Sir, London is a strange place, and you must look with a keen eye, and stay in it a great while, before you will be a master of half its expedients.
Randal, Squire Randal’s Excursion round London
London Trivia: The elephant in the room
On 3 April 1965, the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, a bleak modernist architectural edifice of 120 units and a tower, was opened by Ray Gunter, the Labour Party’s Minister of Labour. Only thirty-five units were taken prior to completion.
On 3 April 1913 Emmeline Pankhurst was sentenced to three years in prison for inciting supporters to place explosives at David Lloyd George’s home
Living in Cheyne Walk Keith Richard once had his Bentley Flying Spur fitted with Turkish flags to fool the police he had diplomatic immunity
The precarious nature of Albert Bridge, known as The Trembling Lady, forced authorities to order troops to break step when marching over it
It was once illegal to die in The Houses of Parliament for to do so the deceased would be entitled to a costly and undeserved State funeral
After the Dissolution much of Westminster Abbey’s revenues were transferred to St Paul’s hence the phrase ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’
The Underground roundel was taken and adapted from one used by the London General Omnibus Company, it was modified by Edward Johnston
At Twickenham on international match days fans consumed 120,000 pints, their dispensing system can pour a pint of beer in under 3 seconds
Saracens are the world’s first rugby union club to play competitively on an artificial surface, come the end of the season the edges are rolled back for athletics
The Jubilee Line is the only one to connect with all the other Underground Lines. The Jubilee Line was named to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 – but the line did not open until 1979
The Great Exhibition of 1851 was the first opportunity the public got to glimpse a rugby ball, even though the manufacturer, leathermaker William Gilbert had supplied pigs’ bladders to Rugby School since 1820s
Georgian London used the farmland that became Belgravia to dump its excrement in such volume asparagus was said to have an undesirable taste
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.
Previously Posted: Is that Marble Arch TomTom?
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.
Is that Marble Arch TomTom? (24.03.09)
It looks like L’Arc de triomphe to me.
TomTom (so good they named it twice).
In order to earn your license to operate a London Black Cab, a taxi driver has to pass a gruelling examination known as “The Knowledge” which involves memorizing every street and location of public buildings within a six mile radius of Charing Cross railway station. On top of this, we have to know some 320 specified routes through the city that include all the points of interest within a quarter of a mile of the endpoint, and know this off by heart. Think that is tough enough, well there is more: all the major routes in and out of the London suburbs need to be memorized as well. And to pass The Knowledge, and get that coveted license, we have to pass a rigorous exam which includes reciting a precise route from any two points that the examiner fancies. No wonder it can take at least three years to pass, and often very much longer. If you see people on scooters with a clipboard and map attached to the handlebars driving around London, chances are they are doing The Knowledge which can involve travelling up 26,000 miles across the City on our Honda C90’s memorizing those thousands of places of interest, all the one-way streets, no right turns, landmarks and street names.
When I did The Knowledge little did I realise that as time moved on every postcode would also have to be committed to memory. It’s these SatNavs that are to blame you see we Cabbies are constantly given only postcodes as our customers’ destination. So why do we bother with The Knowledge? After all, GPS based SatNav systems are cheap and plentiful and know all this stuff without requiring us to look like the world’s oldest pizza delivery boy. The private taxi companies, known as minicabs in the London have long since realized this. The biggest and most successful firms all have SatNav in their cars, yet according to the London Taxi Drivers’ Association less than 5 per cent of Black Cab drivers are using these devices.
Yet I cannot help but think we London Cabbies have it right: we know the streets better than just about any SatNav device. We don’t try and drive the wrong way up a one way street, we don’t think we should turn left even when it’s obvious the car isn’t going to fit down that alleyway, and we don’t get stumped when a roundabout has been constructed that isn’t yet on the map. More importantly, and this includes even the new breed of device with traffic reporting built in, we know instinctively to avoid a certain street at a certain time because a different route will be quicker.
What’s more, we know that you can get from A to B quicker via C today because of all the road works and temporary traffic lights springing up everywhere (see previous blog).
