On 9 June 1975 in a 4-week experiment, the first live transmission was broadcast of Parliament by BBC Radio. Secretary of State for Industry Tony Benn was the first minister to be questioned in Parliament live on air, starting a debate which some listeners said was difficult to follow on radio. The idea of broadcasting the proceedings of Parliament was first suggested in the 1920s, but permission was refused.

On 9 June 1978 a Gutenberg Bible (1 of 21) was sold in London for $2.4 million. It now resides in Stuttgart and worth £30 million

Section 54 of The Metropolitan Police Act 1839 makes it an offence to carry a plank across the pavement in London. Maximum fine £500

Southwark Street laid out in 1862 by Sir Joseph Bazalgette was the first street in London with water and gas pipes in the middle of the road

Famous cook ‘Mrs Beeton’ who published The Book of Household Management, was born at 24 Milk Street, off Cheapside as Isabella Mayson

In 1940 Winston Churchill met at St. Ermin’s Hotel promising to ‘Set Europe Ablaze’ the genesis of the SOE which ultimately became the SAS

The stage version of Susan Hill’s novel The Woman In Black is the second-longest running West End show after Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap

The Sun and 13 Cantons in Soho is named after the 13 provinces (cantons) of Switzerland (streets around pub were once big watch-making area)

On 9 June 1905 Charlton Athletic Football Club was formed by a group of teenagers on East Street (later known as Eastmoor Street)

On 9 June 1958 The Queen opened revamped Gatwick Airport, arriving by air from Heathrow. The government had decreed that Gatwick should be London’s second airport, it had been closed for the major re-development

Twinings tea shop on the Strand has an old money chest in its in-store museum with the letters ‘T.I.P.’ short for ‘To Improve Promptness’

Some of the TV cables at Buckingham Palace for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were installed by a ferret

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 2 June 1953 the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II took place at Westminster Abbey, the recipe for the Anointing Oil contains oils of orange, roses, cinnamon, musk and ambergris. Usually a batch is made to last a few Coronations, but in May 1941 a bomb hit the Deanery destroying the phial, so a new batch was made. The Queen’s grandmother, Queen Mary, aged 81 was the first Queen to see a grandchild ascend to the throne.

On 2 June 1938 the children’s zoo opened at London Zoo by American Ambassador Joe Kennedy’s young sons Teddy and Bobby siblings to John Kennedy

Bow Street was the only police station to have white lights outside instead of the traditional blue – they were ordered by Queen Victoria

The golden flames on top of St. Paul’s lean in the direction the wind was blowing on the night of the Great Fire

In 1637 playwright Ben Jonson was buried upright in Westminster Abbey as he couldn’t afford to pay for a larger space

London’s epic Parliament Square peace protestor (no one else can permanently stay there) Brian Haw, born 1949 stood there since 2 June 2001 until his death in 2011

Harry Potter’s magic luggage trolley sticks out of a wall between platforms 8/9 not 9/10 because J. K.Rowling was thinking of Euston

Until recently Londoners consumed a prodigious amount of champagne, by volume they equalled the entire amount exported by France to America

In the 18th century at the Cat & Mutton, Broadway Market hosted the Soapy Pig Swinging Contest, drovers lathered a pig’s tail and hurled it

The colourful benches on the Southeastern High Speed platform in St Pancras are the five chopped-up Olympic rings once hanging there in 2012

On 2 June 1953 among the many foreign journalists at the Coronation was Jacqueline Bouvier (later America’s First Lady, Jackie Kennedy), who was working for the Washington Times-Herald at the time

On 2 June 1975 London recorded the first time snow fell in London in June, a county cricket match between Essex and Kent played in Colchester was interrupted by the snow

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.