Monday Miscellanea

Dave Haste
By Dave Haste Last edited 177 months ago
Monday Miscellanea

york-road-tube.jpg
Picture by M@.

This Week In London’s History

  • Monday - 15th June 1215: King John puts his seal to the Magna Carta at Runnymede (about half-way between Heathrow Airport and Windsor).
  • Tuesday - 16th June 1838: The London Working Men’s Association is formed, marking the beginnings of a significant movement for social and political reform. Wednesday - 17th June 1974: An IRA bomb explodes at the Houses of Parliament, causing extensive damage, and minor injuries to 11 people. Thursday - 18th June 1972: A British European Airways plane bound for Brussels crashes moments after taking off from Heathrow airport, killing all 118 passengers. An inquiry later concludes that the pilot had made a ‘speed error’ and stalled the plane, causing it to crash into a field in Staines. Friday - 19th June 1997: McDonald’s wins a libel case against two members of the ‘London Greenpeace’ campaigning group. Having taken seven years, the ‘McLibel’ case becomes the longest-running court action in English history, and despite the verdict, something of an embarrassment to McDonald’s.

    London Quote Of The Week

    The fascination of the London street is that no two people are ever alike; each seems bound on some private affair of his own.

    Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

    Random London Fact Of The Week

    No less than 20 tube stations were opened in 1906.

    On 10th March, Kennington Road (now known as Lambeth North), Trafalgar Square (now known as Charing Cross), Piccadilly Circus and Regent's Park opened as part of the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (which would become the Bakerloo Line).

    A few weeks later, on 2nd April, Ruislip & Ickenham (now known as West Ruislip) opened. Then, on 26th May, Eastcote Halt and Rayners Lane Halt stations (both of which have now dropped the ‘Halt’) opened on the Metropolitan Railway.

    Finally, on 15th December, the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (precursor to the Piccadilly Line) was opened, along with 13 stations: Finsbury Park, Gillespie Road (now Arsenal), Holloway Road, Caledonian Road, York Road (now disused), Russell Square, Holborn, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Dover Street (now Green Park), Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge and Brompton Road (now disused).

    Last Updated 15 June 2009