Aesthetically, London is just beautiful; it’s a gorgeous city. The architecture, monuments, the parks, the small streets – it’s an incredible place to be.
Sara Bareilles (b.1979)
London Trivia: Villain’s funeral
On 11 August 1982 Ronnie and Reggie Kray were allowed out of prison to attend their mother’s funeral. The service was attended by Diana Dors who arrived wearing a fetching black dress and sunglasses. Ronnie was brought from Broadmoor for the criminally insane, Reggie from Parkhurst where he was held as a Category ‘A’ prisoner. The brothers were not allowed to attend the graveside service at Chingford Mount Cemetery.
On 11 August 1897 Enid Blyton was born at 354 Lordship Lane, she would go on to sell more than 600 books and have been translated into 90 languages
Marc Brunel invented a tunnelling machine to bore the first Thames Tunnel after watching the common shipworm while in a debtors’ prison
The site of the previous New Scotland Yard was originally to be an opera house, after spending £103,000 they couldn’t afford the roof and it was pulled down
In 1878 Britain’s worst river disaster happened on the Thames when the paddleboat Princess Alice was struck by a collier with the loss of 640 lives
Fearing its gold would illuminate Kensington Palace at night the Albert Memorial was painted black during World War I, it wasn’t restored until 1998
In 1970 Dan Crawford founded The King’s Head Theatre, Islington the first pub theatre in the England since the time of Shakespeare
In 1905 millionaire George Kessler flooded the Savoy’s courtyard to float a gondola, a birthday cake on an elephant’s back and Caruso singing
Wisden were one of the original office tenants above Leicester Square station their name is still there in Cranbourn Street side of building
The 1695 London to Harwich Roads Act allowing country justices to collect tolls is to be repealed – traffic cameras have made the law obsolete
The former headquarters at 1 Cockspur Street of The White Star Line, owners of the Titanic, is now a US restaurant the Texas Embassy Cantina
In one of our favourite derivations, Chiswick is Old English for ‘cheese farm’, and was first recorded as Ceswican around the year
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.
Previously Posted: Power to the People
For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.
Power to the people (08.07.11)
Cabbies pass it every day on their way to the Wyndham Grand Hotel or when taking a shortcut through Chelsea Harbour with hardly a glance in its direction and like its younger sibling Battersea downriver, Lots Road Power Station lies dormant awaiting redevelopment; this disused industrial building is the world’s oldest thermal power station and almost certainly the first steel-framed building in Britain.
At the turn of the last century, Edwardians decided, rather sensibly, that smoke-filled tunnels with steam locomotives carrying passengers on London’s Underground were not the way to go, and electric-driven trains were the way forward.
The bohemian painters of Chelsea objected to removing smoke from the tunnels populated by the workers and instead discharging the pollution over their green and pleasant riverside residences. But built it was and for the present stands a testament to Edwardian engineering at its very best; 220 piers supporting brickwork on a German steel frame; 453ft long, 175ft wide, 140ft high; chimneys 275ft tall; originally its 64 boilers drew water from an artesian well 500ft deep, supplemented by 60 million gallons a day drawn from the Thames via a single pipe wide enough for a horse to walk through.
At first, the electricity was used to power the District Line but as demand grew and as the Underground network was extended it was burning 500 tons of coal a day; later it converted to oil and then to natural gas running eight newly installed Rolls-Royal Avon turbines.
Eventually, electricity would be more cheaply obtained from the National Grid than generating the network’s own power at Lots Road and so this industrial dinosaur has now lain dormant for decades. The power station’s attractive location standing on the bank of the Thames opposite one of London’s most beautiful Georgian churches, St. Mary’s, Battersea, has made it a victim of more ubiquitous luxury flats.
Now a development planned by Sir Terry Farrell hopes to provide about 800 residential apartments and penthouses units in riverside towers of 37 and 25 storeys and the conversion of the historic Lots Road Power Station. The development will see a signature waterside restaurant, cafes, retail units and offices together with a leisure complex. Planning permission has been granted and development is underway.
London in Quotations: Natalie Massenet
The interesting thing about London is that there are always stylish surprises around every corner.
Natalie Massenet (b.1965)
London Trivia: Bandleader announces war
On 4 August 1914 whilst enjoying an open-air concert given by a German band at the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre, the conductor stopped the music declaring “Ladies and Gentlemen, war has been declared”. With that the musicians filed out silently. It is not recorded if the concert goers received a refund. By the time the war more than 16 million people were dead – and presumably some of the band.
On 4 August 2011 gang member Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in Tottenham, his death would cause riots to break out
At the Old Bailey in 1468 jurors who returned a verdict unacceptable to the trial judge were forced to wear dunces’ caps
Tins holding Old Holborn rolling tobacco featured a drawing of the front of Staple Inn, Holborn. It still exists poorly restored
On 4 August 2000 40,000 well-wishers gathered in the Mall to celebrate the Queen Mother’s 100th birthday she received a telegram from the Queen
Parliament’s jail was last used in 1880 imprisoning atheist Charles Bradlaugh for refusing taking oath of allegiance to the Queen on a Bible
Wimpole Street was once home to poet Elizabeth Barrett, author Arthur Conan Doyle and Paul McCartney who wrote Yesterday there
Alexander Pope planted the first Willow Tree in England in his garden at Twickenham. All the willows in Britain are related to this tree
When David Walliams swam 140 miles of the Thames for charity raising £2m he also found time to save a dog that had joined him in the water
The District Line opened on Xmas Eve 1868. River Westbourne had to be channelled over track at Sloane Sq in a metal pipe (still there today)
Henry Harrod’s first grocery store was in Stepney before he moved to Eastcheap in 1835 and Belgravia in 1849
McVitie’s make their chocolate Hobnobs in Harlesden, but for some reason the plain Hobnobs are made in Glasgow
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.
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