On 8 March 1941, during a German air raid, two bombs hurtled down a ventilation shaft straight onto the dance floor soon after the start of a performance at the Café de Paris in Coventry Street, the venue was described as a ‘sumptuous, subterranean haunt of debs and celebs. A bomb exploded directly in front of band leader Ken ‘Snakehips’ Johnson, 33 members of staff, band members and revellers were killed and at least 100 injured.

On 8 March 1934, the London County Council was taken over by Labour, where it remained the majority party until its abolishment in 1965

Wallace Walk traces a 4-mile route that William Wallace of Braveheart fame took from his trial at Westminster to his execution in Smithfield

Oliver Cromwell’s statute outside Westminster Hall depicts him standing without a horse but wearing his spurs upside down

The Monument was erected in memory of The Great Fire of London which 5 people died, 6 people have since fallen to their deaths from the top

Within 2 years of the start of World War II 26 per cent of London’s pets were destroyed, a quarter of a mile queue formed outside a Wood Green vets

Such was its worldwide renown that in the early days of the Savoy Hotel the house orchestra was led by Johann Strauss

Coram’s Fields the remnant of the Children’s Foundling Hospital only allows adults into its grounds if they are accompanied by a child

On Shrove Tuesday charity teams race up and down Dray Walk, Spitalfields flipping pancakes. The winning team receives an engraved frying pan

Queensway Station has its main entrance in Bayswater Road and Bayswater Station has its entrance in Queensway

In 1941 a new 3-mile stretch of the Central Line tunnel – Gants Hill to Leytonstone was given to Plessey for use as an underground factory

Cabbies are permitted to ask a police constable to shield them with his (or her) cape when urinating against the vehicle in a seemly fashion

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 March 1966 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, James Callaghan announced in Parliament the “historic and momentous” decision to change to decimal coinage. The switch to be implemented in February 1971 and the £1 retained being divided into units called either ‘cents’ or ‘new pennies’. The changeover was estimated to cost £120 million. Companies obliged to invest in new equipment would not be compensated.

On 1 March 1711 the first edition of the Spectator founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele was published

On 1 March 1950 nuclear scientist, Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs, was jailed for 14 years at the Old Bailey for spying for the Soviet Union

The Monument stands on the site of St Margaret’s, the first church to burn down during the Great Fire of 1666, its height is exactly the distance it stands from the start of the fire

Clerkenwell is named after the ‘Clerk’s Well’ that supplied Charterhouse. It can be seen through the window of Well Court, Farringdon Lane

Suffragette Emily Davison died beneath the King’s horse at Epsom, recent research suggests she was attaching a sash, not martyring herself

On 1 March 1968 the first performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Old Assembly Hall, Colet Court was shown

Britain’s first purpose-built department store, Bon Marché, was built in Brixton in 1877 on the proceeds of racehorse winnings

In March1905 in The Butcher’s Hook pub Gus Mears & co held a meeting that decided a name for his newly formed football club – Chelsea FC

M25 J8: Reigate Hill Interchange has the longest motorway slip road in the country climbing up Reigate Hill for 1.5 miles to a roundabout

As late as the 1940s, waiters at the Savoy Hotel were forbidden from wearing watches, rings, spectacles or false teeth

St. Ethelburga’s font is inscribed with the longest known Greek palindrome: NI?ON ANOMHMTA MH MONAN O?IN ‘Cleanse my sins, not just my face’

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 22 February 1864, the last mass execution of condemned men outside Newgate jail took place. Found guilty of the murder of the captain of the ship Flowery Land Messrs. Blanco, Leone, Duranno, Lopez and Watts were hanged. The people of London would have to find their entertainment elsewhere in future and not before time, with the event almost as dangerous for spectators as the condemned – see below.

On 22 February 1907 London’s first taxi cabs with meters began operating in the capital to ensure overcharging did not occur

On 22 February 1807 40,000 watched Owen Haggerty and John Holloway be hanged outside Newgate in a panic more than 30 were trampled to death

The OXO tower restaurant has 3 windows advertising the iconic cube. Put up to avoid the ban in 1930 of advertising on the side of buildings

When one drinks a glass of London tapwater it has typically already passed through nine other people, just where it goes after you is a matter for speculation

On 22 February 1913 Suffragette Ella Stevenson arrested by Detectives Pride and Cock for placing dangerous substances in a letterbox

Dr Samuel Johnson once owned 17 properties in London, only one of which survives – Dr Johnson’s Memorial House in Gough Square

The world’s first plate-glass shop window was installed in 1801 by men’s outfitter Francis Place at 16 Charing Cross Road

Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum has possibly the largest collection of tennis-related artefacts in the world, including ‘The Whites of Wimbledon’ the changing styles of Wimbledon outfits and tennis fashion

The Corporation of Coachmen – London’s black cabs predecessor first secured a charter from Cromwell to ply for hire within London in 1639

Twining Teas opened 1707 on the Strand sold tea to Queen Anne and is the oldest business in Britain operating from their original premises

London’s oldest petrol station was the Village Green, Bloomsbury which opened in 1926, built for The Duke of Bedford on his London Estate

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 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.