Pootling around London
March 06, 2018 - (0) commentsAs a bonus, for your support, each month two long-form posts from my book Pootling around London, a travelogue about riding around London exploring the capital’s traditions, tripe and trivia, whilst undertaking The Knowledge will be published on CabbieBlog exclusively for Patrons. Each includes a single ‘run’ on The Knowledge: the journey; notes and observations from the present; facts and urban myths; historical accounts of places on the route; and occasional insights
Sunday Best
December 30, 2016 - 2 CommentsI’m now posting nuggets of triviality every Sunday. Each post will have a short essay relating to the day in question along with 10 other pieces of useless information.
They may be read on a weekly basis or one could dip in and out, either when collating questions for a pub quiz; bore your colleagues at work; or just to send yourself off to sleep.
Run for the Hills
February 28, 2014 - (0) commentsOn the night of 7th January 1928 the Embankment wall collapsed near Lambeth Bridge, right opposite the Tate. Flood water poured across the road destroying homes and forcing local residents in one of London’s most deprived areas to swim for their lives.
Jump on a bus
February 18, 2014 - 2 CommentsOne of my favourite London films is Brannigan, starring John Wayne as a Chicago detective. It is as if Visit London had commissioned Paul Greengrass to direct a travel documentary aimed at American tourists.
It is remarkable that St. Paul’s should have been built under the supervision of only one master-builder, Thomas Strong [...]
Open to the public during daylight hours the Inner and Middle Temples have a rather private appearance which probably put off many curious visitors [...]
Weekly nuggets of triviality posted every Sunday each with a short essay relating to the day in question along with 10 other pieces of useless information, read weekly or dip in and out [...]
Alderman’s Walk is one of those names that tend to spark off thoughts of summery strolls along well-kept tree-lined avenues. Indeed, if we were contemplating our walk in a suburban village or almost any [...]
In the 16th Century the Company of Watermen were the equivalent to today’s cabbies. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1556 and given a grant of a Royal Patient in 1585, their trade [...]
Weekly nuggets of triviality posted every Sunday each with a short essay relating to the day in question along with 10 other pieces of useless information, read weekly or dip in and out [...]
We challenge our contributor to reply to ten devilishly probing questions about their London and we don't take "Sorry Gov" for an answer [...]
London’s taxi drivers have in the past been identified as the country’s grumpiest workers. A survey found that traffic jams, the rising cost of petrol and drunken passengers meant that cabbies rarely managed a [...]
Weekly nuggets of triviality posted every Sunday each with a short essay relating to the day in question along with 10 other pieces of useless information, read weekly or dip in and out [...]
The only point of interest is Stockwell bus garage described by Will Self as “a pod of whales, a concrete Leviathan, frozen in mid arch as they swim through the rather choppy brick sea [...]
London In Quotations
October 10, 2018
Dear Diary . . .
January 11, 2011
London Trivia: Jam and Jerusalem
August 12, 2018
The London Grill: Alan Gilbey
November 17, 2017Murder in a London cab
June 07, 2016
The London Grill: Ambrose Hide
February 20, 2015
Rules of Engagement
September 15, 2009
Climb aboard
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What I’m Reading
Square London by Gary Powell
If the financial City of London is her heart and the parks her lungs, then London’s squares must be her soul. The London square is quintessentially English, the square is one of the capital’s most familiar and loved features. Square London endeavours to investigate the history of the London square, from its oldest – Covent Garden and Bloomsbury to its most recent – Canada and Highbury. This is how retired policeman Gary Powell introduces us to his well-researched book, the first on this subject for many years.
London Links
13 Survivors
Thank you for your kind comments. When you next come to London just as
13 Survivors
Having read about the cabbie's huts in a novel, I just had to look for
London Books Review: Up in Smoke
I like seeing plaques of all descriptions. Only problem it's more to s
London Books Review: Up in Smoke
The "official" blue plaques are English Heritage plaques. They have st
London Books Review: Up in Smoke
That sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. All I know is that the b