On 8 November 1974, Lord Lucan vanished without trace. The previous evening his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was bludgeoned to death in the basement of his children’s home at 46 Lower Belgrave Street. As the police began their murder investigation, Lucan telephoned his mother, asking her to collect the children, and then drove a borrowed Ford Corsair to a friend’s house in Uckfield then vanished.
On 8 November 1429 the Duke of Norfolk crashed his barge into London Bridge, but survived by climbing a rope onto the bridge
On 8 November 2002 an arsonist burned down the Lock Keeper’s Cottage, Old Ford Lock, original location of Channel 4’s Big Breakfast
In Star Yard Holborn stands a late Victorian gents’ ‘pissoir’. Another one in is to be found in Twickenham, a similar example is in Regency Street
In 19th century London, middle class men lived to 45, workmen and labourers life spanned half that time and children were lucky to survive until five
It was at the Merchant Taylor’s Hall, in 1607 in honour of King James I, that the National Anthem was first sung
The West End’s oldest theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is also reported to be haunted by the Victorian music hall star and panto dame Dan Leno, whose spirit is said to exude the scent of lavender oil
You are allowed to use a camera in a London Royal Park, but not a tripod, nothing is mentioned about the use of a monopod
Richmond Golf Club’s 1940 rules: Known unexploded bombs are marked by red flags at a not guaranteed safe distance, a player whose stroke is affected by a explosion may play another ball from the same place
There are thirty-three bridges of all types across the tidal Thames up to Teddington Lock, a distance of just under 99 miles
Filming on location in the Underground costs £500 per hour (plus VAT) unless you have a crew of less than five
At 440 feet the village of North End on the edge of Hampstead Heath is the highest inhabited point in London
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 1 November 1604 Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello was performed for the first time by the King’s Men Company at Whitehall Palace
On 1 November 1959 the M1 Britain’s first motorway opened from London to the North its 70 limit imposed after an AC Cobra was clocked at 196
The sarsen that stands outside the Guildhall in Kingston is known as the Coronation Stone, 7 Saxon kings are said to have been crowned there
The only former Prime Minister to die in 10 Downing Street was Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman saying: “This is not the end of me” – it was!
During Tony Blair’s tenure, 37 computers, 4 mobiles, 2 cameras, a mini-disc player, a video recorder, 4 printers, 2 projectors and a bicycle were stolen from 10 Downing Street
The Tabard Inn which once stood in Talbot Yard behind Guy’s Hospital was the 65-mile fictional starting point of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Covent Garden’s Stukeley Street was formerly Coal Yard where Samuel Pepys saw pretty resident Nell Gwyn standing in a doorway
The German Gymnastic Society, now a restaurant, at King’s Cross established in London in 1861, was Britain’s first purpose-built gymnasium
A signalling box in Tottenham Court Road’s ticket hall sealed in 2013 to be opened in 2063, it contains an Oyster Card and a Baby on Board badge
The King’s cockle-strewer was employed to spread powdered cockleshells on Pall Mall so paille maille could be played in the 17th century
In November 1903 The Daily Mirror was launched from 2 Carmelite Street the paper started well until the owner Alfred Harmsworth allegedly said, “Women can’t read and don’t want to read”