The truth is that there is more to getting around a city like London than simply knowing the street map, local knowledge is King. And if someone produced a SatNav system with mapping that was up to The Knowledge standard I would not only buy it, I would invest in the company as well. As long as it does not start lecturing me about politics and sport along the way, that is.
Now TomTom take me to the Texas Legation Memorial please and be quick about it.
PS It’s in Pickering Place SW1 just in case you wondered.
Test Your Knowledge: April 2022
This month’s quiz is about music, depending upon your age the questions will either get easier or harder. 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. Which one of the following English-born composers wrote ‘A London Symphony’?
Benjamin Britten
WRONG Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony has references mimicked by the orchestra to the urban soundscape: a barrel organ, the chant of a lavender-seller; the jingle of hansom cabs and the chimes of Big Ben.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
CORRECT Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony has references mimicked by the orchestra to the urban soundscape: a barrel organ, the chant of a lavender-seller; the jingle of hansom cabs and the chimes of Big Ben.
Edward Elgar
WRONG Vaughan Williams’ London Symphony has references mimicked by the orchestra to the urban soundscape: a barrel organ, the chant of a lavender-seller; the jingle of hansom cabs and the chimes of Big Ben.
2. Which wartime song was written by Hubert Gregg?
Lambeth Walk
WRONG As he sat and watched German V1 bombers fly over London, Hubert Gregg sat and composed the well-known Cockney folk song, Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner in a little over 20 minutes.
Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner
CORRECT As he sat and watched German V1 bombers fly over London, Hubert Gregg sat and composed the well-known Cockney folk song, Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner in a little over 20 minutes.
A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square
WRONG As he sat and watched German V1 bombers fly over London, Hubert Gregg sat and composed the well-known Cockney folk song, Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner in a little over 20 minutes.
3. Which London bridge is featured on a Kinks 1967 song?
Waterloo Bridge
CORRECT One morning in February 1967, Ray Davies rolled out of bed in his little semi-detached house in North London, and there was a song waiting for him. He claimed Waterloo Sunset came to him in a dream. He originally titled the song Liverpool Sunset.
London Bridge
WRONG One morning in February 1967, Ray Davies rolled out of bed in his little semi-detached house in North London, and there was a song waiting for him. He claimed Waterloo Sunset came to him in a dream. He originally titled the song Liverpool Sunset.
Tower Bridge
WRONG One morning in February 1967, Ray Davies rolled out of bed in his little semi-detached house in North London, and there was a song waiting for him. He claimed Waterloo Sunset came to him in a dream. He originally titled the song Liverpool Sunset.
4. What is the name of the street featured on the cover of their iconic 1969 album?
Abbey Road
CORRECT For the first time on a Beatles album, the front cover contained neither the group’s name nor the album title just that iconic photograph taken on the zebra crossing near the entrance to the Abbey Road Studios in August 1969.
Abbey Place
WRONG For the first time on a Beatles album, the front cover contained neither the group’s name nor the album title just that iconic photograph taken on the zebra crossing near the entrance to the Abbey Road Studios in August 1969.
Abbey Street
WRONG For the first time on a Beatles album, the front cover contained neither the group’s name nor the album title just that iconic photograph taken on the zebra crossing near the entrance to the Abbey Road Studios in August 1969.
5. Who are the group that sang ‘London Calling’?
The Clash
CORRECT London Calling is the third studio album by The Clash, it was originally released as a double album in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 by CBS Records.
Dire Straits
WRONG London Calling is the third studio album by The Clash, it was originally released as a double album in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 by CBS Records.
Pink Floyd
WRONG London Calling is the third studio album by The Clash, it was originally released as a double album in the United Kingdom on 14 December 1979 by CBS Records.
6. George Michael infamously crashed his Range Rover into the Hampstead branch of what high street shop?
Wex Photo
WRONG George Michael’s drug-induced Snappy Snaps crash Range Rover was later sold on eBay for a staggering £65,900.
Snappy Snaps
CORRECT George Michael’s drug-induced Snappy Snaps crash Range Rover was later sold on eBay for a staggering £65,900.
London Camera Exchange
WRONG George Michael’s drug-induced Snappy Snaps crash Range Rover was later sold on eBay for a staggering £65,900.
