This Day In London’s History 1973: Women are admitted to the London Stock Exchange for the first time. After 200 years of male exclusivity, including a period where “unsuitable facilities” were blamed for the men-only tradition, ten newly elected lady members of the London Stock Exchange were admitted to the institution on 26th March 1973. However despite this landmark breakthrough for equality in the industry, which arrived after years of campaigning by women who......

This Day In London’s History 1988: The Bank of England withdraws the £1 note from circulation. In 1797 the Bank of England started printing banknotes in denominations of one pound sterling on a regular basis. To quote their website: In 1759, gold shortages caused by the Seven Years War forced the Bank to issue a £10 note for the first time. The first £5 notes followed in 1793 at the start of the war......

This Day In London’s History 1826: The founders of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) hold their first meeting. In 1824 Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, founder of the city of Singapore, returned to England in poor health. After a period of convalescence in Cheltenham he moved to London and turned his attention to establishing a ‘learned society’ for the purpose of studying animals. On 26th February 1826 he held the society’s first meeting, with......

This Day In London’s History 1961: Rioting outside the Belgian embassy as demonstrators protest against the killing of Patrice Lumumba, ex Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the summer of 1960, Patrice Lumumba was elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, becoming the country’s first democratically elected leader after it gained independence from Belgian colonial rule. However his brief rule over the troubled country was hardly plain-sailing......

This Day In London’s History 1924: The Greenwich Time Signal pips are broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time. This one is quite pleasingly geeky. Shortly after the formation of the BBC in 1922, it was suggested that it might be a nice idea to broadcast a time signal “under direct control of the Greenwich Observatory”. No-one did much about the idea for a couple of years, until John Reith (general manager of......

This Day In London’s History 1976: A series of IRA bombs explode in London’s West End. During the early hours of 29th January 1976, 12 bombs exploded in the area around Oxford Street, injuring the driver of a passing taxi and starting several small fires. Fortunately nobody was killed – it was thought that the bombs were deliberately timed to explode during the night. Much of the area was closed the next day, during......

This Day In London’s History 1788: Lord Byron born at 16 Holles Street, just north of Oxford Street. Born George Gordon Byron, but inheriting the family title at the age of 10, Byron was an extravagant, eccentric and hugely prolific writer. However he was just as famous for his tumultuous lifestyle as for his writings, both of which attracted much attention. Shortly after his birth in London, his mother moved him to Aberdeen. He......

This Day In London’s History 1759: The British Museum in Bloomsbury opens its doors to the public for the first time. Some may feel that the British Museum these days is little more than a massive boast, bragging about how many cool things the British Empire has stolen from the rest of the world. But regardless of whether this criticism is fair or not, it’s hard to deny that the museum is still one......

This Day In London’s History 1991: A packed rush hour train carrying over one thousand commuters collides with the buffers at Cannon Street station. At 8:44am on 8th January 1991, the 07:58 train from Sevenoaks failed to stop when pulling into Cannon Street station and hit the buffers at the central London terminus at about 5 miles per hour. Despite the relatively low speed, the impact caused the infrastructure of some of the carriages......

After a couple of weeks’ break, some of us are feeling a little bit rusty (not to mention hungover). So today’s Monday Miscellanea will be somewhat reduced from its normal format, just to ease us gently (and hopefully quietly) into the New Year… This Day In London’s History 1864: Formal opening of Southwark Street, linking Blackfriars Bridge and London Bridge, south of the Thames. The construction of Southwark Street was of the first projects......

This Day In London’s History 1890: Public opening of the world’s first ‘deep-level’ electric tube line, running between Stockwell and King William Street. Although the Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways had opened several underground tube lines since 1863, these were relatively shallow ‘cut-and-cover’-type lines. Following advances in tunnelling techniques later in the century, it became possible to construct much deeper lines, and the City & South London Railway was opened to the public on......

This Day In London’s History 1911: Prolific film director Val Guest is born in Maida Vale. Although probably most renowned for directing (and co-writing) sci-fi classics The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass II in the mid 1950s, the cinematic career of the man who was born Valmond Maurice Grossman on December 11th 1911 in Maida Vale was long and varied. Since his early twenties, he had tried his hand at acting, scriptwriting and even composing,......

This Day In London’s History 1882: The Royal Courts of Justice on The Strand are opened by Queen Victoria. The impressive gothic spectacle that is the building for the Royal Courts of Justice was designed by George Edmund Street (who was, appropriately enough, a solicitor before he became an architect) and built in the 1870s. Also known as the Law Courts, the building is home to England’s primary civil court, dealing with some of......

This Day In London’s History 1970: The first ever public gay protest in Britain is held at Highbury Fields. Following the arrest (and alleged entrapment) of Louis Eaks for cottaging, the Gay Liberation Front (a name that always makes us think of The Life Of Brian) gathered on 27th November 1970 for a torchlight procession through Highbury Fields in protest. Reports differ as to how many protesters attended the procession, but it was clear......

This Day In London’s History 1990: Pandemonium in Westminster as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher fails to win outright victory over Michael Heseltine in the Conservative Party leadership contest. Following a lengthy period of discontent from her own party, including the resignation of Sir Geoffrey Howe from his position as Deputy Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher’s leadership was formally challenged for the second time in as many years, this time by Michael Heseltine. It was widely......

This Day In London’s History 1887: ‘Bloody Sunday’ - thousands of demonstrators are beaten to a pulp by police and troops in central London. Not to be confused with the day of violence in Derry in 1972, this particular ‘Bloody Sunday’ refers to the events that unfolded on 13th November 1887, as the Social Democratic Federation attempted to stage a large demonstration in Trafalgar Square. The government banned the meeting, deploying large numbers of......

This Day In London’s History 1975: The Sex Pistols play their first gig at Saint Martin’s College. After Johnny Rotten joined The Swankers as their new vocalist, the band changed its name to The Sex Pistols under the guidance of its new manager Malcolm McLaren. Shortly afterwards, on this day 31 years ago, they played (or attempted to play) their first gig at Saint Martin’s College. Their debut was not exactly an overwhelming success......

This Day in London's History 1485: Henry VII opens batting for the Tudor dynasty, taking the crown at Westminster Abbey. Attending the new king that day were the Yeomen of the Guard - the monarch's bodyguard - on their first official duty. The Yeomen of the Guard are not to be confused with the Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters, who patrol the Tower of London... 1841: The Tower nearly falls. Beefeaters and policemen scrambled to......

On this Day in London's History 1247 Bedlam founded. The world's oldest institution for the mentally shortchanged had its origins on this day 759 years ago, when some religious bloke from the holy land declared the new priory of St Mary Bethlehem open. By 1330, the priory had sprouted its very own hospital, which soon specialised in the treatment of the insane. And by 'treatment' we mean a special flavour of appalling, inhuman treatment.......