This Week In London’s History
- Monday – 14th May 1842: The first fully illustrated weekly newspaper, the Illustrated London News is launched, costing sixpence. It was still being published weekly as recently as 1971, but its publication frequency has since declined.
- Tuesday – 15th May 1981: Zara Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, is born in a private wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. She would become a very successful equestrian, and is currently 14th in line to the throne.
- Wednesday – 16th May 1968: A gas explosion causes the collapse of an entire corner of a newly constructed high-rise block of flats in Newham, East London, killing five residents. Unsurprisingly the flats are later deemed to be ‘structurally unsound’.
- Thursday – 17th May 1984: Prince Charles denounces an early proposed design of an extension to the National Gallery building on Trafalgar Square as “a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”.
- Friday – 18th May 1593: A warrant is issued for the arrest of Christopher Marlowe following allegations of heresy. Less than two weeks later, he was murdered in Deptford, South East London.
Random London Quote Of The Week
London is a modern Babylon.
Benjamin Disraeli, Tancred
Picture by Tyla'75 via the Londonist Flickr Pool.