On the 14 July 1989 a turnip killed 56-year-old Leslie Mervy whilst shopping in East London, the turnip was thrown from a passing car, he suffered a punctured lung and a rib broken in three places. After being discharged from hospital his condition deteriorated and he died of a ruptured spleen on 23 July. Detective Superintendent Graham Howard said the death was being investigated as a murder, London’s only case of death by turnip.

On 14 July 1921 The Times reported that cocktails drunk before meals were harmful, and shockingly that 50 per cent of consumers were women

At 6ft 7ins Bank of England clerk William Jenkins fearing bodysnatchers offered a 200 guineas advance to the Bank of England to be buried in the Bank’s garden

Huge flocks of starlings are now rare, called ‘murmuration’ as 100,000 birds choose where to sleep, they once stopped Big Ben by perching on the hands

In 1653 Old Parr was buried at Westminster Abbey at the reputed age of 152, Charles I accorded this honour having met the world’s oldest man

Should a whale become stranded on the Thames foreshore the King may claim its head, his Queen the body – presumably to make her corset stays

Prince Albert lent Thomas Thorneycroft the horses on which to model those being reined in by Queen Boudicca sculpture on Victoria Embankment

Buck’s Club founded in 1919 by returning army officers was said to be the place where Buck’s Fizz was invented by its barman called McCarry

The Lamb and Flag in Rose Street was called The Bucket of Blood as hidden away in an alley made it the ideal venue for illegal prize fights

Opened in 1863 the Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farrington was the world’s first urban underground passenger-carrying railway

London’s first drive-in bank for lazy motorists was installed by Drummond’s Bank housed in a building adjacent to Admiralty Arch

Battersea Dogs’ Home was founded in Holloway in 1860 by Mary Tealby as ‘The Temporary Home for Lost and Starving Dogs’

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.

On 7 July 2005, a series of bomb attacks on London’s transport network killed 56 people and injured 784 others. Three explosions on the Underground and a blast on a double decker bus in Tavistock Square. The explosions were caused by homemade organic peroxide-based devices packed into backpacks. The bombings were followed two weeks later by a series of attempted attacks that failed to cause injury or damage.

On 7 July 1607 the National Anthem was sung for the first time at Merchant Taylor’s Hall to James I by members of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal

Over the last 200 years, there have been three assassination attempts on Constitution Hill, a road under half a mile long

LSO St Lukes, formerly St Luke’s church in Old Street, was once nicknamed ‘Lousy Luke’s’ due to the flea on the weathervane

David Livingstone is buried in Westminster Abbey – but his heart is buried in Africa – the tribe he’d befriended said it belonged there

Stanley Baldwin is the only British Prime Minister ever to serve under three different monarchs: George V; Edward VIII; George V

By Goldsmith’s Chambers in Inner Temple, a board lists fictional residents from author John Mortimer’s Rumpole of the Bailey

Holland Park was a private estate attached to Holland House and became a public park after the house was bombed in World War II

On 7 July 1985 at seventeen Boris Becker won Wimbledon, the youngest ever player to win, he was also the first German ever to win the title, and the first unseeded player

The only station name common to both London Tube and Paris Metro is Temple. It is not St Paul’s – that’s Saint-Paul

St Andrew’s church in Hornchurch has a stained glass window depicting a red Ford Fiesta, in tribute to the firm’s nearby factory

Sewardstone north of Chingford is the only place with a London postcode (E4) that lies outside Greater London

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.