Sadiq Khan has recently been proposing that Havering should become an inner-city borough and Romford’s character as an Essex market town subsumed into the Metropolis. So this month’s quiz is about my home London borough, where curiously I still have an Essex address, despite paying council tax to a London authority. As before the correct answer will turn green when it’s clicked upon and expanded to give more information. The incorrect answers will turn red giving the correct explanation.
Category Archives: Puppydog tails
Johnson’s London Dictionary: Shakespeare’s Globe
SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE (n.) Eponymous playhouse that’s neither owned by the Bard, nor doth appear spherical.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
Johnson’s London Dictionary: Museum of London
MUSEUM OF LONDON (n.) A repository of historic memorabilia soon to be much frequented by tourists doth startled to view horseless stagecoaches driven through its basement.
Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon
London’s longest day
On today, the longest day of the year, a list of London’s longest:
Longest borough – Hillingdon (12 miles)
Longest postcode – CR0 (7.5 miles)
Longest dimension – M25 J14 to North Ockendon (36.5 miles)
Longest river – Thames (44 miles)
Longest canal – Grand Union (16 miles)
Longest flight of locks – 7 (Hanwell)
Longest canal tunnel – Islington (878m)
Longest bridge – Waterloo Bridge (370m)
Longest island – Brentford Ait (620m)
Longest reservoir – King George’s Reservoir (4 miles)
Longest runway – Heathrow 09L/27R (2.4 miles)
Longest flight – Heathrow to Perth (9009 miles)
Longest footpath – London Outer Orbital Path (150 miles)
Longest park – Richmond Park (2.7 miles)
Longest street – Green Lanes (7.5 miles)
Longest straight road – the A5 (Edgware Road) (10 miles)
Longest motorway – M25 (approx 117 miles)
Longest mews – Pavilion Road, SW1 (900m)
Longest streetname – Alfred’s Way (East Ham and Barking By-pass)
Longest ‘street’ name – St Martin-in-the-Fields Church Path
Longest one word streetname – Straightsmouth
Longest Underground line – Central line (West Ruislip → Epping, 34.1 miles)
Longest Underground journey – Uxbridge → Cockfosters (32 miles)
Longest Night Tube journey – Heathrow T5 → Cockfosters (29 miles)
Longest non-stop tube journey – Finchley Road → Harrow-on-the-Hill (7.2 miles)
Longest non-stop rail journey – Paddington → Heathrow (14.5 miles)
Longest tunnel – Thames Water Ring Main (50 miles)
Longest Underground tunnel – East Finchley → Morden (via Bank) (17.3 miles)
Longest rail tunnel – Stratford → Dagenham (6.5 miles)
Longest road tunnel – Limehouse Link (1.1 miles)
Longest foot tunnel – Woolwich (504m)
Longest station name – Caledonian Road and Barnsbury
Longest tube station name – High Street Kensington
Longest non-TfL station name – West Hampstead Thameslink
Longest one-word station names – Knightsbridge/Woodmansterne
Longest tube escalator – Angel (61m)
Longest escalator – Heathrow Terminal 5
Longest bus route – X26 (Heathrow → Croydon, 24.1 miles)
Longest nightbus route – N199 (St Mary Cray → Charing Cross, 22.1 miles)
Longest bus stop name – Loxford School Of Science and Technology
Longest-running play – The Mousetrap (since 6 October 1952)
Longest-running musical – Les Misérables (since 28 September 1985)
Longest market charter – Barking (since 1175)
Longest-serving MP – Harriet Harman (since 28 October 1982)
Longest-serving male MP – Jeremy Corbyn (since 9 June 1983)
Longest drought – 73 days (Mile End, spring 1893)
Longest period of continuous rain – 59 hours (13-15 June 1903)
All data courtesy from Diamond Geezer who assumes several of these are wrong; and if they’re wrong factually than pedantically.
The world’s most famous telephone
There must be millions of public call boxes around the world, but I doubt if there is one more famous than Parliament Square’s kiosk.
But first for any millennials who might ask: “What’s a phone box?”. The old red telephone box is an icon of Britain from days gone by, used nowadays only by tourists for their Instagram posts and Japanese girls modelling bridal wear. Red phone boxes were once very popular if only because they were the only method we had to have a distance conversation.
With hinges buckled by overuse, windows frosted with the decades-old glue of sex-workers calling cards and floors stained with urine, these weathered old hulks make obvious photographic props for anyone on their first trip to London.
The world’s most photographed kiosk on Parliament Square’s north side is not going anywhere as it’s on Historic England’s protected register. But not only do these quaint old kiosks symbolise Britain’s historic influence in the world to a lot of people but some actually work.
Now, the number for this phone box has been shared on Twitter by Nick Walker, who’s encouraging people to go old school, and welcome a tourist to London.
020 7930 1397
This is the number for this phonebox on Parliament Square. There’s normally a queue of tourists waiting to get a photograph with it, so give it a call sometime. Who knows who you might speak to. pic.twitter.com/1Asxpozx0V
— Nick Walker (@nickw84)
Having rung the number on several occasions I’ve had no luck in talking to someone, maybe you’ll be able to talk to a tourist.
Featured image: English: K2 telephone box in Parliament Square (rotated) by Jorge A. Ramos C.