On 31 May 1669 bad eyesight forced Samuel Pepys to give up his diary. He was just 36 years old. It read ‘And thus ends all that I doubt I shall ever be able to do with my own eyes in the keeping of my journal, I being not able to do it any longer, having done now so long as to undo my eyes almost every time that I take a pen in my hand; and, therefore, whatever comes of it, I must forbear. . . all the discomforts that my being blind’

On 31 May 1915 a German bomb hit Stoke Newington, the dubious distinction of the first building attacked by a foreign power in 1,000 years

In May 1726 a stand erected at Tyburn collapsed as reviled Catherine Hayes was burnt at the stake six spectators predeceased her as a result

On 31 May 1859 the Great Clock on Big Ben started telling the time. The Great Bell and the quarter bells chimed later that year

Many Londoners died in the Black Death of 1348, it raged in London until spring 1350, and is generally assumed to have killed between one third and one half of the populace

Avenue House in High Holborn stands on the site of the First Avenue Hotel destroyed in WW2 below is built the first Atomic air raid shelter

The Savoy Hotel built by Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1889 on profits from Gilbert and Sullivan operas he produced at the adjoining Savoy Theatre

Old Bond Street predates New Bond Street by only 14 years and became popular after the Duchess of Devonshire boycotted smarter Covent Garden

Every July the Soho Waiters’ Race takes place, contestants run around the streets carrying a tray, a napkin, bottle of champagne and glass

In 1920 the world’s first passenger airport opened in Croydon adding the world’s first airport terminal and airport hotel 8 years later

The Ritz Hotel named after the great César Ritz although he never worked there, actually he was the first manager of the Savoy Hotel

St James’s Park is home to one example of every native waterfowl – the Swiss-style cottage is a hide and has a steam heater egg incubator

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 24 May 1989 Private Eye editor Ian Hislop declared: “If that’s justice, then I’m a banana”, after Sonia Sutcliffe, the wife of Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, won £600,000 damages – £100,000 more than the previous record British libel sum, and 100 times larger than that awarded to three of Sutcliffe’s victims – the magazine claimed she had profited from her notoriety by selling her story (it was later reduced to £60,000 on appeal).

On 24 May 1906 the Ritz Hotel opened, today it serves between 400 and 500 afternoon teas a day costing up to £79 per person

The notorious 18th century highwayman Jack Shepherd gained historic fame from jailbreaking and escaping not his robbing stagecoaches leaving London

North Ockendon is the only settlement within the Greater London boundary to poke outside the orbit of the M25 motorway

If Dutch ships land cargoes in the Pool of London the harbour fees are waived as they were the only ones prepared to come during the plague

Westminster Bridge is painted green and Lambeth Bridge painted red they mirror the seats’ colour in the Chambers of the Commons and Lords

Queen Victoria’s Memorial outside Buckingham Palace is called The Wedding Cake by cabbies as it still retains its whiteness after 100 years

In 1998 William Allen, aged 84, when driving the few miles to his daughter he inadvertently joined the M25, and spent two days going round in circles

On 24 May 1966 Cassius Clay fought Henry Cooper at Arsenal’s Stadium in front of 46,000 people Cooper’s cut eye gave Clay the match in Round Six

The Routemaster bus first appeared on London’s streets in 1956 and Transport for London still run the iconic red double decker bus on two routes

Part of modern Camden Market was once a horse hospital patching up animals after having slipped on London’s cobbled streets

Known as eyots, or aits there are 190 islands dotted along the Thames from source to sea, most are uninhabited

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 17 May 1941, Rudolf Hess was interned for 4 days at the Tower of London where he signed autographs for the warders – one of which is still in the warders bar. Hitler’s deputy had parachuted into Scotland asserting that he wanted to open peace negotiations. He would be the final state prisoner to be held at the castle. Hess would only remain for a few days, he was later tried at Nuremberg and given a life sentence.

