On 28 November 1919, American Nancy Astor married the 2nd Viscount Astor and became the first woman to be elected in the House of Commons taking her seat on 1 December.

On 28 November 1994 Buster Edwards, great train robber, inspiration for Phil Collins’ Buster, committed suicide in Lambeth

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen once lived at 195 Melrose Avenue, Cricklewood the scene of 13 murders. Nilsen was sentenced to 6 life sentences

The GDP of London is significantly larger than that of several European countries, including Belgium and Sweden

Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg who lived off Farringdon Road predicted there would be a special part in heaven reserved for the English

A white spike at the south end of London Bridge commemorates a practice of displaying traitors heads dipped in pitch on the original bridge

Kenneth Grahame author of The Wind in The Willows and Secretary of the Bank of England was shot at at the bank by a deranged George Robinson

6ft 5in circus strongman Carl Dane in 1926 was the first to pull a London bus with 12 passengers inside using only his teeth

When he was Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington held indoor races along Downing Street corridors with men pulling women seated on rugs

In 2014, not a single 07.29am Brighton–London Victoria train reached its destination on time after failing to roll in at its scheduled time of 8.35am on a single occasion

When Selfridges opened in 1909 their information bureau answered queries on subjects from crossword clues to government stats

The City’s Square Mile is now an imperfect 1.16 square miles following 1990s boundary changes incorporating an area north of London Wall

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 November 1953, the Natural History Museum announced that the Piltdown Man skull, initially thought to be one of the most important archaeological finds, was actually a hoax.

On 21 November 1989 the House of Commons proceedings were televised for the first time

In the 1940s and 1950s Metropolitan Police Officers using their own bicycles to cover police beats were paid an allowance of threepence

The New Exchange was a kind of early shopping mall which was built on the south side of the Strand in 1608 and stood there until 1737

All but one of the ravens at the Tower of London died from stress during the Blitz, fortuitously as legend has it that should they leave the Tower England will fall

London was once the capital of six countries in World War II it was safe haven for the governments of Poland, Norway, Belgium, Holland, France

Jarvis Cocker, lead singer of band Pulp, wrote a song called 59 Lyndhurst Grove after being thrown out of a party at that address in Peckham

The first London Eye was erected in Earls Court in 1894 for an Empire of India exhibition, 300ft high, as opposed to 442 for the London Eye

The foppish son and heir apparent of King George II died in Leicester House as a result of being struck in the throat with a cricket ball

Cockfosters Underground station was originally going to be called Trent Park or ‘Cock Fosters’ (an early spelling of the area’s name), the original site hoarding displayed the name as a single word

In 1981 Soho had 184 sex establishments today only Brewer Street the upstairs windows of Old Compton Street and alleys near Berwick Street belie its past

At 135ft Candover Street off Riding House Street is London’s shortest street, Rotherhithe Street the longest named street at 1.5 miles

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 14 November 1896, the ‘Emancipation Run’, later known as the ‘London to Brighton Car Rally’ took place to celebrate the increase in the speed limit from 4mph to 14mph.

On 14 November 1666, an experimental blood transfusion between two dogs took place observed by Samuel Pepys, one of first successful in 17th century

In 1906 Messrs Spillberg, Nabian and Aaroris of Nelson Street, Stepney were convicted of smuggling saccharin which then was considered a drug

Liverpool Street’s Great Eastern Hotel (now the Andaz) opened in 1884 and was at one time the only hotel in the City

Builders working on the Builders working on the Bakerloo Line are reported to have suffered from the bends while tunnelling under the Thames

During World War II and the Nazi occupation of Holland Queen Wilhelmina moved her Dutch government into her London home at 77 Chester Square, Belgravia

The Cliff Richard musical Summer Holiday had a bus bound for ‘London to the South of France via Dover Paris’ most was shot in LT’s bus works Aldenham

Museum of London tracing the capital’s history from Prehistoric times to the present day is the largest urban history museum in the world

In 1966 actor, bodybuilder and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger lived at 335 Romford Road Ilford as a guest of bodybuilder Charles Bennett

The first section of the Underground ran between Paddington and Farringdon Street. The same section now forms part of the Circle, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines

Miles Coverdale who supervised the production of the first complete bible in English in 1535 was once Rector of St Magnus the Martyr

When the Millennium Dome was built, a Blue Peter capsule was buried containing amongst other items a spice girls cd, a tamagotchi and a Blue Peter badge!

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 7 November 1974 nanny Sandra Rivett was murdered in Lower Belgrave Street and her boss, Lord Lucan vanished. In his absence, the inquest into Rivett’s death named him as her murderer, the last occasion in Britain a coroner’s court did so.

On 7 November 1665 the London Gazette was first published as the Oxford Gazette, renamed on 5 February 1666 when Charles II returned

Reggie Kray and Frances Shea’s photographer at their wedding at St James the Great, Bethnal Green Road in April 1965 was David Bailey

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

18th century Hampstead was a spa resort where people came to take the waters which reputedly had health giving properties

The House of Commons’ press gallery bar is named Moncrieff’s in honour of respected political journalist, Chris Moncrieff – a teetotaller

Actor, dancer, comedian and clown Joseph Grimaldi lived at 56 Exmouth Market, Islington from 1818 to 1828, there is now a park off Pentonville Road named after him

Coram’s Fields park and playground in Bloomsbury is unique in that adults are only allowed to enter if accompanied by a child

The sport of golf, which originated in Scotland, was first played in England on Blackheath in 1608. The Royal Blackheath Golf Club was one of the first golf associations established (1766) outside Scotland

London’s heavily congested streets mean that a taxi’s average speed of 17mph is slower than that attained by Hansom cabs over 100 years ago

The ‘porter’ style of beer was officially invented at the Bell Brewhouse in Shoreditch by Ralph Hardwood in 1722

Marc Isambard Brunel came up with his idea on how to dig the Thames’ Tunnel whilst in debtors’ prison watching a shipworm bore through wood

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 31 October 1964, the Windmill Theatre closed for conversion to a cinema. Its slogan ‘We never close’ referred to the fact that it continued its Revuedeville shows throughout the war.

On 31 October 1971 at 4.30am a bomb exploded at viewing gallery of BT Tower 2 weeks previously a white kitten had felled it on The Goodies

In the 17th and 18th centuries London thief-takers were rewarded £40+ the horse, arms and money of any highwayman they captured and were convicted

Meard Street is not named after the French word merde. It was the unfortunate name of its 1720s developer John Meard

In his will Dickens stipulated that no monuments be erected to his memory, that’s why London has no statues of one of its greatest writers

London Bridge is Falling Down referred to Norwegian King Olaf who suggested destroying the wooden bridge while occupied by Danes

The nursery rhyme Pop Goes the Weasel refers to the act of pawning one’s suit after spending all one’s cash in the pubs of Clerkenwell

In 1840s a ‘Dances of the Dead’ were held in the Enon Chapel, St Clements Lane where 12,000 bodies lay rotting under the floor

In 2012 London became the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948

The inaugural journey of the first Central line train in 1900 had the Prince of Wales and the American author Mark Twain on board

In the 1800’s London prostitutes were sometimes euphemistically referred to as ‘Fulham virgins’ inspired by the proximiy of Cremorne Gardens a 19th century ‘pleasure garden’

During a City clean up in 1,340 prostitutes were arrested, among them was Clarice la Claterballock but no record as to how she got her name!

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.