The city defeated him. It refused to be bent into shape; it stayed a willful, sprawling, sinful place. It even told him as much. When he walked through the gutted wreck of old Saint Paul’s, he tripped and fell over a piece of rubble — a tombstone. When he got to his feet and dusted himself down he saw that it read, in Latin, ‘Resurgam’ — ‘I Will Rise Again.
Jonathan Barnes (b.1979), The Somnambulist (Domino Men)
On 8 October 1952 at 8.18 am the Perth to Euston sleeper express overshot signals at Harrow and ploughed into a stationary local train waiting at the station. A northbound train then ran into the wreckage, 112 died and 150 were injured, it remains the worst peacetime rail crash in the United Kingdom. The accident accelerated the introduction of Automatic Warning System informing drivers they had passed an adverse signal.
On 8 October 1965 Britain got its tallest building when the Post Office Tower (renamed BT) topped out at 580ft plus 70ft for the radio mast
Shad Thames was known as Jacob’s Island a notoriously dangerous place, featured in Oliver Twist where Bill Sikes meets his end hanging by a rope above Folly Ditch’s mud
The 1.8km long Limehouse Link tunnel cost £293 million to build in 1993, around £163,000 per metre, making it Britain’s most expensive road scheme
Cock Lane opposite Bart’s is where John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, died of a fever in 1688
Catholic monarch Mary Tudor watched Protestant martyrs burn at the stake at Smithfield from the gatehouse of St Bartholomew-the-Great
In An American Werewolf in London (1981) its lycanthropic protagonist, David meets his timely end in Winchester Walk, Borough
The Savoy Hotel’s Chef Escoffier created the dish Peach Melba for opera singer Dame Nellie Melba who was a regular guest
Oldest surviving regular contest in the World Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race rowing up the Thames between two Swan pubs: London Bridge to Chelsea
The London taxi must have a turning circle no more than 25 foot to enable it to U-turn from a cab rank and to complete a single turn outside the Savoy Hotel
The toothbrush was invented in Newgate prison by William Addis in 1770. Inspired by a broom, he inserted bristles into an animal bone
Petticoat Lane is not on any London map as it was renamed Middlesex Street in 1830, though known to Londoners it doesn’t officially exist
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.
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.
The word curfew derives from the Norman French Couvre le Feu – meaning put out your fire, and not as is commonly thought to tell citizens that they must not leave their homes, but since it is bedtime a bell would ring to remind them to extinguish all their fires, something a baker from Pudding Lane in 1666 clearly ignored.
First ordered by William the Conqueror this long lasting tradition is still maintained at Gray’s Inn with a curfew bell rung each evening in South Square, itself the centre of the legal profession since 1370.
Fire, that fear of nay mediaeval city, with its timber framed buildings by the end of the 12th century London’s houses were required to be made of stone on the lower parts and roofs had to be tiled.
Each ward was required to provide poles, hooks, chains and ropes for the demolition of a burning house. Later as homeowners could insure their houses, the insurance companies employed their own firemen to protect those insured properties.
Fire-marks denoting which building was insured with which company were affixed to the front of a building.
These fire-marks can still be found in Goodwins Court, and probably accounts for this little gem remaining intact, which made its first appearance in the rate books in 1690, being described then as a row of tailors.
Approached from St. Martin’s Lane (opposite the Salisbury Buffet public house) through a doorway up a couple of steps this intimate little alley seems positive Dickensian with a row of eight narrow late 18th century shop fronts working gas lamps and an attractive clock face over an archway giving on to Bedfordbury. Take Samuel Johnson’s advice to his companion Boswell when just arriving in London “to survey its innumerable little lane and courts”.
If you’ve only taken a passing interest in CabbieBlog you’d have noticed that Monday’s post is about London Quotes. For the month’s quiz, I’ve given a short line from a quotation and three possible speakers. 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.
A short apology for 17th August whinge is necessary. After receiving a parking ticket by Havering Council I vented my spleen on CabbieBlog over the sheer crass assumption that I deserved to be penalised. Well, after challenging the ticket I’ve now received this response:
Thank you for your correspondence challenging the issue of the above Penalty Charge Notice. I am pleased to inform you that upon considering your challenge and your comments, I have decided to cancel this Penalty Charge Notice on this occasion.
Thank you Havering, common sense has prevailed.
CabbieBlog 