This Week In London’s History
- Monday – 21 January 1976: Concorde’s first commercial service, from London to Bahrain (and Paris to Rio de Janeiro) commences.
- Tuesday – 22 January 1876: The Royal Aquarium opens in Westminster. It would be demolished just 26 years later and replaced by the Methodist Central Hall.
- Wednesday – 23 January 1571: The Royal Exchange in the City of London is officially opened by Elizabeth I. Over the next few hundred years it would be destroyed by fire (and rebuilt) twice.
- Thursday – 24 January 1969: Students and staff at the London School of Economics riot in protest over the installation of steel security gates.
- Friday – 25 January 1731: William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, and Lord John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, hold a duel in Green Park over ‘libellous’ accusations of homosexuality. Neither is seriously injured.
London Quote Of The Week
The marvellous maturity of London! I would rather be dead in this town than preening my feathers in heaven.
Nicholas Monsarrat
Picture by Duncan Harris via the Londonist Flickr Pool.
