On 15 February 1822, William Abbott became the first to donate his body for dissection. Having been hanged at Newgate jail for the murder of May Lees his corpse duly arrived at Hosier Lane. Every year a congregation gathers at Southwark cathedral, close by Guy’s hospital, they come to a service of thanksgiving for those who, over the previous year, have donated their bodies for students to dissect and learn. Mortui vivos docent is the Latin phrase. The dead teach the living.

On 15 February 1986 Eight police officers were injured and 58 people arrested in an outbreak of violence outside the News International printing plant in Wapping with strikers protesting over new working conditions

The Old Bailey’s Blind Justice roof statue is unusual in not having a blindfold. Her impartiality is said to be shown by her ‘maidenly form’

Lower Robert Street is the only remnant of underground streets below the Adelphi buildings built by the Adam brothers in 1773

The gravestone of the famous Elizabethan actor Richard Burbage in the graveyard of St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, reads simply ‘Exit Burbage’

The Houses of Parliament has 8 bars, 6 restaurants, 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, 11 courtyards, a hair salon and a rifle shooting range

Senate House in Bloomsbury is the inspiration for The Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s novel 1984, it even has a Room 101

Cheapside get its name from the Saxon word for market – ‘chepe’ as this was London’s main market in medieval times

The highest concentration of public and private swimming baths ever recorded in Britain was in Islington, between 1743 and 1939, no fewer than 14 baths operated

Jaguar’s iconic C-type car was tested on the main runway at Heathrow. With 470,000 aircraft movements a year, it might be problematic today

Elephant and Castle derives its name from a craftsmen’s guild whose sign featured an elephant from the ivory handles of the knives they made

Shirts once only unbuttoned down to the chest. The modern front opening design was registered in 1871 by Aldermanbury gentleman outfitters

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 8 February 1952 Princess Elizabeth proclaimed herself Queen, watched by 150 dignitaries at St. James’s Palace. She said: “My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than I shall always work, as my father did throughout his reign, to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples, spread as they are all the world over.” After the Accession Declaration, the new Queen held her first Privy Council meeting and her Proclamation was signed, by among others, the Lord Chancellor.

On 8 February 1983 champion thoroughbred Shergar was kidnapped in Ireland, never found Lloyds of London paid $10.6 million insurance

Little Ease dungeon at the Tower is too small to stand, lie or walk forcing its occupant to squat painfully in the dark for days on end

The Millennium Dome (O2) the largest structure of its kind in the world big enough to house the Great Pyramid of Giza or Statue of Liberty

On 8 February 1960 Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, architect of Waterloo Bridge, Battersea & Bankside Power Stations and the red telephone box died

The ashes of former Prime Minister James Callaghan are scattered next to the Peter Pan statue at Great Ormond Street hospital

On 8 February 1819 writer and art critic John Ruskin was born at 54 Hunter Street, Brunswick Square, Holborn

Stone blocks outside the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall were installed to assist the rather short Duke of Wellington mount his horse

Greater London is 607 square miles, if grassed over it would total 220,000 football pitches – but without room for spectators

When the first escalators were installed at Earls Court Station a one-legged man was employed to demonstrate their safety and ease of use

According to Guinness World Records Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London’s East End established in 1570 is Britain’s oldest manufacturing firm

On the London Eye, despite there only being 32 capsules, for superstitious reasons they are numbered 1-33, for good luck number 13 is left out

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 1 February 1971 Karpal Kaur Aandhu became the Metropolitan Police’s first female Asian police officer. In Cressida Dick the Met might have recently got its first female Commissioner but for Karpal she didn’t rise up through the ranks. Born in Zanzibar and of Indian parentage, her husband murdered her in 1973 believing her career was not Asian nor ladylike. Today there are 280 Asian women police officers in London alone.

