Earth, yet it is governed with the same Ease, and with less Trouble to the Subject, than many petty Villages in other Parts of the World.
Robert Campbell (1769–1846)
London Trivia: Notting Hill riot
On 30 August 1976, the Notting Hill Carnival ended in a riot, with more than 100 police officers taken to the hospital and 60 carnival-goers needing hospital treatment after the clashes which led to the arrest of at least 66 people. The trouble started after police tried to arrest a pickpocket near Portobello Road on the main carnival route. The police were attacked with stones and other missiles, however only two were convicted.
On 30 August 1572 Elizabeth I issued a decree: ‘no foteball player be used or suffered within the City of London and the liberties thereof on pain of imprisonment’
Transport for London Byelaw 10(2): No person shall enter through any train door until any person leaving by that door has passed through it!
Once Britain’s largest enclosed space, if measured, the air within the Albert Hall would weigh in at over 30 tons
John St. John Long appeared at the Old Bailey on a charge of manslaughter, his victim dosing on his medicated vapours, he paid the £13,000 fine from his vast wealth accululated from selling quack remedies
The Dorchester was seen as safe during the Blitz it is built using 2,000 miles of steel rods, a host of political and military luminaries chose it as their London residence
St. George Church, Mayfair designed by John James, one of Sir Christopher Wren’s assistants, when completed in 1725 was the first church in London to be built with a portico
There are three tube stations on the Monopoly board: Liverpool Street Station, King’s Cross and Marylebone
On 30 August 1930 the first Dutchman to play in the English Football league Gerrit Keizer made his goalkeeping debut for Arsenal
Underground’s longest tunnel is from East Finchley to Morden totalling 17.3 miles but only 45 per cent of the network is actually in tunnels
The Daily Courant was London’s original newspaper first published in 1792 near Ludgate Circus, consisting of a single page, with advertisements on the reverse side
The Constable of The Tower of London can extract a barrel of rum from any naval vessel plying the Thames
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: Collcutt’s hidden folly
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.
Collcutt’s hidden folly (16.07.13)
City of London planners have decreed that the view of St. Paul’s – or what is left of it – must be preserved from the rapid encroachment of high-rise buildings. One sacrosanct sightline is looking down Fleet Street from the Old Cheshire Cheese towards the Cathedral.
When it was proposed to demolish the previous building at the junction of St. Mary’s Axe and Leadenhall Street its construction caused a few headaches. Due to the building’s unusual design in having its 14 floors suspended on steel ‘chords’ visible on the building’s exterior, it was demolished from the bottom up.
The architects calculated that its replacement would destroy the sightline of St. Paul’s world-famous dome. The design called for the new building to be four times higher and the designer rose to the challenge by producing the new famous ‘cheesegrater’ design ensuring that its distinctive shape would become unobtrusive from Fleet Street and would gain popularity for its famous shape.
The same planning regulations have not been applied over the years in the museum area of South Kensington where London’s tallest folly manages to keep a low profile.
Having completed ‘The Knowledge’ I thought that I knew all of London’s largest buildings – that was until I read David Long’s Spectacular Vernacular.
At nearly 300ft. Collcutt’s Tower is higher than the dome of St. Paul’s but the subsequent development surrounding the building has ensured the building’s total anonymity.
Designed by T. E. Collcutt, it was he I discovered who designed the Savoy and the Palace Theatre. When completed Collcutt’s Tower marked Queen Victoria’s 50 years on the throne.
The Renaissance-style tower originally had two siblings each with copper roofs, the towers rising up above the Imperial Institute founded after the grand-sounding Colonial Exhibition of 1886. On the anniversary of Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, the tower was christened The Queen’s Tower.
The Imperial Institute was completed in 1893 and although regarded as Collcutt’s masterpiece a proper function was never found for its use. Its cavernous great hall was used for examination and was notorious among students in the 1950s for its leading ‘temporary’ plywood ceiling and the loose-bowelled sparrows which inhabited it.
In the 1960s the Imperial Institute was demolished mid protests led by the poet laureate John Betjeman. Only the single tower was spared, but as the building originally had propped it up the tower’s foundations had to be considerably strengthened thus allowing it to stand proud on its own.
The only sign that this monument to colonialism exists is when 11 times a year on Royal anniversaries its bells are rung much to the surprise of local residents (who much wonder where the sound is coming from) and the sparrows.
This post has been shamefully pilfered by the Londoneer who rather magnanimously publish under a creative commons licence – Thanks, Pete.
London in Quotations: Dylan Thomas
It really is an insane city . . . its intelligentsia is so hurried in the head that nothing stays there; its glamour smells of goat; there’s no difference between good and bad.
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
London Trivia: Braveheart is killed
On 23 August 1305, famous thanks to Hollywood, one of Britain’s most famous rebels, died this day. William Wallace, the Scots resistance fighter had taken on one of England’s most formidable kings, Edward I, and lost. Tried at Westminster Hall, found guilty of treason and murder, he was dragged to Smithfield to be hanged, drawn and quartered. A memorial attesting to his martyrdom is to be found in Smithfield.
On 23 August 2010 the flat of GCHQ operative Gareth Williams was searched by police, here they found his body locked in a holdall placed in the bath
HMP Pentonville built in 1842 at a cost £84,186 12s 2d was intended to be a holding prison for convicts awaiting transportation
If London was a country it would be the 8th biggest in Europe in monetary terms and the greenest city of its size in the world with two-thirds covered in green space or water
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum has a collection of over 45,000 objects including a collection of English delftware drug storage jars amongst which is the oldest known dated piece in the world
On 23 August 1940 the German Luftwaffe began night bombing on London, when Ju88s dropped more than sixteen tons of high explosives
A pyramid to cover Trafalgar Square was proposed by Irishman, Colonel Frederick Trench, MP to commemorate the triumph at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805
The Grosvenor Hotel (now Thistle Victoria) was one of the first hotels in London to have a lift called at the time ‘a rising room’
On 23 August 1933 the first televised boxing match took place in London between Archie Sexton and Laurie Raiteri
On 23 August 1617 the first one-way streets opened in London, they ran into Thames Street, the next one-way street in London was Albemarle Street
In 1661 the first postmarks in the world were struck at Post Office Court near to where today’s Bank of England now stands
In 1661 the world’s first postmark was struck at the General Post Office located in Prince’s Street opposite the Bank of England
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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