On 14 October 1969 the new 50-pence coin sparked confusion when it came into circulation replacing the 10/- note. Some complained that it was too easily confused with the 10p coin or half crown. One Londoner told the Evening News he accidentally left a 50p coin in a saucer full of 10ps as a tip for a waiter. “Fortunately the waiter was dead honest and told me. But I suspect there’ll be a lot of cases where that doesn’t happen”.

On 14 October 1644 William Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, was born in The Liberty of the Tower of London

During the 1860s, London’s most notorious prison, Newgate, became a kind of theatre, visitors could tour the prison being briefly locked in a windowless cell was one of the highlights

On Blackfriars Bridge the side facing out to sea is decorated with marine birds, the inland side is adorned with freshwater birds

On 14 October 1877 Cleopatra’s Needle, en route from Egypt to London, almost sank during a storm in The Bay of Biscay, six died

The City of London has never been under the authority of the monarch. The Queen may only enter the Square Mile of the City if she is given permission by the Lord Mayor

The bronze statue of Peter Pan was erected in Kensington Gardens in 1912. It marks the spot where J M Barrie first met Jack Llewellyn Davies, the boy who was the inspiration for Peter

By 1870 there were 20,000 public houses and beer shops in London, today according to the Campaign for Real Ale at least 10 are closing every week

The Oval held a particular attraction for the United States billionaire philanthropist, J. Paul Getty II, who built a replica of the ground at his estate at Wormsley Park in Buckinghamshire

London Heathrow Airport is the world’s busiest airports by international passenger traffic, and the third for total traffic

Over 800 members of staff are based at Buckingham Palace, some of the more unusual jobs include fendersmith, clockmaker and flagman

South Kensington is still sometimes referred to as ‘Little Paris’ the area is not only known for its Francophile bookshops but also its French doctors and dentists

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 October 1986 the Independent newspaper hit London’s streets challenging the dominance of the Guardian. In March 1992, during the general election of that year, the Indy’s circulation reached 440,000, overhauling The Times. Murdoch’s response was to cut the price of The Times, the paper’s response was to raise its own cover price. In true Indy fashion it would be published until its closure as a print version on 20 March 2016.

On 7 October 1806 carbon paper patented in London by inventor Ralph Wedgewood, saturated paper with printer’s ink, and then dried it out between sheets of blotting paper

Rudolf Hess was the last prisoner to be kept in the Tower of London, in 1941, after the plane he had been flying solo crashed in Scotland

St George the Martyr, Borough has 4 clock faces only 3 are illuminated as the 4th faces Bermondsey who refused to contribute to the funding of the building

A ‘cockney’s luxury’ is the slang term for breakfast in bed, followed by a good defecation in a chamber pot – just saying

In 1815, West Hampstead was such a quiet, rural enclave, that its residents were reported to have heard the cannon fire from the Battle of Waterloo at Brussels

Both Hampstead’s New End Theatre and Knightsbridge’s Pizza On the Park were entertainment venues converted from hospital mortuaries

Opened in 1652, Pasqua Rosee’s was the first coffee house in London. It was located on St Michael’s Alley and burned down during the Great Fire of 1666

London’s oldest surviving sports structure dates from 1534 and is the wall of a tennis court built at Whitehall Palace by Henry VIII, which now forms part of the Cabinet Office, backing onto Downing Street

Five stations on the Underground system are named after pubs: Elephant and Castle, Angel, Swiss Cottage, Royal Oak and Manor House

The first all-British plane was constructed under the viaduct on Walthamstow Marshes in 1909. Alliott Verdon Roe flew for record 280 metres

In 1994 The Stage newspaper advertised for streetwise, outgoing, ambitious girls auditioning at Dreamworks in Mayfair from 400 five became Spice Girls

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 30 September 1840 the first stone of Nelson’s Column was laid by Charles Davison Scott, son of Nelson’s secretary, John Scott, at a ceremony conducted, according to the Nautical Magazine, “in a private manner, owing to the noblemen and gentlemen comprising the committee being absent from town”. Prior to the installation of the statue in November 1843 a banquet took place on the plinth.

