For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Grumpy and dumpy (13.08.12)

One hundred years ago on the 13th of August 1912 Octavia Hill, one of the most influential women of her generation died. Scorned by the liberal left which is probably the reason the Guardian or the BBC will not be recording this century of her death.

In her life, she was a founder member in the formation of the National Trust, started the concept of London’s Green Belt, pioneered female activism and was the first to see the benefits of refurbishing Victorian slums to provide social housing for rent.

Many of her beliefs have fallen from favour; although never married herself she believed that a woman’s primary duty was with her family and a woman’s role should not encroach the male sphere – this meant she did not speak publicly and performed much of her philanthropy ‘behind the scenes’.

In 1864 with a loan from John Ruskin, she redeveloped a handful of run-down properties in Marylebone Place renting them to the poor at low rates.

So successful was this and other subsequent projects the Ecclesiastical Commission asked her to take over the management of a few properties in Southwark, which she did on the condition she could acquire a plot of land to turn into a garden for local people.

This ‘Red Cross’ garden soon became a village in south London providing open-air festivals, a flower show, indoor entertainment, education and a library club.

More redevelopments followed in Lambeth and Walworth.

Tenants had to pay their rent on time or be evicted, she argued fostered responsibility and respect for work turning the tenants into good citizens. To ensure they didn’t lose their home Octavia Hill organised employment opportunities.

Recognising her expertise the government of the day appointed her to the Royal Commission on The Poor Law.

In a refreshing change to today’s attitudes, she became a founder member of the Charity Organisation Society which aimed to promote a rational approach to giving by distinguishing between the deserving and undeserving poor, and by stressing the significance of individual responsibility. The charity was to be a vehicle for encouraging self-help which would be given to the deserving poor only. For example, the COS would not endorse just giving out money but would give a sewing machine to enable someone to earn a living. Octavia stridently opposed relief to the able-bodied; she argued that giving money in this way would be of no long-term benefit and, worse, would discourage the habit of thrift and saving for a ‘rainy day’. The poor need to be taught self-control and foresight, not come to rely on handouts.

Octavia’s vision and work helped to open up a professional role for women at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. She recruited middle-class women as volunteer rent collectors, although they had a much wider role than that title suggests. Octavia trained them to assess the way tenants were living and to inspect their homes; in addition to this rent collectors were expected to set an example, these women were in effect prototype social workers who, through the act of rent collecting, gained access to the lives of the poor whom they met twice a week.

Although Octavia Hill was overweight and didn’t suffer fools gladly she was a pioneer of ‘cultural philanthropy’ and was convinced that exposure to art and beauty could improve the life of the poor. She founded the Kyrle Society in 1875 which planted trees and flowers in urban areas and promoted aesthetics in the decoration and building of houses. This led to the formation of the Green Belt after the Second World War.

Octavia Hill argued strongly against government involvement in rectifying social problems: she resisted any participation of the State in providing welfare services and objected to council housing, school dinners and free health care.

But probably her biggest achievement was the National Trust which in addition to saving 350 houses from the Nation has preserved woodland and open spaces and over recent years acquired 720 miles of coastline protecting it from development.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

A road less travelled (07.08.12)

In Charles Street, Mayfair there remains evidence of the last vestiges of Georgian competitive running with a tentative link to the cabbies of their day. Dating from 1749 this pub has a curious name: ‘The Only Running Footman’.

The pub was once called the Running Horse and frequented by the footmen who were in service to the households of Mayfair. As the fashion for footmen dwindled one bought the pub and renamed it after himself.

London in the 17th century was a pretty chaotic place, with narrow streets, overcrowded, animals, carts and numerous other obstructions. A footman’s job was to run ahead of his master’s coach paying any tolls and clearing a safe passage.

After The Great Fire of London, many streets were clearer and the need for a running footman lessened, although they were then employed as house servants.

By 1750 a footman’s advertised annual salary was £7, including a smart uniform, white stockings and shirts with full board. But with ‘vails’ he could expect an income of £40 (about £60,000 in today’s money).

He had to be tall (about 6ft), look fit, and be nonchalant and handsome. Footmen were notoriously the source of the best gossip, trusted with clandestine errands and hanging around with women ‘above their station’. These runners were also useful in a household to fetch things and take messages before a reliable postal service had been introduced.

King Charles I’s household accounts record the payment of 2/- (10p) paid to a footman to run from London (presumably Whitehall) to Hampton Court.

The aristocracy would also like to pitch their footmen in a race with others from wealthy households. On the 3rd July 1663 Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary:

The town talk this day is of nothing but the great foot-race run this day on Banstead Downs, between Lee, the Duke of Richmond’s footman, and a tyler, a famous runner. And Lee hath beat him; though the King and Duke of York and all men almost did bet three or four to one upon the tyler’s head.

