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.
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