You know what London’s like on Sunday? About as lively as a wet night at Stonehenge.
Richard Gordon (1921-2017), Nuts in May
London Trivia: Alexander Litvinenko dies
On 23 November 2006 Russian dissident, Alexander Litvinenko, died at University College Hospital. His death was attributed to poisoning with radioactive polonium-210. The Russian government were suspected of his murder.
On 23 November 1896 Woolwich Arsenal’s Joe Powell broke his wrist in a league match, he died 6 days later from tetanus complications
It was at Francis Bacon’s studio at Narrow Street, Limehouse that he met lover George Dyer as Dyer attempted to burgle the place
The dome of the O₂ weighs less than the air contained underneath it; there’s only one curved piece of glass in the Gherkin – the one right at the top
In 1862, Dr Thomas Orton, one of London’s most senior physicians, established four sibling’s deaths in Limehouse were caused by vivid green wallpaper whose constituent was arsenic
Under Paddington Green is a disused Cold War command centre its entrance covered by a bush, nearby are the top-security jail cells for terrorist suspects inside London’s Paddington Green Police Station
A fight with a fashion designer at a party is said to have inspired Ray Davis to write The Kinks hit Dedicated Follower of Fashion
During World War II the south moat at the Tower of London was used by the Yeoman Warders as allotments to grow vegetables
The neon sign on Hornsey Road Baths is the sole survivor of 12 similar signs commissioned at various London baths in the 1930s
The eastern extension of the Jubilee line is the only Underground line to feature glass screens to deter ’jumpers’
Constructed in 1850 Crystal Palace had nearly 1 million square feet of glass, about a third of all the glass produced in England that year
The Clapham South wartime bomb shelter was later used to house the first ever Jamaican immigrants who arrived in 1948 on the Empire Windrush
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: End of the road
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.
End of the road (23.10.12)
They were once described in Parliament by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli as “Hansom cab are the gondolas of London”, and in a recent poll by Hotels.com based on responses from 1,600 travellers found that passengers were more than twice as likely to ‘become amorous’ in a black cab, with 26 per cent of global travellers having kissed in the back seat.
The poll which put London cabbies ahead of all other cities’ cabs, passengers admitted to feeling so safe that 56 per cent had nodded off in the back seat. But this commodious form of transport more akin to gliding through London’s streets with the air of a liveried gentleman is threatened with its very survival.
The symbol of quiet dependability and polished tradition is under threat as Manganese Bronze, the company that has made the iconic cab since 1947 but has not made a profit since 2007 has now been put into administration.
The black cab’s demise will come as little surprise to its owners. The FX4 which first appeared on London’s streets some six decades ago was a beautifully engineered vehicle and a quantum leap in comfort and reliability from the other vehicles plying for hire on London’s streets. Its successor, the Fairway, which went some way to resolving the issue of the FX4’s brakes which seemed to have a mind of their own, is now to be withdrawn from London’s streets at the behest of Transport for London.
Beset with reliability issues, the recent incarnations by Manganese Bronze, the FX1, 2 and 4 have been prone to leaks (don’t ever leave anything not waterproof in the boot), spontaneous combustion and most recently steering problems. Seemingly cobbled together from parts made by other manufacturers, driving one seems to take one back to the early 1970s when British cars were synonymous with shoddy workmanship.
There has always been something pleasingly dignified about a bespoke vehicle for London rather than using vehicles which can be bought at a local car showroom. With ample headroom and legroom, it has none of the scrunch and squeeze of a regular automobile or looks like a converted van by a quality German manufacturer.
But it looks that unless something appears at the 11th hour the gondolas of London are doomed to be replaced with the ubiquitous black vans manufactured in Germany or Japan.
London in Quotations: G. K. Chesterton
London is the largest of the bloated modern cities; London is the smokiest; London is the dirtiest; London is, if you will, the most miserable. But London is certainly the most amusing and the most amused.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
London Trivia: Jack Sheppard hanged
On 16 November 1724 Jack Sheppard, the diminutive 22-year-old thief and working-class hero, was taken from Newgate to Tyburn to be hanged. His hanging was attended by a crowd of 200,000, and he was buried in the churchyard of St Martin-in-the-Fields that evening. He was only twenty- two.
On 16 November 1898 Britain’s first escalator was installed in Harrods, customers were so overcome that attendants were posted at the top to administer brandy to gentlemen and smelling salts to the ladies!
In 1597 Ben Jonson was charged with ‘Leude and mutynous behavior’ and jailed in Marshalsea Prison for co-writing the play The Isle of Dogs
The Fire of London destroyed: 87 churches; Guildhall Royal Exchange; Customs House; 52 company halls; 4 prisons; 3 City gates; 4 bridges; and 13,000 houses
William Cowle died in the upstairs room of the Carlisle Arms, Soho in 1893, by placing a billiard ball in his mouth for a bet
The Ayrton Light atop Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower, popularly known as Big Ben, shines to show that the House is sitting
The ships surmounting flagpoles on The Mall depict Nelson’s fleet who defeated the French at The Battle of Trafalgar
Millwall (Rovers) were formed in the summer of 1885 by workers at Morton’s Jam Factory on the Isle of Dogs
Spurs’ first competitive match was versus St Albans in the London Association Cup in 1885, Spurs won 5-2
Clapham Junction Station is the busiest terminal in Britain once having 2,500 trains per day passing through
The majority of workers at Mortons Jam factory were of Scottish origin, this is the origin of Millwall’s famous blue & white colours
The definition of a Londoner: one who has never been to Madame Tussaud’s; Harrods once claimed to be able to supply elephants
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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