On 18 February 1478 George Duke of Clarence was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine at the Tower of London. Convicted of treason against his brother, Edward IV, and was executed by this dubious method. It was said to have been instigated by his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester. It was Dick, the last Plantagenet who on 22 August 1485 would die on Bosworth Field, presumably more sober than his late brother did.

On 18 February 1901 Winston Churchill made his maiden speech in The House of Commons, justifying the burning of Boer farms

In the 16th century, a London law forbade wife beating after 9:00pm, but only because the noise disturbed people’s sleep

The settled road surface of Charterhouse Square, laid down in the 1860s has been given Grade II listed status by English Heritage

Playwright Ben Jonson couldn’t afford normal burial in Westminster Abbey determined by plot size was buried upright standing for an eternity

During the outbreak of World War II London Zoo killed all their venomous animals in case the zoo was bombed and the animals escaped

The Reform Club in Pall Mall is the fictional start to Jules Verne’s book Around The World In Eighty Days later made into a film

London has the oldest bicycle shop in the world (Pearsons of Sutton, established as a blacksmiths in 1860), and the second oldest cycle track in the world, Herne Hill, opened in 1891

Twickenham and Harlequins home Twickenham Stoop are a mere 700 yards apart, nowhere in London are two such high profile stadiums in such close proximity

The first crash on the Tube occurred in 1938 when two trains collided between Waterloo and Charing Cross, injuring 12 passengers

Gropecunt Lane once ran north from Cheapside so called as it was a famous haunt of prostitutes it was renamed by kllljoys in the Reformation

On 18 February 1888 the very first Salvation Army hostel was opened by General William Booth at 21 West India Dock Road

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 February 1862 Elizabeth Siddal died from an overdose. Her grief stricken husband, Dante Gabriel Rossetti touchingly placed his notebook in the coffin before internment and buried her in Highgate Cemetery. Seven years later, and presumably suffering from writers’ block he exhumed the body to retrieve his notebook. Her body was said to have no trace of decomposition, probably as a sop to poor old Dante.

On 11 February 1987 at Cynthia Payne was acquitted of 9 charges of controlling prostitutes at her home, in 1978 a police raid had found elderly men exchanging luncheon vouchers for sexual entertainment

Beneath an unmarked alleyway off Sans Walk, Clerkenwell hides the labyrinth that was the House of Detention

Holborn’s Dolphin Tavern contains an old clock with hands frozen at the time when the pub was hit during a 1915 Zeppelin raid

Covent Garden is haunted by William Terris who met an untimely death nearby in 1897 Farringdon has the Screaming Spectre a milliner

It was at The Garrick Club, 15 Garrick Street that Stephen Ward met Soviet Captain Yevgeny Ivanov implicated in the Profumo Affair

Actress and singer Dame Gracie Fields (born Stansfield in Rochdale) once lived at 72A Upper Street, Islington

The Garrick Club was founded in 1831. Many legendary actors, writers and artists have been members, from Charles Dickens to Lord Olivier

Alexandra Palace once famous for its horse racing at ‘The Frying Pan’ it was the last racecourse in London until its closure in 1970

The former poet laureate John Betjeman created Metroland series, a homage to the people and places served by the Metropolitan line in 1973

Baring Brothers, the former merchant bankers on Bishopsgate, helped William Pitt the Younger finance the Napoleonic Wars

The very first Salvation Army hostel was opened by General William Booth at 21 West India Dock Road in February 1888

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 4 February 1748 social reformer Jeremy Bentham was born at Church Lane, Houndsditch. On his death Bentham left instructions for his body to be first dissected, and then to be permanently preserved as an ‘auto-icon’, which would be his memorial. This was done and occasionally Bentham is taken into meetings of the UCL College Council and that it is recorded in the minutes that Mr Bentham is present, but not voting.