On 1 February 1952 the first TV detector van was demonstrated to Postmaster-General Lord De La Warr at Post Office Laboratories, Dollis Hill

The building of Holloway Prison was completed in 1852 at the grand cost of £91,547 10s 8d, there were 436 cells, 283 for males, 60 for females, 62 for juveniles, 18 refractory cells and 14 reception cells

London used to be the largest and most influential city in the world. With a population of 12 million, it is still the world’s largest financial centre and Europe’s largest city

The world’s first underground public lavatory opened in 1855 under the pavement next to the Bank of England

The Prime Minister who created the most peers was Tony Blair at 357. The second-most created was 201 by Margaret Thatcher

19th-century historian Thomas Carlyle and his wife chose to live in Chelsea because it was ‘at once cheap and excellent’

On 1 February 1814 the last Thames Frost Fair commenced lasting 4 days, the ice supported an elephant led across under Blackfriars Bridge

The Royal Tennis Court at Hampton Court Palace is the oldest functioning sports building in England and still used regularly

Angel has the Underground’s longest escalator at 60m/197ft with a vertical rise of 27.5m its shortest is Stratford a vertical rise of 4.1m

The largest ox sold in England was from the Isle of Dogs. It weighed 236 stone and was sold at Leadenhall Market in 1720 for 100 guineas

Every 3 years a quill pen in the hand of Historian John Stow’s effigy is replaced at a ceremony in St Andrew Undershaft Church

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 January 1731 when accused by William Pulteney of being homosexual, Lord Hervey, a supporter of the first minister Sir Robert Walpole felt compelled to call a duel. Incredibly as the 1st Earl of Bath, Pulteney was, at that time, leader of His Majesty’s Opposition. Paulteney would have run Hervey through with his sword had he not slipped over at the crucial moment, enabling Hervey to be spirited away. Afterwards, Pulteney was struck off the roll of privy councillors.

On 25 January 1839 Henry Fox Talbot showed the photo he had taken of a window at his home to the Royal Institute, he had previously taken several photographic images but had never before shown them

Scotland Yard is so called as in 1829 the Metropolitan Police headquarters was on a site where Scottish kings stayed when visiting England

Liberty’s mock Tudor store is made almost entirely from oak timbers taken from two dismantled wooden ships HMS Hindustan and HMS Impregnable

The body of 18th century author Laurence Sterne was exhumed from St George’s Burial Ground, Bayswater by body snatchers

On 25 January 1981 David Owen, Shirley Williams, William Rodgers, Roy Jenkins issued the Limehouse Declaration from 78 Narrow Street

18th century audience members at Drury Lane Theatre who didn’t enjoy a ballet broke the windows of theatre manager David Garrick

Before Soho became a favourite haunt of the literati writers and artists drank at the Fitzroy Tavern in Charlotte Street

In 1770 Joseph Merlin demonstrated his new invention roller skates in Carlisle House, one of Soho’s first members’ clubs

Belsize Park Station is the only station with the letter ‘Z’ in its name and only two have a ‘J’ St James’s Park and St John’s Wood

Prostitutes working near The Globe Theatre on land owned by the Bishop of Winchester were called ‘Winchester Geese’

The rawlplug was invented for the British Museum. They wanted to fix fittings with min. damage to a wall – John Rawlings did them proud

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 11 January 1993 at the High Court British Airways was forced into a humiliating climb down when their counsel apologised ‘unreservedly’ for an alleged dirty tricks campaign against Virgin Atlantic. Richard Branson’s top lawyer George Carman QC on winning the case claimed ‘distinctly hostile’ rumours against the airline forcing BA to pay nearly £4m in damages and legal costs. BA though still made a profit that year of £301 million while Virgin posted losses of £9.3m.

On 11 January 1858 Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of Selfridges Department Store, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin, USA

On 11 January 1950 Timothy Evans was wrongly found guilty & sentenced to death for murder of his daughter, Geraldine at 10 Rillington Place

The Brunei Gallery at SOAS on a wall is a plaque apologising for its being there-the only building in London to apologise for its existence

On 11 January 1890 Harold Bride, wireless operator on the Titanic, was born in Nunhead he washed off the ship as the boat deck flooded and was later rescued by the Carpathia

It was on High Holborn that Israel’s secret service, Mossad, killed one of the 1972 Black September Massacre terrorists by running him over

The movie Four Weddings and a Funeral was filmed at the Augustinian priory church of St. Bartholomew the Great

On Blackheath is an 18th century Pagoda designed by William Chambers used as a hideaway for Queen Caroline, wife of George IV

The 1908 London Olympics, the first of three held in London, were sponsored by Oxo, Odol mouthwash and Indian Foot Powder

Angel has the Underground’s longest escalator at 60m with a vertical rise of 27.5m. The shortest is Stratford with a vertical rise of 4.1m

Cock Lane was the only place licensed prostitutes could legally ply their trade in medieval London, although many roads took their name from the illegal sex industry

On 11 January 1569 Britain got its first state lottery when punters bought their tickets at the door at St. Paul’s Cathedral

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.