On 4 November 1964 the Fortnum & Mason clock, designed by Berkeley Sutcliffe positioned above the store’s Piccadilly entrance was officially started, 4ft high mechanical figures, Mr Mason and Mr Fortnum emerge every hour from separate pavilions to make half a circuit before ‘ringing’ their respective bells. The 18 bells from the same foundry as Big Ben ring every 15 minutes a selection of airs.

On 4 November 1852 The House of Commons press gallery where journalists may observe and write was opened. 300 are accredited by the Serjeant-at-Arms

An old police box aka TARDIS can be found outside Earl’s Court station. The same station that had the Underground’s first escalator on 4 October 1911

Records show that the site of OXO Tower, bought for £75,000 by the Leibig Extract of Meat Company in the 1920s, was once used as a butchery!

Charles II, encouraged by Nell Gwyn, founded Chelsea Royal Hospital in 1682 for injured Civil War veterans. Soldiers over the age of 65 may apply to become a Chelsea Pensioner

In 1796 a Commons Committee spent days debating a plan to dig a channel across the Isle of Dogs to save sailing time around the peninsular

In his study at Harrington Gardens SW7 W S Gilbert saw a Japanese sword fall from the wall and inspired him to write The Mikado

Piccadilly may take it’s name from Piccadilly Hall so called home of Robert Baker, a tailor who sold piccadillies, a form of collar or ruff

London has more professional football clubs than any other city in the world except Buenos Aires. In 2013 the Football Association celebrated the 150th anniversary of its formation in a tavern in Holborn

The average speed on the Underground is 20.5 miles per hour including station stops but on the Metropolitan Line trains can reach over 60mph

From his Wapping soap factory John Knight produced the famous Knight’s Castile soap, which won a medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851

In 1995 Holborn had a bizarre claim to fame as the most commonly mispronounced word in the English language. Remember the l is silent

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 28 October 1215 the first Lord Mayor was presented to the monarch during the reign of King John and that tradition in the form of the Lord Mayor’s Show continues to this day. The first Mayor of London in 1189 was Henry Fitz Alwyn, but it was William Hardell, who went in procession from the City to Westminster to swear the oath of allegiance to the King. Hardell was one of the enforcers of Magna Carta.

On 28 October 1958 the State Opening of Parliament was first broadcast on BBC Television, Richard Dimbleby commentated on the first time Parliament allowed the cameras in to watch the ceremony

There is no place called Euston Square because of the 1878 murder of Matilda Hacker who was found dead in a cellar at No 4 having been strangled, it was subsequently changed to Torrington Square

The world’s first public street lighting with gas was installed in Pall Mall, London in 1807. In 1812, the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company became the world’s first gas company

In 1952, the Great Smog of London was so bad that blind people led sighted people home from the train stations

The two bollards at the end of Boundary Passage are French cannons from the Battle of Trafalgar. They have a cannonball bunging their muzzle

1970’s ITV sitcom On The Buses starring Reg Varney was partly filmed at Wood Green bus depot as well as Lavender Hill cemetery

The Museum of London, which retraces the history of London from Prehistoric times to the present day, is the largest urban history museum in the world

The badge of West Ham United Football Club is a reminder that their nickname ‘The Hammers’ comes, not from their location, but from their origins as the works team of the Thames Ironworks shipbuilders

In the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Hogwarts headmaster has a scar that resembles a map of the London Underground on his knee

Busking has been licensed on the Tube since 2003. Sting and Paul McCartney are both rumoured to have busked on the Underground in disguise

Berry Bros & Rudd on St. James’s Street have an 18th-century coffee scales, once used Lord Byron (13 stone at the age of 17)

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.