This Week In London’s History
- Monday - 13th February 1247: A major earthquake causes considerable damage to London. Curiously, it is reported that the quake was preceded for three months by a complete absence of tidal activity at the coast.
- Tuesday – 14th February 1905: The Great Northern & City Railway is opened, connecting Moorgate, Highbury and Finsbury Park stations. It would later become the Northern City Line (once operated as a disconnected part of the Northern Line; but now part of the National Rail network).
- Wednesday – 15th February 1929: Norman Graham Hill is born in Hampstead. Better known as Graham Hill, he would become a very successful racing driver (winning two Formula 1 World Championships) and father to racing driver Damon Hill.
- Thursday – 16th February 1659: The first known handwritten British cheque is written by a Nicholas van Acker, payable to a Mr Delboe and drawn on Messrs Morris and Clayton, scriveners and bankers of the City of London. Reports vary as to how much the cheque is made out for (some sources say £10, others claim £400).
- Friday – 17th February 1958: The inaugural meeting of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) takes place at Central Hall in Westminster. It is attended by some 5000 people.
Random London Quote Of The Week
This melancholy London – I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air.
William Butler Yeats
Picture by Simon Wicks via the Londonist Flickr Pool.
