London Trivia: First hippo

25 May, 2025 Gibson Square 2 Comments

On 25 May 1850, Obaysch the hippopotamus arrived in London, the first since Roman times. He proved very popular and in 1871 fathered London’s Zoo first baby hippo. Obaysch once escaped from captivity and according to legend, a keeper was used as bait to lure him back into his enclosure.

On 25 May 1967 in London John Lennon wheeled out his new psychedelic Phantom, at Rolls Royce they said the £1,000 paint job was unfortunate

Under the 1752 Murder Act: The Company of Surgeons, Barts and St Thomas Hospitals were each entitled to 10 hanged corpses a year

The glazed-iron roof of Royal Albert Hall measures 20,000 sq.ft. and was at the time of building the largest unsupported glass dome in the world

In Westminster Bridge Road is the entrance to an old station from where passengers took their last journey to Brookwood Cemetery

Within 2 years from the start of World War II twenty-six per cent of London’s pets were destroyed, a quarter of a mile queue formed outside a Wood Green vets

The leather for Lady Penelope’s Thunderbirds limousine came from Bridge Weir Leather, the same company that upholsters Parliament’s benches

The short Holywell Street was the centre for the Victorian gay porn trade, with an estimated 57 pornography shops in as many yards

The museum at Lord’s Long Room has a perfume jar containing the original Ashes, and a stuffed sparrow bowled out in 1936 by Jehangir Khan

The longest journey in a car (1988 Volkswagon Scirocco) powered by coffee was from London to Manchester (337km) in March 2010

South Bank’s Anchor Brewery, once the largest brewery in the world, all that remains is the old brewery tap the Anchor Tavern on Park Street

Dukes Hotel, once part of St. James’s Palace, has knee height locks on doors because the staff used to have to enter and exit whilst bowing

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

Previously Posted: The cabbies’ nemesis?

24 May, 2025 Gibson Square 4 Comments

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 cabbies’ nemesis? (18.05.12)

According to a London Chamber of Commerce report around 3.2 million people take taxis and minicabs in London each week, even if each fare averages only £10, that means total annual revenues are in excess of £1.6bn, with a windfall to come with the Olympics in a little over two months’ time. Where should a Londoner’s cab-riding loyalties lie – with Black Cabs or private hire including Addison Lee?

Well as any service industry, it should be with one that provides the service you require at a price you are willing to pay, and in this John Griffin Addison Lee’s Chairman has a good business model.

By taking on low-skilled drivers, with many who are recent arrivals to our shores, and providing a complete package: vehicle, uniform, SatNavs, vehicle cleaning and phone, he has no shortage of takers. But many find working the long hours needed to make a decent living too much and leave after the first year.

Their enthusiasm sometimes stems from the novelty of having a job. A lady once told me of an African Addison Lee driver carrying her suitcase full of books up six flights of stairs balanced on his head.

Griffin has form when encouraging his gullible drivers to break the law. He declared that they should drive up the M4 bus lane. As traffic enforcement on motorways is the responsibility of the police, quite naturally they had more important things to do than catch Griffin’s miscreants. Eventually, the bus lane was scrapped and Addison Lee got their way.

The same seems to apply to Paddington Station’s new entrance. The signage clearly states no vehicles except taxis – and yes you’ve guessed it – Addison Lee seems to be exempt while all other private hire vehicles are excluded.

As a London Black Cab driver of over 15 years, I’ve seen our customer base diminish year on year.

When our only competition was a rusty Datsun with an aerial affixed to the roof by means of a magnet, Black Cab drivers would frequently decline jobs. “It’s not on my way home”, “I’m not going South of The River”, “Sorry Luv, I’m not going there”, “That suitcase looks heavy”. The excuses were endless.

It’s hardly surprising then that London Cab usage has declined when some of my colleagues felt their wishes came before their customer’s reasonable requests.

The younger London cabbies are more professional, with newer vehicles on the road and with a plethora of apps available from established radio circuits as well as independent developers we are starting to take back work.

You might not want John Griffin to run TfL but it has taken a maverick like him to shake the cab trade out of its complacency.

