This Week In London’s History
- Monday – 6th June 1997: The Bank of England uses its newly granted independence to set interest rates for the first time (raising them by 0.25% to 6.50%).
- Tuesday – 7th June 1695: Hackney carriages are banned from Hyde Park, following an incident where a cab full of “unruly ladies” affronted “several persons of quality”. The ban stays in place for almost 230 years.
- Wednesday – 8th June 1999: At the Old Bailey, ex-cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken is sentenced to jail for 18 months, having been found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.
- Thursday – 9th June 1958: Queen Elizabeth II flies into a revamped Gatwick to officially open London’s second biggest airport.
- Friday – 10th June 2000: The Millennium Footbridge opens, spanning the Thames between Bankside and the City. It would initially suffer from ‘synchronous lateral excitation’ (a.k.a. wobbliness), necessitating its closure and the fitting of dampers.
London Quote Of The Week
Pitt is to Addington what London is to Paddington.
George Canning, The Oracle
Picture by curry15 via the Londonist Flickr pool.