This Week In London’s History
Monday – 28th April 1801: Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, is born at 24 Grosvenor Square. He would become a noted politician and philanthropist, whose works would be commemorated by the construction of the Shaftesbury Memorial (a.k.a. ‘The Angel of Christian Charity’, a.k.a. ‘Eros’) in Piccadilly Circus.
Tuesday –
29th April 1745: Cowper Thornhill, keeper of the Bell Inn in Stilton, Cambridgeshire, rides from the inn to Shoreditch Church and back. He then turns around and rides back to London again, covering a total of 213 miles in 12 hours and 17 minutes, to the awe of many spectators lining the route.
Wednesday –
30th April 1999: ‘London nailbomber’ David Copeland plants his last bomb, in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. Three people are killed and dozens are injured.
Thursday –
1st May 2000: The May Day anti-capitalism protests bring mass violence and vandalism to central London. On the same day one year later, police detain thousands of protesters and unwitting bystanders in Oxford Circus for about 6 hours.
Friday –
2nd May 1536: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VII, is arrested on charges of adultery and taken to the Tower of London.
Random London Fact Of The Week
In the 1760s, a goat managed to circumnavigate the globe twice – firstly on an expedition under Captain Samuel Wallis on HMS Dolphin; and later on HMS Endeavour’s renowned voyage of discovery to the Pacific Ocean, under Captain James Cook.
After all this adventuring the goat retired her seafaring ways, but not before her achievements had come to the attention of Dr Samuel Johnson, who composed the following couplet for her:
Perpetui ambita his terra praemia lactis,
Hac habet, altrici capra secunda Jovis.
Londonist’s schooling in Latin occurred sufficiently long ago to render this mostly incomprehensible, but we’re sure it's jolly clever nonetheless.
The goat was eventually granted retirement privileges as a pensioner at Greenwich Hospital by the Admiralty. However before she was able to take up this kind offer, she passed away at Mile End (236 years ago today).
London’s Weather This Week
On the whole, this week will be similar to last week, with rain, sunshine and a bit of a breeze now and then, all occurring at suitably unpredictable times.
Photo taken from seriykotik1970’s Flickr photostream.