Where should a Londoner’s cab-riding loyalties lie? I would suggest dear punter that it’s you who is in the driving seat and not the other way round.

London in Quotations

London in Quotations: Paul Carr

Quote 19 May, 2025 Gibson Square 1 Comment

In many ways, London is like a great big pinata, and everyone who lives here is like an excited, blindfolded child with a heart full of hope and a big flailing stick. Aim that stick right and London will split at the seams like a ruptured spleen, showering you with the most extraordinary places to visit, places like you won’t find anywhere else in the world. Get it wrong and the chances are you’ll lose your footing and end up in a frustrated, eyeless heap.

Paul Carr (b.1979), London by London

London trivia

London Trivia: First airship

18 May, 2025 Gibson Square 2 Comments

On 18 May 1921, the erection of a commercial airship mooring-mast started at Croydon Airport. When completed the R33 would be anchored on it for experimental purposes. British rigid airships were built for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War.

On 18 May 1955 the country’s first Wimpy Bar opened in London, hailed as the birth of fast food conveniently forgetting about fish and chips

In 1678 the body of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey was found on Greenberry Hill later three were hanged for the murder their names Green, Berry, Hill

The stainless steel box in the middle of a traffic island in Elephant & Castle commemorates local scientist Michael Faraday

Britain’s first fatal car crash took place on Grove Hill, Harrow. Today a plaque on the spot warns drivers to take heed

Thatcher used to stand on a chair in her Commons room to check the top of the door. ‘It’s the way you know if a room’s really been cleaned.’

Douglas Adams based characters of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe on Islington where he lived, Hotblack Desiato was an estate agent

The Apollo 11 crew’s first alcoholic drink back on Earth was the Moonwalk, invented by Joe Gilmore of London’s Savoy hotel

The highest temperature recorded at the London Marathon 21.7C degrees on 22 April 2007: coldest 13 years previously in 1994 at 7.6C degrees

Demonstrating a new crossing in Camden aimed at reducing pedestrian road deaths Transport Minister Hore-Belisha was nearly knocked down

Many of the streets in the city were named after the particular trade which practiced there, for example Threadneedle Street was the tailor’s district

When John Noakes climbed Nelson’s Column (removing pigeon poo) for TV’s Blue Peter a sound engineer didn’t record the stunt, Noakes had to reclimb all over again

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

Previously Posted: Not a good sign

17 May, 2025 Gibson Square 1 Comment

Not a good sign (15.05.12)

On a recent trip to Dorset, I was obliged to the local authority for erecting a sign which informed me that the adjacent beach was subject to flooding, it’s always good to know what hazards lay ahead.

In London, we have to blame King Henry I for the plethora of superfluous signage littering our streets imparting useless information. The good king deemed that a street could not be named as such unless it was paved and was wide enough for sixteen knights to ride abreast, while a lane had only to be the width of a beer barrel rolled by two men.

This Royal Declaration must have started a growth industry in signage that has continued to this day and is now cluttering every road in London.

“Humps for 263 metres”, “New Road Layout Ahead”, “Signal Priorities Changed”. Am I really going to check the distance I’ve travelled to ensure that I won’t encounter another street-calming obstacle, or that I’m so bright my memory can clearly remember the timings of every traffic signal in London?

We now employ somebody to type drivel into a gizmo that controls the M25 overhead gantries, they give us such gems as: “Road Ahead Clear” with the approximate time it will take you to reach a destination you have no intention of reaching.

Only last week while driving along the A12 the Olympic Delivery Authority shared – via a matrix board at the side of the road – the priceless information that trials were taking place within the Olympic Park.

Frequently we’re told, just in case there was any doubt, that “Sign Under Test” rather implying that the upper sixth is taking its finals and we should be quiet lest we disturb the examination.

Each time I pass a sign announcing “Concrete Curing” I have visions of a group of men in high-viz jackets performing a laying on of hands to make the road better.

Once I naïvely thought that they had been put up for the benefit of the public, but of course, they are for the benefit of the erectors of the signs. So obsessed are they with our liability culture they put up these signs so why asked they can reply “well, you were warned”.