On 4 March 1824 curiously many miles from sea at The Tavern in Bishopsgate Street, George Hibbert and Sir William Hillary organised a meeting which resulted in the establishment of The National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, thus absolving the Government’s obligation to save lives at sea. Today it is known as The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, whose brave volunteers save many souls each year.

On 4 March 1967 Queens Park Rangers became the first football club to win the ‘League Cup at Wembley Stadium’ when they beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2

Given the Freedom of the City of London you can insist if you’re sentenced to hang, the execution can only be carried out using a silk rope

On 4 March 1903 on the site of more than 100 Catholic Reformation Martyrs the Tyburn Convent opened at 8 Hyde Park Place

Polly the Parrot at the Cheshire Cheese Public House fell of her perch with exhaustion after she imitated 400 times popping corks at the end of World War I

In the Members’ Lobby are statues and busts of past prime ministers. Members touch their favourite before they give a speech for good luck

Neo-classical Dulwich Picture Gallery designed by Sir John Soane is 200 years old and was England’s first purpose built public art gallery

During the 18th century you could pay your admission ticket to the zoo in London by bringing a cat or a dog to feed the lions

Rugby netball, dreamt up by soldiers in 1907, and has been played on Clapham Common ever since is thought to be the only place in the world where it is played

The first London bus service was established in 1829 and ran between Paddington and Bank carrying 22 people and was pulled by three horses

The Pearly Kings and Queens were originally the ‘aristocracy’ of the costermongers and were elected to safeguard their rights from competitors

The Royal Lancaster Hotel on the edge of Hyde Park has installed beehives on its roof with bee keepers harvesting their honey for the guests

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 25 February 1888 Annie Millwood was admitted to Whitechapel Workhouse Infirmary with stabs to her legs and lower torso it was believed to be the first Ripper victim. Severn Klosowski was hanged on 7 April 1903 for the poisoning of his wife, his three other spouses had died under mysterious circumstances. Inspector John Abberline the policeman in charge of the Ripper case suspected Klosowski was also the Ripper.

On 25 February 1899 Edwin Sewell became the first to die in a car accident when the rear wheels collapsed testing a Daimler down Grove Hill, Harrow

In Wapping bodies of hanged pirates were left in the Thames for three tides to wash over them before being removed for burial

From 1808 to 1814 Hampstead Heath had a shutter telegraph chain conveying information by visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, connecting the Admiralty to naval ships in Great Yarmouth

Missionary David Livingstone laid in repose at 1 Savile Row, HQ of the Royal Geographical Society, now it’s the bespoke tailors Gieves and Hawkes

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”

The fictitious station of Walford East, which features in the long-running soap opera Eastenders, is supposed to be on the District Line

Upper Street, nicknamed as Supper Street, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the United Kingdom

Formed in 1886 Queen’s Park Rangers have moved 15 times and had 12 grounds, a record for any other London football club

The Seven Sisters Underground station is believed to have been named after a line of elm trees which stood nearby until the 1830s

In South Street, Mayfair there is a plaque to Catherine Walters known as ‘Skittles’ and described as London’s last Victorian Courtesan

The Museum of London has a whole drawer of codpieces that one embarrassed Victorian curator catalogued as ‘shoulder pads’

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.