7. Coldplay band members met for the first time at which London University?
London School of Economics
WRONG They met at UCL and began playing music together from 1996 to 1998, first calling themselves Pectoralz and then Starfish before finally changing their name to Coldplay.
London South Bank University
WRONG They met at UCL and began playing music together from 1996 to 1998, first calling themselves Pectoralz and then Starfish before finally changing their name to Coldplay.
University College London
CORRECT They met at UCL and began playing music together from 1996 to 1998, first calling themselves Pectoralz and then Starfish before finally changing their name to Coldplay.
8. In what London neighbourhood would you find a statue of Amy Winehouse?
Hackney
WRONG The location of Amy Winehouse’s statue was originally intended in the Roundhouse music venue in nearby Chalk Farm, but due to poor public accessibility at that site, the work was instead erected in the Stables Market, it was unveiled by Winehouse’s friend, the Barbara Windsor on 14th September 2014, which would have been the singer’s 31st birthday.
Finchley
WRONG The location of Amy Winehouse’s statue was originally intended in the Roundhouse music venue in nearby Chalk Farm, but due to poor public accessibility at that site, the work was instead erected in the Stables Market, it was unveiled by Winehouse’s friend, the Barbara Windsor on 14th September 2014, which would have been the singer’s 31st birthday.
Camden
CORRECT The location of Amy Winehouse’s statue was originally intended in the Roundhouse music venue in nearby Chalk Farm, but due to poor public accessibility at that site, the work was instead erected in the Stables Market, it was unveiled by Winehouse’s friend, the Barbara Windsor on 14th September 2014, which would have been the singer’s 31st birthday.
9. In the song ‘Good Life’ by One Republic where do the authors find themselves in London?
Piccadilly
CORRECT Original Lyrics: Woke up in London yesterday/Found myself in the city, near Piccadilly. This 2010 multi-platinum song is unique in that the band recorded various radio versions of this song for different cities and states. The line changed in the lyrics is “my friends in [city/state] they don’t know, where I’ve been.”.
Mayfair
WRONG Original Lyrics: Woke up in London yesterday/Found myself in the city, near Piccadilly. This 2010 multi-platinum song is unique in that the band recorded various radio versions of this song for different cities and states. The line changed in the lyrics is “my friends in [city/state] they don’t know, where I’ve been.”.
Soho
WRONG Original Lyrics: Woke up in London yesterday/Found myself in the city, near Piccadilly. This 2010 multi-platinum song is unique in that the band recorded various radio versions of this song for different cities and states. The line changed in the lyrics is “my friends in [city/state] they don’t know, where I’ve been.”.
10. Taylor Swift sang about Hackney, Highgate and Hampstead in which song?
London Girl
WRONG Fans thought London Boy refers to visiting Camden Market, Highgate, the West End, Brixton, Shoreditch, Hackney and Bond Street in a single day falling in love with Londoner, her partner Joe Alwyn. She later clarified that she sang of over a three year period.
London Boy
CORRECT Fans thought London Boy refers to visiting Camden Market, Highgate, the West End, Brixton, Shoreditch, Hackney and Bond Street in a single day falling in love with Londoner, her partner Joe Alwyn. She later clarified that she sang of over a three year period.
London Park
WRONG Fans thought London Boy refers to visiting Camden Market, Highgate, the West End, Brixton, Shoreditch, Hackney and Bond Street in a single day falling in love with Londoner, her partner Joe Alwyn. She later clarified that she sang of over a three year period.
Cameras and cabs
It saddens me that in today’s society if we drive into a bus lane a camera records us and we get a fine. Put two wheels in a yellow box and a camera records us and we get a fine. Do a u-turn where we’re not supposed to, recorded and fined. Stay too long in a car park, recorded and fined. Drop passengers off in the wrong place, recorded and fined. Yet a youngster gets stabbed to death in a park and there is an appeal for eyewitnesses and dashcam video because there is no money to be made in monitoring the places where our children socialise. I know it is not financially viable to have cameras everywhere, but it is possible, and that is the sad part.
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