That old reprobate The Marquess of Queensbury is said to have kept the last running footmen as a mark of his own virility. The Survey of London records an incident (possibly anecdotal) in which ‘Old Q’ met his match:

The duke was in the habit of trying the pace of candidates for his service by seeing how they could run up and down Piccadilly, watching and timing them from his balcony. They put on a livery before the trial. On one occasion, a candidate presented himself, dressed, and ran. At the conclusion of his performance he stood before the balcony. “You will do very well for me,” said the duke. “And your livery will do very well for me,” replied the man, and gave the duke a last proof of his ability as a runner by then running away with it.

The pub’s full name is actually ‘I Am The Only Running Footman’ and has been the venue for many a historic London pub crawl, treasure hunt, mystery tour and even a novel by American detective fiction writer Martha Grimes.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

A road less travelled (07.08.12)

When announcing the hydrogen taxi scheme recently the Mayor could hardly have envisioned starting a scenario straight from the script of BBC television Twenty-Twelve.

“A vision to promote innovative zero and low emission technologies in the capital to clean London’s air and tackle pollution” was announced.

In the spirit of zero emissions five hydrogen-fuelled Olympic taxis have been operating during the Games shuttling VIPs and guests of the Mayor between venues.

The one flaw in this well-meaning initiative was that due to its proximity to the Olympic Park, the hydrogen service station at the Lee Interchange has been closed for security reasons. This has meant that the closest fuelling station is in Swindon 65 miles away.

Twice a week the five clean emission cabs are hoisted onto the back of a dirty diesel-fuelled car transporter to make the journey to be refuelled and brought back to London.

The irony is that if the cabs were to complete the 130-mile round trip unaided they would not have enough fuel to drive the VIPs around London, necessitating a return to Swindon.

As a further dent in the green credentials of London a fleet of hydrogen buses that operate along the South Bank in London has also been affected by the closure.

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

Sex and the Olympic City (31.07.12)

When the London 2012 Olympic organisers announced that the Games would bring local jobs to the community it was probably not what they had in mind. Major sporting events always tend to precipitate a boom in the sex industry, with thousands of visitors – site workers, spectators and athletes – flooding an area and London is not any different.

Prostitution and the Olympics go back to the Games inception. In fact for the early Olympiads, competing in 776 BC, the winners were invited to take their pick of prostitutes from the Temple of Aphrodite.

In an attempt to make London 2012 not only the greenest but the cleanest Olympics ever, over the past year, more than 80 brothels near the Olympic site have been closed down and prostitutes have complained they are being driven from the streets by imposing curfews and giving Asbos to stop them touting for business.

Apparently, hordes of sex-hungry sports fans are expected to fuel a spectacular boom in the sex industry. And that’s just for starters health experts have added their voices to warn that this surge in demand for sex could “increase the spread of sexually transmitted infections”.

A campaigning group warns of the potential threat to the sexual health of Londoners and promises to distribute 500,000 free condoms in what it, rather imprudently, characterises as “hot spots” for sexual activity.

With blatant disregard for the Olympic brand online, ‘escort agencies’ are renaming themselves, Olympic Escorts and others offering ‘gold medal services – come to win a gold medal with this Olympic London Escort’.

With the Olympic site locked down and the only realistic transport links starting from Stratford, I for one, cannot see how the visitors are going to be able to meet the escort of their choice if the destination is in the Stratford area, or do these ‘services’ have nothing to do with Olympian spirit apart from the scale of their charges?

For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.

A Marathon read (24.07.12)

Just how do they do it? I mean when an actor is given a major part to play, just how so they remember their lines. I only ask because last weekend a mighty 76-page tome thudded onto my doormat.

Years in the planning and in less than six days I have to commit it to memory.

The publication goes under the catchy title The taxi and private hire information handbook and was compiled by the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Comprising 23 maps, a dozen graphs and scattered liberally with gobbledegook straight from a script of Twenty Twelve: ‘No taxis or PHVs will be permitted to pass through a VSA without the correct VAPP’. It makes for an interesting read.

Like an inexperienced actor learning his lines in Hamlet, we have to make sense of this impenetrable jargon.

SatNavs will be obsolete as so many roads are either closed or had their direction changed. It is going to be hard for us but for private hire with their reliance on technology, it will be impossible.

The maps make for interesting reading. Should a spectator require a cab from the Olympic Stadium they will have to walk 1,400 metres (or nearly a mile in old money). Cross a 6-lane dual carriageway, and walk under a flyover to find the rank located, if memory serves, behind a caravan park.

According to the comprehensive map, only two small ranks service all the major hotels in Park Lane, but that is probably because every 5-star hotel in London is fully booked with the Olympic Family.

Sorry I’d better get back to memorising all this I only have three days to learn my lines.