On 22 January 1970 Heathrow welcomed a Pan Am Boeing 747; the first ‘jumbo jet’ carrying fare-paying passengers has arrived at Heathrow airport. Pan Am Flight Two touched down at 14.14 GMT. The jumbo brought 324 passengers across the Atlantic from New York to London. The return journey to New York did not run so smoothly, 36 of the 153 passengers transferred to other flights after a faulty compressed air bottle, meant take-off was delayed for four-and-a-half hours at Heathrow.

On 22 January 1988 Alexandra Palace was reopened following restoration, the palm court included dates and palms brought from Alexandria, Egyptian-style obelisks and mock sphinxes

On 22 January 1626 In Bleeding Heart Yard, Farringdon Lady Elizabeth Hatton’s mutilated body was found after she danced with the devil

Green Lanes, which runs 7.45 miles from Newington Green to Ridge Avenue in Winchmore Hill, is the longest named thoroughfare in London

In Whitechapel during the mid 1800s you could have a clean hot bath for 6d, or get in someone’s disused warm water for 2d, many chose the latter

Upminster Bridge station has a swastika motif on the floor of the ticket hall installed before the symbol took on its sinister reputation

In Fever Pitch (1997) shots showing Highbury’s 1970 terraces were Fulham’s at Craven Cottage. Arsenal’s ground had become an all-seater

Famous 1950s coffee-bar in Old Compton Street was called 3 I’s one Iranian left becoming 2 I’s. Australian’s bought the lease and kept the name

On 22 January 1927 the first football match was broadcast live on the radio took place at Highbury as Arsenal drew 1-1 with Sheffield United

The total number of carriages in London Underground’s fleet, as of January 2013, was 4,134 and the total number of stations served on the network was 270

Waterloo Bridge, is known as ‘Ladies’ Bridge on account of the World War II goodbyes to troops enroute to Waterloo Station and the women who built it

Frederick Hitch, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his courage at the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, became a London Cabbie when he came home

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 15 January 1880 the first telephone directory was published, its three exchanges had 248 subscribers to The Telephone Company, but remarkably no numbers only addresses. If you wanted to be connected you had to ring the operator and ask for the person by name. No AAAAAAA Hansom Cabs here. The first person listed was John Adam & Co., 11 Pudding Lane. Naturally Alexander Bell was there he had, after all, invented the contraption, and Keith Prowse selling tickets.

On 15 January 1797 John Hetherington charged with breach of the peace and inciting a riot after he was the first to wear a top hat in public

The last person to stand and be humiliated in a pillory in London was Peter Bossy in 1830. It sometimes was dangerous and many lost an eye

Putney Bridge is unique in that it is the only one in Britain with a church at either end St Mary’s Putney north and All Saints Fulham south

Tobacco was used to revive those drowned in the Thames its vapours were thought to restore the body’s balance inserted into the rectum

On 15 January 1559 the Coronation of Elizabeth I took place at Westminster Abbey, it the last occasion on which the Latin service was used

Billy Ocean, born Leslie Charles, took his name from the Ocean Estate, Stepney where he lived. He also worked for a tailor in Brick Lane

In 1868 Edward, The Prince of Wales, regularly visited the (legal) opium den of Chi Ki in Limehouse frequented by sailors

The 1908 Russian Olympic team arrived 12 days late to London because they hadn’t yet started using the Gregorian calendar

Every week the Underground escalators travel the equivalent distance of going twice around the world but very, very slowly

In October 1986 a trio of Daily Telegraph journalists set up The Independent newspaper from 40 City Road, last year the paper stopped printing and was only published online

London only reached its pre-World War II population of just over 8.615 million in January, 2015 after the war it dipped to 6.6 million

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.