Monday Miscellanea

Dave Haste
By Dave Haste Last edited 152 months ago
Monday Miscellanea

This Week In London’s History

  • Monday4th July 1829: London’s first scheduled bus service is introduced by coach-maker George Shillibeer, inspired by his work on a fleet of coaches in Paris. The ‘omnibus’ service runs between Paddington and the Bank of England, providing four daily services in each direction, each of which capable of “accommodating 16 or 18 persons, all inside”.
  • Tuesday5th July 1975: Arthur Ashe defeats defending champion Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon, becoming the first black man to win the tournament’s singles title.
  • Wednesday6th July 2005: London wins its bid to host the 2012 Olympics, beating Paris by 54 votes to 50 in the International Olympic Committee’s final round of voting. The announcement sparks hours of celebrations in Trafalgar Square.
  • Thursday7th July 2005: Four suicide bombers detonate bombs on London’s public transport system, resulting in the death of 52 commuters and injury to some 700 others.
  • Friday8th July 1965: Ronnie Biggs, a member of the gang that carried out the notorious ‘Great Train Robbery’ a couple of years earlier, escapes from Wandsworth Prison. He would remain un-incarcerated until 2001.

Random London Quote Of The Week

Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,

I had not thought death had undone so many.

Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,

And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.

Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,

To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours

With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.

T. S. Elliot

Photo of Pudding Mill Lane in 1999 taken by chrisdb1 via the Londonist Flickr pool. This area is now part of the Olympic Park, and has presumably been tidied up a bit since this photo was taken.

Last Updated 03 July 2011