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Johnson’s London Dictionary: London Plane

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LONDON PLANE (n.) Not to be confused with an aircraft (whatever that is), but a Georgian arboreal addition to London before the advent of the double-decker stagecoach, which now is much given to swerving to avoid branches.

Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon

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Crossing roads

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I‘ve written before about there being ‘no roads in The City’, and recently I’ve found that one examiner could ask Knowledge students: “Take me from Victoria Station to Chelsea Football Club, without going through any traffic lights”.

Well, cobbling together these two concepts, and including a project from Victor Keegan, a serious walker who has plotted a walk from Trafalgar Square to Greenwich, without crossing over a single road, I’ve come up with this project.

Is it possible to go from Charing Cross (the epicentre for The Knowledge) and get to Greenwich (home of the Meridian Line which started modern navigation), without crossing a single road?

Starting on Charing Cross, the road, not the station, which is at the western end of Northumberland Avenue turn right into Strand and head down for 100 yards. Turn right and go through Charing Cross Station (passing another Charing Cross in the station’s forecourt) and across Hungerford Bridge until you are on the South Bank. Turn left and continue the riverside walk until reaching Tower Bridge. Cross the bridge and hug the river around St Katharine Docks carry walking on further until you come to Island Gardens at the tip of the Isle of Dogs. This last stretch was the most tricky. Officially you’re on the Thames Path when you cross Wynan Road. The Thames Path leads you on to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, then using the King William Walk, footpaths take you to the Meridian Line and your destination.

Featured image: Northumberland Avenue Looking west towards Trafalgar Square by Chris Downer (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)

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Britain’s first supermarket

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It is 12th January 1948, and you’re walking down a road in Manor Park when you pass a London Co-operative. You need some provisions so you pop into this newly opened shop. At first, you’re puzzled by the lack of service, but then you notice other shoppers just picking items off the shelves. You think you’ve just entered a time warp and it’s 2024 with shoplifters helping themselves.

It is Britain’s first self-service supermarket that came to Britain 76 years ago on this day when the London Co-operative Society opened a store in Manor Park.

You accept the proffered basket, peruse the aisles and see that baked beans are on offer – you’ve never seen them so cheap. But as you pick up a can and place it into your basket, you can’t shake the feeling that the shopkeeper is watching you. You needn’t worry helping yourself is the way shopping is destined from now on.

But hold on, weren’t we ‘a nation of shopkeepers’, according to a derogatory comment by a Frenchman? For shopping etiquette is ingrained in British society, you went in and chatted with the shopkeeper, while the shop assistant ran around dividing and measuring out the items on your list, it was hardly an economical use of your time. You didn’t handle the goods – you might be called a thief.

In America they had self-service since the 1930s, it didn’t come to Britain until after the Second World War (although the London Co-op ran a trial in 1942, hardly sensible at the tail end of the Blitz).

With the arrival of self-service and its lower operating costs prices fell. Many of the traditional shops that clung to the old ways soon found themselves out of business. Soon Premier Supermarket opened a self-service store in Streatham, Marks & Spencer followed that same year in Wood Green.

Today we are returning to Napoleon’s assertion, with customers shopping online and preferring to visit smaller, more personal in-town shops, the big supermarkets are finding out what it’s like to be on the wrong side of change.

Featured image: Shopping in supermarket by Marco Verch (CC BY 2.0 DEED).

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Johnson’s London Dictionary: London Gin

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LONDON GIN (n.) Inexpensive alcohol-based tipples used to quell dissent much favoured William Hogarth’s satire.

Dr. Johnson’s London Dictionary for publick consumption in the twenty-first century avail yourself on Twitter @JohnsonsLondon

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Test Your Knowledge: January 2024

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No street has been as central to British music as Tin Pan Alley, but how much do you know about this iconic London thoroughfare? 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.

