied by London Zoo until neighbours complained of the smell

Elizabeth Taylor spent part of her 7th honeymoon in 17th century Old Battersea House, home of her friend Malcolm Forbes

Wembley Stadium is filled with Middlesbrough FC shirts and scarves. There are also old season tickets, match programmes and various other items of memorabilia, placed in the arch by the steelworkers

And we think everything was so much better back then . . . early Tube maps asked passengers to refrain from spitting in the carriages

When St Pauls Cathedral neared completion its elderly architect Sir Christopher Wren was hauled to the roof by bucket and rope to inspect it

Clerkenwell is named after the medieval Clerk’s Well where Parish Clerks performed Mystery Plays, the well can still be seen

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 26 April 1908, the windscreen wiper was invented by a Newcastle United fan driving home from London in a blizzard. Gladstone Adams was driving home after seeing his team lose the FA Cup Final to Wolves. His journey was punctuated by repeated stops to clear snow from the windscreen. Adams vowed that when he got back home he’d do something to solve the problem. And so he did.

On 26 April 1921 the first motorcycle police patrols went on duty on the streets of London, it’s not recorded how many speeding offences were booked that day

When Scotland Yard’s foundations were being built the headless torso of a woman was found, the murderer was never caught

Crutched Friars, Tower Hill takes it’s name from Fratres Cruciferi a Roman Catholic religious order that settled in the street in 1249

St. Bartholomew’s Hospital is the oldest hospital in London having been founded in 1123 by a monk named Rahere

The first Lord Mayor of London (who is an officer of The City of London) was Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone who held the position in 1189

At Guildhall’s Art Gallery the eastern entrance of a Roman amphitheatre can be viewed underneath the artworks

Princess Elizabeth (before becoming Queen) was first seen with Philip Mountbatten in public at the recently re-opened Savoy Hotel in 1946

A tennis ball was discovered in 1922 in the rafters of Westminster Hall dating from before 1520 it was stuffed with dog hair

The Ryde to Shanklin train line on the Isle of Wight uses for its rolling stock 70-year-old London Tube trains from the Northern Line

Performed at 10 pm for 700 years The Tower of London’s The Ceremony of the Keys is the world’s oldest surviving continuous military ceremony

Over 25 per cent of all people living in London were born in another country and more languages are spoken than any city in the world

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 19 April 1951 Eric Morley, an executive with Mecca Ltd., held the first Miss World Beauty Contest, called the Festival Bikini Contest, to coincide with the Festival of Britain. Curiously although it was promoted as ‘Miss World’ only five girls were foreign, the other 25 contestants were British. Even so Miss Kiki Haakonson, a Stockholm policeman’s daughter, won. It’s the oldest running international beauty pageant.

On 19 April 1012 Archbishop of Canterbury, Ælfheah, was killed by Viking raiders at Greenwich after they had held him captive for 7 months

Formed to stop the Stuarts bankrupting the country one of the Bank of England’s first directors embezzled £29,000, it was never recovered

In 1918 Philip Tilden designed a monumental tower to put atop Selfridge’s so tall and heavy if built it would have squashed the store flat

On 19 April 1881 British Prime Minister, statesman and author Benjamin Disraeli died at 19 Curzon Street, Mayfair

When the Victoria Embankment was constructed its 37 acres was claimed by Prime Minister Gladstone to build offices their revenue used to cancel Income Tax

London’s largest collection of Buddhas can be found in Soho’s Fo Guang Temple Margaret Street formerly All Saints’ Church

Market Ouvert meant that until 1995 any stolen goods purchased between sunrise and sunset at Bermondsey Market became the buyers property

The first lawn tennis sets were launched in 1874 by Major Walter Wingfield at £6, 1,050 were sold from 46 Churton Street in the first year

Demonstrating Trumph’s latest car to Princess Margaret at the Motor Show chairman Sir John Black pulled the wrong lever and incinerated the vehicle

WH Smith whose first newsagency was on the Strand was also the First Lord of both The Admiralty and Treasury and commissioned our first sewers

On 19 April 1935 actor, composer, musician and comedian Dudley Moore was born in Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith

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 12 April 1709 Isaac Bickerstaff, the pseudonym of Richard Steele published the first edition of the innovative journal, The Tatler. Appearing two or three times a week, it purported to publish news and gossip heard in various London coffeehouses, he declared in the opening paragraph, to leave the subject of politics to the newspapers, while presenting Whiggish views and correcting middle-class manners.

On 12 April 1665 England’s first Black Death victim, Margaret Ponteous, was buried in the churchyard of St Paul’s Covent Garden

The last nobleman tried by ‘God and his Peers’, Lord Edward Southwell Russell de Clifford who in 1935 faced the Lords on a manslaughter charge

There are 24 bridges over the Thames the original wooden London Bridge opened in 1209; the newest pedestrian Millennium Bridge in 2000

Albert Memorial has 61 human figures Albert died 1861; 19 men Albert born 1819; 42 women he died aged 42; 9 animals Albert had 9 children

Charles I’s neck vertebrae lost after being sliced through by the executioner’s axe appeared later as Queen Victoria surgeon’s salt cellar

In 1925 George Gershwin’s premier performance of Rhapsody in Blue was broadcast from the Savoy Hotel by the BBC

On 12 April 1911 the first non-stop flight from London to Paris a distance of 290 miles was completed by Pierre Prier in 3 hours 56 minutes

London’s only bespoke motor racing track was at Crystal Palace, opening in 1936, during its life it would attract crowds of 60,000 a day

For London’s first scheduled bus route from Peckham to Oxford Street was operated Thomas Tilling, they earned the nickname of ‘Times’, which later appeared on their sides

In 1766 at his London private laboratory Henry Cavendish discovered hydrogen calling it “Inflammable Air”, a rich man, upon his death he was the largest depositor in the Bank of England

In 17th century London Tomias Smollett reported cherries would be made to glisten afresh by being gently roll around the greengrocer’s mouth

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.