On 30 September 1967 BBC’s Radio 1 was launched at 7 am with Tony Blackburn’s Breakfast Show, the first record played was Flowers in the rain by The Move

Karl Marx once narrowly avoided arrest for drunkenly smashing street lights in Tottenham Court Road after an all-day bender

The Sherlock Holmes Museum is based as close as it can be to the address of 221b Baker Street, the house is government protected, due to its ‘special architectural and historical interest’

During World War II suite 212 at Claridges was declared Yugoslav territory by Sir Winston Churchill so that Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia could be born on home territory

When Suetonius, the Roman General, defeated the uprising of the Iceni tribe led by Boudicca, he slaughtered 80,000 Britons on the site of what is now Kings Cross

Many people think the London Palladium is London’s biggest capacity theatre, but in fact the Coliseum Theatre just pips it, having 2,358 seats to the Palladium’s 2,286

The Serpentine is London’s oldest boating lake (1730) but it is artificial, created to look as if it has evolved naturally, part of the old River Westbourne was dammed to help create it

Wembley Stadium has 2,618 toilets, more than any other venue in the world, and the total length of the escalators is the same as a 400 metre running track

Adverts in tube carriages are known as ‘tube cards’, they are very good value; in 2009 they cost £10 per week, and travellers spend an average of 13 minutes per journey viewing them

By the end of the 18th century, London was the centre of the watch-making trade, with more than 7,000 men in Clerkenwell assembling 120,000 watches a year

There are 46 places on six continents named after London, the United States alone has five in: Kentucky, Ohio, Arkansas, Texas and West Virginia

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 23 September 1952 Charlie Chaplin returned to England for the first time in 21 years, told reporters it was a “shock” to see Waterloo Bridge – which has been rebuilt since he was last in the capital. Born in London in 1889, to music hall entertainers, at 5 his mother had a nervous breakdown and his father died, he danced in the street for pennies with his half-brother and was then sent to an orphanage.

On 23 September 1814 work began on the original Southwark bridge by John Rennie, it was built as three cast-iron spans over the river

During World War I a baker on Chapman Street was jailed for 3 days after selling fresh bread, the rationale being fresh bread is difficult to cut thinly, and people would therefore consume more if the slices were thick

Fruit Lines Ltd used to own the wharf at Canary Wharf. It was where they imported fruits mainly from the Canary Islands – hence the name

On 23 September 1897 Britain’s first car fatality occurred when 9-year-old Stephen Kempton cadging a ride was crushed to death when his coat was caught in the driving chain

On 23 September 1941 General de Gaulle formed French government in exile in Carlton Gardens, from 1942–44, he lived in Hampstead

Composer Felix Mendelssohn stayed at 4 Hobart Place, Belgravia, whilst staying here he dined with Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Charles Dickens

In 1736 Fortnum and Mason wrapped hard-boiled eggs in sausage meat and breadcrumbs thus creating the Scotch egg

Polo imported in 1870 by cavalry officers serving in India was first played in Britain on Hounslow Heath and then Richmond Park

Finsbury Park station has murals that show a pair of duelling pistols, harking back to a time when men would visit the park after hours to defend their honour

The first parking ticket was issued to Dr Thomas Creighton on his Ford Popular as he attended a heart attack victim (£2 fine – later rescinded)

On 23 September 1959 the country’s first heleport was opened betweeen Battersea and Wandsworth Bridges

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 16 September 1967 at the last night of the Proms Sir Malcolm Sargent came onto the platform at the end of the concert to huge applause and made his traditional Last Night speech. He died seventeen days later on 3rd October. Since 1968, the year after Sargent’s death, the Proms have begun on a Friday evening rather than as previously a Saturday, and in memory of Sargent’s choral work, a large-scale choral piece is customarily given.

On 16 September 1977 Marc Bolan lead singer of T.Rex died aged 29 when his car crashed into a tree in Barnes a memorial is there

Newgate Prison was renovated with funding provided by London’s famous mayor, Dick Whittington, with a bequest in his will of 1422, the gate and gaol were pulled down and rebuilt

Under Cleopatra’s Needle a time capsule contains cigars, a razor, Queen Victoria’s portrait, newspapers and pictures of 12 English beauties

During the plague a sage said breathing on a chicken for self-diagnosis: if you’re infected the chicken becomes ‘roupy’ and lay rotten eggs

At a Twickenham public park 8 naked ladies disport on fountain rockery so startlingly white during World War II their bums were sprayed grey for the blackout

When Animal Farm was published in 1945 George Orwell was living at 27b Canonbury Square he moved there in the autumn of 1944 after their flat in Kilburn was hit by a  V-1 flying bomb

Tea made its first appearance in London in September 1658, when the new beverage was advertised in a pamphlet by Thomas Garraway, a coffeehouse owner

Griffin Park Brentford FC’s home since 1904 is renowned for being the only English league ground to have a pub on each corner, and the ground is named after one of these

Blackfriars is London’s only station to have entrances on both sides of the Thames, it is world’s largest solar-powered bridge having been covered with 4,400 photovoltaic panels

19th Century ‘pure finders’ wandered London collecting dog faeces required by the many South Bank tanners to purify the leather

Street names that sadly no longer exist include Shiteburn Lane, Pissing Alley, and more than one Gropecunt Lane

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.