Monday Miscellanea

Dave Haste
By Dave Haste Last edited 132 months ago
Monday Miscellanea

This Week In London’s History

  • Monday4 March 1882: Britain’s first electric trams go into operation in Leytonstone, East London.
  • Tuesday5 March 1856: The second Covent Garden Theatre is destroyed by a fire that breaks out at 5am, during a masked ball. Its replacement would become known as the Royal Opera House.
  • Wednesday6 March 1997: A gunman walks into the Lefevre Gallery in Mayfair and rips a £650,000 Picasso paining – Tête de Femme – from the wall, before making his escape in a black cab. The painting would be recovered a week later.
  • Thursday7 March 1969: The Victoria Line is officially opened by the Queen, in a ceremony at Victoria Station. Intended as a fast, congestion-relieving alternative to other lines (such as the Piccadilly Line), the line makes significant use of ‘cross-platform interchanges’ to help with changing lines.
  • Friday8 March 1750: London experiences a minor earthquake, one month to the day after a previous similar quake, causing superstitious concern that another such event would be experienced on the same day in April. It would be the last recorded earthquake with a London epicentre (so far).

Random London Quote Of The Week

London doesn't love the latent or the lurking, has neither time, nor taste, nor sense for anything less discernible than the red flag in front of the steam-roller. It wants cash over the counter and letters ten feet high.

Henry James

Picture by sjnewton via the Londonist Flickr Pool.

Last Updated 03 March 2013