On 4 February 1962 printed at its Gray’s Inn works the Sunday Times published Britain’s first newspaper colour supplement

During World War One a baker on Chapman Street, Shadwell was jailed for three days after being caught selling fresh bread

There’s an extensive military citadel beneath the streets of Whitehall one entrance via a lift is in the telephone exchange in Craig’s Court

Patrick Fraher and William Cummins died plunging from Barrington House cutting a hole in a concrete block forgetting they were standing in the middle, they’d been due to take part in a safety course next day

In February 1894 in Greenwich Park anarchist Martial Bourdin accidentally blew himself on route to blow up the Royal Observatory

Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club on Frith Street was the site of Jimi Hendrix’s last public performance in 1970, he would die on 18 September of that year

The rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel refers to the pawning of a suit to pay for drink; ‘Up and down the City Road, in and out the Eagle’ the public house

Oscar winning movie Chariots of Fire was filmed in Hurlingham Park, Fulham, the title was inspired by the line, “Bring me my chariot of fire,” from the William Blake poem

Farringdon underground station is the only station from which passengers exited en masse on their way to a public hanging

Until 1910 you could walk across the walkway at the top of Tower Bridge it was shut because it started to become popular with prostitutes

Diarist Samuel Pepys buried his parmesan cheese and wine in his garden to protect them from the Great Fire of London in 1666

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 28th January 1807 German Friedrick Albert Winzer who had patented coal-gas lighting in 1804 moved to a house in Pall Mall setting up gas lamps, lighting them on this day, making Pall Mall the first gas-lit street in the world. Later with a special exhibition on 4 June, 1807, in honor of the birthday of King George III, using gaslight to superimpose images against the walls of the buildings along his street.

On 28 January 1953 Derek Bentley was executed at Wandsworth Prison for his part in the murder of PC Sidney Miles. The 19-year-old was hanged after last-minute appeals for clemency were rejected

The hanging beam from Newgate gaol was taken to Pentonville prison and used for executions there. Now bricked up in the prison’s synagogue

The IMAX cinema roundabout is the capital’s only winner of the Roundabout Appreciation Society’s prestigious Roundabout of the Year award

The Sebastopol bell at Westminster Abbey is rung only on the occasion of a sovereign’s death, tolling once for each year of their life

George VI Reservoir left empty during World War II allegedly a mock Clapham Junction Railway Station was built inside to confuse Luftwaffe bombers

When Madame Tussaud first brought her waxworks to London they were exhibited at the Lyceum where Lion King now shows

One of the ‘original’ Disney Herbie cars in red, white and blue-striped with number 53 can be seen in Volkswagen’s west London showroom close to M4

London Marathon’s youngest male winner was 22-year-old Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru in 2009, he died two years later after falling from a balcony

The Jubilee Extension was hewn out by two tunnel boring machines called Sharon and Tracy, named after the characters in Birds of a Feather

Londoner Captain Edward Vernon invented grog-a concoction made from rum, water and lemon juice-the preferred tipple of pirates and old salts

Named after Samuel Pepys: Street EC3; Road SE14; Crescent E16; Court SE18 ; a Walk; several pubs and . . . A Launderette 1 Grove Street SE8

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 21 January 1670 Claude Duval the ‘Gallant Highwayman’ was hanged. Caught drunk at Mother Maberley’s Tavern in Chandos Street. When passing judgement Sir William Morton refused to commute the death sentence, and threatened to resign rather than sparing the highwayman despite mercy pleas from Ladies’ of the Court and even King Charles II himself. Duval was buried in St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden.

On 21 January 2006 a juvenile botlenose whale was spotted swimming up the Thames, she beached near Albert Bridge, watched by thousands efforts were made to return her back to the sea – it died

For writing ‘this Adonis in loveliness is a corpulent man of 50’ Leigh Hunt was imprisoned for 2 years in 1813 for libelling the Prince Regent

The last wolf in the City of London is commemorated at the spot it was killed, where a wolf’s head forms the waterspout of the Aldgate pump

On 21 January 1950 George Orwell, author of 1984 who penned the idea of Big Brother, died at University College Hospital aged 46

Henry I decreed that a street could not be named a Street unless it was paved and wide enough for 16 knights to ride abreast

The 1949 Ealing comedy Passport to Pimlico was shot in Lambeth starring Stanley Holloway documents revealed Pimlico an independent nation

The Lamb in Lamb’s Conduit Street had etched glass partitions preventing wealthy drinkers having to watch common men drinking in next bar

When Billy (the police horse who controlled spectators at the 1923 FA Cup final) died, his rider was given one of his hooves as an inkwell

On 21 January 1976 the first two Concordes entered service. BA’s from Heathrow to Bahrain while Air France’s from Paris to Rio de Janeiro

Jack Dee once worked in the Ritz’s kitchen. One night he cooked a doorman’s dinner, got a 50p tip. Made him realise his life was in a mess

London’s shortest street name is Hide, not Hide Street or Hide Lane, just Hide. At 150ft in length the street’s not so terribly long either

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.