1. What is Tin Pan Alley’s official name?
Holland Avenue
WRONG Denmark Street was developed in the late 17th century and named after Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Princess Anne, who would reign as Queen of England from 1702-1707.
Denmark Street
CORRECT Denmark Street was developed in the late 17th century and named after Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Princess Anne, who would reign as Queen of England from 1702-1707.
Sweden Alley
WRONG Denmark Street was developed in the late 17th century and named after Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Princess Anne, who would reign as Queen of England from 1702-1707.
2. Do you know the length of this street?
354 yards
WRONG This powerhouse of modern music is only 354 feet long, making it one of the shortest streets in London.
354 feet
CORRECT This powerhouse of modern music is only 354 feet long, making it one of the shortest streets in London.
3,540 meters
WRONG This powerhouse of modern music is only 354 feet long, making it one of the shortest streets in London.
3. In what area is Tin Pan Alley located?
St Giles
CORRECT Separated by Charing Cross Road from the eastern fringe of Soho, Denmark Street’s location places it near what was the ‘rookery’ of St Giles, a warren of tenements notorious for wretched poverty and every kind of vice, commemorated in William Hogarth’s series of coruscating engravings, Beer Street and Gin Lane.
Soho
WRONG Separated by Charing Cross Road from the eastern fringe of Soho, Denmark Street’s location places it near what was the ‘rookery’ of St Giles, a warren of tenements notorious for wretched poverty and every kind of vice, commemorated in William Hogarth’s series of coruscating engravings, Beer Street and Gin Lane.
Bloomsbury
WRONG Separated by Charing Cross Road from the eastern fringe of Soho, Denmark Street’s location places it near what was the ‘rookery’ of St Giles, a warren of tenements notorious for wretched poverty and every kind of vice, commemorated in William Hogarth’s series of coruscating engravings, Beer Street and Gin Lane.
4. What famous coffee bar, a favourite haunt of musicians, was located on this street?
Gioconda Coffee Bar
CORRECT The Gioconda Coffee Bar at No 9 was a favourite meeting place for young musicians.
2i’s Coffee Bar
WRONG The Gioconda Coffee Bar at No 9 was a favourite meeting place for young musicians.
Bar Italia
WRONG The Gioconda Coffee Bar at No 9 was a favourite meeting place for young musicians.
5. Which fictional private detective had his offices above the famous 12 Bar Club in Tin Pan Alley?
Cormoran Strike
CORRECT The TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike crime novel is filmed outside number 6 instead of number 26.
Cordelia Gray
WRONG The TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike crime novel is filmed outside number 6 instead of number 26.
Sherlock Holmes
WRONG The TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike crime novel is filmed outside number 6 instead of number 26.
6. Architecturally why is this street unique in London?
It has retained more of its original front doors than any other street
WRONG Of the original 20 houses, completed by 1691, eight remain, apparently making it the only street in London to retain 17th-century facades on both sides.
The only street to retain 17th-century facades on both sides of the street
CORRECT Of the original 20 houses, completed by 1691, eight remain, apparently making it the only street in London to retain 17th-century facades on both sides.
The street has the largest basements in London
WRONG Of the original 20 houses, completed by 1691, eight remain, apparently making it the only street in London to retain 17th-century facades on both sides.
7. What stood on the site before the road was developed?
The slums of the rookery
WRONG Tin Pan Alley was laid out in the 1700s as a residential street for the parish of St Giles that once housed a leper hospital.
Virgin hunting land
WRONG Tin Pan Alley was laid out in the 1700s as a residential street for the parish of St Giles that once housed a leper hospital.
A leper hospital
CORRECT Tin Pan Alley was laid out in the 1700s as a residential street for the parish of St Giles that once housed a leper hospital.
8. From where did the street gain its nickname?
New Orleans
WRONG It helped that Denmark Street was a shortcut between the theatre districts of Soho and Covent Garden. The term originated in London in the 1920s, and was taken from 5th and 6th Avenue in Manhattan-New York City – a derogatory ‘slang’ term deriving from around 1910 – that was used to describe the sound from the old cheap upright pianos that could be heard drifting from the open windows of these Manhattan ‘music factories’ – where the sound was liked to a load of old tin pans being banged together.
Newark
WRONG It helped that Denmark Street was a shortcut between the theatre districts of Soho and Covent Garden. The term originated in London in the 1920s, and was taken from 5th and 6th Avenue in Manhattan-New York City – a derogatory ‘slang’ term deriving from around 1910 – that was used to describe the sound from the old cheap upright pianos that could be heard drifting from the open windows of these Manhattan ‘music factories’ – where the sound was liked to a load of old tin pans being banged together.
New York
CORRECT It helped that Denmark Street was a shortcut between the theatre districts of Soho and Covent Garden. The term originated in London in the 1920s, and was taken from 5th and 6th Avenue in Manhattan-New York City – a derogatory ‘slang’ term deriving from around 1910 – that was used to describe the sound from the old cheap upright pianos that could be heard drifting from the open windows of these Manhattan ‘music factories’ – where the sound was liked to a load of old tin pans being banged together.
9. What music innovation was Cerberus?
An early record sales chart compilation program
WRONG Cerberus was a pioneering internet-streaming music site that was located at No 21 Denmark Street in 1994, years ahead of its time.
Internet music streaming site
CORRECT Cerberus was a pioneering internet-streaming music site that was located at No 21 Denmark Street in 1994, years ahead of its time.
A synthesiser
WRONG Cerberus was a pioneering internet-streaming music site that was located at No 21 Denmark Street in 1994, years ahead of its time.
10. What newspapers originated in Tin Pan Alley?
New Musical Express
CORRECT Incredibly two music newspapers originated from Tin Pan Alley. In 1926 Melody Maker was founded and run from 8 Denmark Street, and in 1952 New Musical Express set up business and operated from 5 Denmark Street.
Melody Maker
CORRECT Incredibly two music newspapers originated from Tin Pan Alley. In 1926 Melody Maker was founded and run from 8 Denmark Street, and in 1952 New Musical Express set up business and operated from 5 Denmark Street.
Rolling Stone
WRONG Incredibly two music newspapers originated from Tin Pan Alley. In 1926 Melody Maker was founded and run from 8 Denmark Street, and in 1952 New Musical Express set up business and operated from 5 Denmark Street.