This Week In London’s History
- Monday – 9th May 1949: Britain’s first self-service launderette is opened on Queensway, West London.
- Tuesday – 10th May 1941: The Palace of Westminster is badly damaged during an air raid, destroying the chamber of the House of Commons and killing three people.
- Wednesday – 11th May 1812: Also in the Palace of Westminster (but some 129 years earlier), Spencer Perceval becomes the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated when he is fatally shot by “a madman” in the lobby of the House of Commons.
- Thursday – 12th May 1967: Pink Floyd stage their ‘Games for May’ concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. The concert is notable for being the first ever live performance to use a quadraphonic sound system. Unfortunately, the use of bubbles and daffodils during the performance stains the carpets and seats, resulting in the band being banned from the venue.
- Friday – 13th May 1966: Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrap is (probably) born in Enfield, North London. She would become better known by adding an extra ‘p’ to the end of her surname, and fronting an electronica band of the same name.
Random London Quote Of The Week
London, the needy villain’s general home,
The common-sewer of Paris and of Rome,
With eager thirst, by folly or by fate,
Sucks in the dregs of each corrupted state.
Samuel Johnson, London: A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal
Photo by janeslondon via the Londonist Flickr pool.
