On 24 March 1918 a bigamist and American conman died at the Wood Green Empire. For years he had masqueraded as Chung Ling Soo the most famous – and wealthiest – ‘Chinese’ magician on London’s stage. His famous trick of being shot backfired when a real bullet hit him. His first English words since reaching Britain were “Oh my God, something’s happened, bring down the curtain”.

On 24 March 1877 the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race ended in its only dead heat with a time of 24 minutes, 8 seconds

Bow Street Police Station was the only Victorian London police station with a white light outside rather than a blue light

Smithfield Market was designed by Sir Horace Jones who also designed Billingsgate and Leadenhall Markets and Tower Bridge

On 24 March 1947 businessman Alan Sugar (The Apprentice, Amstrad) was born in Hackney, East London

The Wiener Library, Russell Square contains 1 million items relating to the Holocaust, it is the world’s oldest library of related material

The 100th anniversary of the roundel (the Tube Logo) was celebrated in 2008 by TfL commissioning 100 artists to produce works that celebrate the design

Early 1980s – Burlington Arcade beadle tells someone off for whistling – they turn round – it’s Paul McCartney – beadle exempts him from whistling ban for life

In March 1950 a ski-jump contest was held on Hampstead Heath with 45 tons of snow brought from Norway in wooden boxes cooled by dry ice

St James is the only Underground Station to have Grade-I protected status. It includes 55 Broadway, the administrative headquarters of London’s Underground since the 1930s

Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in Stoke Newington where he also ran a civet farm in the grounds of his house

London boasts over 300 different spoken languages, more than any other city in the world, 78 per cent cite English, followed by Polish and Bengali

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 17 March 1968, an anti-Vietnam war rally with 10,000 protesters held at Trafalgar Square turned violent when a large group marched to the American embassy in Grosvenor Square. Hundreds of police surrounded the building, which at that time was not protected by anti-terror barricades. Violence flared and by the end of the day, 246 had been arrested, of which 7 were imprisoned and 91 police injured.

On 17 March 1845 the rubber band was patented by Stephen Perry, it was made to secure papers, early versions were made of vulcanised rubber

Anne Morrow might have regretted marry three times while dressed as a man when she was permanently blinded by missiles while being pilloried

The Serpentine was the world’s first artificial pond designed not to look manmade when the River Westbourne was diverted in 1730

Holy relics kept at Westminster Abbey included: Virgin Mary’s girdle; Mary Magdalene’s hair; a phial of Christ’s blood and St. Benedict’s head

So unpopular he was deposed in 1688 but before going into exile King James II petulantly threw the Great Seal of State into the Thames

The statute of Field Marshal Lord Woseley on Horse Guards Parade was cast in bronze from recycled from captured enemy cannon

Theatre Royal, Haymarket was the third theatre to get a royal licence, it was granted after the owner broke his leg falling from the Duke of York’s horse in 1766

The youngest rower to win the University Boat Race is Matt Smith who at 18 years 255 days won with Oxford in March 2000

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

At Forty Hall, Enfield 15 acres of grapes are growing – the purpose is to start London’s first commercial vineyard since medieval times

50 Berkeley Square was once the home of George Canning, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister and claims to be the most haunted building in 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.