On 17 May 1993 at the cost of £345 million, the Limehouse Link opened, becoming the most expensive road per foot to be constructed in Britain

The Seamens’ and Soldiers’ False Characters Act 1906 makes it an offence to walk London’s streets in military fancy dress – fine £20

Affixed to a wall of the Charterhouse is London’s oldest surviving sundial dated 1611 marking the year Thomas Sutton established the school

Postman’s Park near the site of the old General Post Office has a memorial to those dying – many of them children – trying to save others

Incarcerated in the Tower of London King John II of France while awaiting for his ransom to be paid had his own court jester to cheer him up

Named after London’s famous comic, Joseph Grimaldi Park in Islington plays host to an annual ceremony populated by clowns

The Savoy Hotel which reopened at 10.10 on 10.10.2010 was built 1889 and was London’s first luxury hotel and the first with electric light

Abe Sapperstein, a Jewish businessman, born in Flower and Dean Street in 1900 was the founder of the Harlem Globetrotters, he was neither black nor American

The longest distance between Underground stations is the Metropolitan line from Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles

London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company founded the world’s first gas works in 1812 to supply gas to Westminster

Rare before, Sysimbrium irio a native plant of the Mediterranean prolificated in the City which had been devastated after the Great Fire

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 10 May 1940 after losing a vote of confidence in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned at the same time that Germany was invading Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Winston Churchill stepped in as Prime Minister to lead a coalition Government. Within six weeks German forces had conquered all three countries with France capitulating a few weeks later.

On 10 May 1553 Sir Hugh Willoughby and his fleet set sail from Ratcliff Stairs to discover the North-East Passage

German Nazi Rudolf Hess was the last prisoner to be incarcerated in the Tower of London, captured in Renfrewshire after parachuting out of a plane

Westminster Catholic Cathedral stands on the foundations of Tothill Fields Prison demolished in 1885, which was deemed as a ‘house of correction’ for the compulsory employment of able-bodied but indolent paupers

The roof’s shape of the famous red telephone box was influenced by Sir John Soane’s tomb in St Pancras Old Church

The first bomb to drop on London in World War I is commemorated by a plaque at 16 Alkham Road in Stoke Newington, there were no injuries

Carlyle Mansions, a smart Victorian apartment block in Chelsea, was once home to authors Ian Fleming, T. S. Eliot and Henry James

Radio and music hall comedian Tommy Handley once lived at 34 Craven Road, Paddington – Known for the saying: “It’s That Man Again”

1912 was a bad year for the Boat Race on this day when both boats sank, the subsequent re-row on the following Monday was won by Oxford by six lengths

The Tube tunnel between Knightsbridge and South Kensington negotiates a massive curve to avoid a 17th century plague pit

On 10 May 1922 Ivy Williams was called to the Bar, becoming England’s first female barrister. She would never practice in a London court

In 2010, Eurostat calculated that Inner London’s Gross Domestic Product per capita stood at 328 per cent of the EU’s 27 average

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 3 May 1951 after the devastation and resulting austerity of the war years, the successful forerunner, of the Millennium Dome, was opened on London’s South Bank, aimed to raise the nation’s spirits whilst promoting the very best of British art, design and industry. It remained open for 5 months attracting 8.5 million visitors in that time. Of the buildings constructed only the Royal Festival Hall remains.

On 3 May 1968 the United Kingdom’s first heart transplant was undertaken at the National Heart Hospital in Marylebone, it was the 10th procedure of its kind in the world

Lady Elizabeth Hatton leaving a ball was found in a yard blood still pumping from her torn body Bleeding Heart Yard commemorates her murder

In the cloisters of Westminster Abbey is Britain’s the oldest door, in good nick, considering it was made in 1050 before the Norman Conquest

In 1739 Thomas Coram supported by Handel set up the Foundling Hospital for abandoned babies it was the world’s first incorporated charity

Christopher Wren built St Paul’s from both ends at same time so funding wouldn’t run out – money would have to be found to join halves up

The Trafalgar Square lions were sculpted from life Landseer used dead lions supplied by London Zoo until neighbours complained of the smell

Elizabeth Taylor spent part of her 7th honeymoon in 17th century Old Battersea House, home of her friend Malcolm Forbes

Wembley Stadium is filled with Middlesbrough FC shirts and scarves. There are also old season tickets, match programmes and various other items of memorabilia, placed in the arch by the steelworkers

And we think everything was so much better back then . . . early Tube maps asked passengers to refrain from spitting in the carriages

When St Pauls Cathedral neared completion its elderly architect Sir Christopher Wren was hauled to the roof by bucket and rope to inspect it

Clerkenwell is named after the medieval Clerk’s Well where Parish Clerks performed Mystery Plays, the well can still be seen

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.