Like the majority of London people, she occupied a house of which the rent absurdly exceeded the due proportion of her income, a pleasant foible turned to such good account by London landlords.
George Gissing (1857-1903)
London Trivia: Britain’s biggest heist
On 13 September 1971 a theft from Lloyds Bank on Baker Street was reported by the media. The £3 million robbery, the largest ever in Britain, had taken place the previous Saturday. The robbers had tunnelled a distance of approximately 50 feet passing under the intervening Chicken Inn restaurant. Three days later a ‘D’ Notice requested all further media coverage was suspended until the trial of four men in 1973.
On 13 September 1958 Collins’s Music Hall on Islington Green was badly damaged by fire, Waterstones now stands on the site
In 1999 a man tested his right as a Freeman of the City of London to drive two sheep named Clover and Little Man, across London Bridge
79 Pall Mall is the only building in the street not owned by the Crown. Charles II gave Nell Gwynn the freehold after she refused its lease
From the lower office windows of 16 Farringdon Lane can be seen the original medieval medicinal drinking water of ‘Clerks Well’ from which Clerkenwell takes its name
On 13 September 1940 at 11 am, Buckingham Palace was damaged by German bombs during the second of three daylight raids on London that day
Lambeth Bridge’s statutes symbolise human virtue: for men ironworking building working honour; for women agriculture housework cooking power
The oldest baths building in London which still serves the needs of a functioning swimming pool is the entrance block of Forest Hill Baths
Britain’s earliest supplier of rackets balls in the 19th century Mr Maling of Woolwich learnt his craft as an inmate at King’s Bench Prison
In 1989 a version of the famous FX-4 London taxi went on sale in Japan badged as the ‘Big Ben Novelty Car’, no records exist as to the number of buyers
During World War I a giant postal sorting office was located in Regent’s Park handling 2 billion letters in the world’s largest wooden structure
London has a population density ten times higher than anywhere else in Britain with its residents speaking over 300 languages
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.
Previously Posted: A trip to the Tower
For those new to CabbieBlog or readers who are slightly forgetful, on Saturdays I’m republishing posts, many going back over a decade. Some will still be very relevant while others have become dated over time. Just think of this post as your weekend paper supplement.
A trip to the Tower (26.07.13)
Most of the time writing CabbieBlog is pretty mundane: observation, researching and writing with few perks. But once in a while the blog opens doors as it did for me last week. I was invited to a demonstration of BT’s new Home Hub 4, itself a pretty pedestrian corporate IT talk.
The unique setting at 621ft above Fitzrovia made this presentation much more memorable – at the top of the BT Tower. Completed in 1966 and opened by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 2003 the tower was given grade II listing by the government showing just how iconic it has become to Londoners. It was Britain’s most poorly kept secret. Londoners were expected to not notice its presence, in fact for many years it did not appear on any map as its location was protected by the Official Secrets Act, even the taking and storing photographs of the building was forbidden.
Now thankfully those restrictions have been lifted, but not others. After going through some rigorous security checks you enter the lobby. Evidence that BT was a major sponsor to last year’s game is evidenced by having two torches mounted on plinths.
Our group was ushered into the high speed lift, unusually for nowadays complete with a lift attendant. An indicator duly recorded that its speed was 1,400 ft. per minute. With no proper emergency stairs a special act of parliament had to be passed making it the only building in the UK that can be legally evacuated by lift.
We arrived at the viewing platform which is just below the famous revolving restaurant, taking 22 minutes to complete its circuit. It was closed in 1980 now closed due to security fears, but many diners at the time said that eating while being spun round was disconcerting.
Being the highest building in Fitzrovia it has unrestricted views across London, although while taking these panoramic shots it was rather disconcerting to notice that the windows had handles – could they be opened?
We were told it was unusual to see as far as the new Wembley Stadium in the distance. Note the handles on the windows.
The purpose of the visit was to see a demonstration of BT’s new router but on this floor the Wi-Fi signal was curiously was absent my i-phone.
London in Quotations: Percy Bysshe Shelley
London, that great sea, whose ebb and flow / At once is deaf and loud, and on the shore / Vomits its wrecks, and still howls on for more. / Yet in its depths what treasures!
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
London Trivia: Inconvenient apparel
On 6 September 1889, a letter to the Editor of The Times was published, the correspondent pointed out the inconvenience to a gentleman of the errant low hanging awning rods outside shops. The gentlemen in question complained that on occasion his hat was actually knocked off his head, and at night further obstructions were placed in the way of his headgear, in the shape of lights being hung at unreasonable heights.
On 6 September 1828 the Gothic House for llamas, presented by the Duke of Bedford was opened, he was President of the Zoological Society of London from 1899 to 1936
Buckingham House built 1702 which would later become Buckingham Palace was built on the site of a notorious brothel
A ‘tot’ was an artificial Celtic beacon hill arranged along solstice lines London’s most famous tot hill was Westminster hence Fields and Street
On 6 September 1921 an inquest ruled that 63-year-old retired French cook, Joseph Enecker, had shot himself after suffering hiccups for 48 hours
Pear Tree Court on Lunham Road has an 18-room nuclear bunker in the basement, now closed as Lambeth declared the borough nuclear free
165 Broadhurst Gardens was home to Decca Records until the early 1980s, on 1 January 1962, Brian Epstein paid for an hour audition for The Beatles, but they were turned down by Decca
Bleeding Heart Yard is almost certainly derived from an ancient religious symbol later adopted by a tavern which once stood on the site
On 6 September 1913 Arsenal played their first game at Highbury, 20,000 watched the Gunners beat Leicester Fosse 2-1
Building the tunnels for the first section of the District Line (South Kensington to Westminster, 1868) used 140 million bricks
Until Edward VIII changed the rules in 1936, Beefeaters at The Tower of London were required to sport a beard
Dulwich College founded in 17th century by actor Edward Alleyn has famous alumni including PG Wodehouse and Ernest Shackleton
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.
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