This Week In London’s History
- Monday – 29 April 1745: Cowper Thornhill, keeper of the Bell Inn in Stilton, Cambridgeshire, rides from the inn to Shoreditch Church and back. He then turns around and rides back to London again, covering a total of 213 miles in 12 hours and 17 minutes, to the awe of many spectators lining the route.
- Tuesday – 30 April 1999: ‘London nailbomber’ David Copeland plants his last bomb, in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho. Three people are killed and dozens are injured.
- Wednesday – 1 May 2000: The May Day anti-capitalism protests bring mass violence and vandalism to central London. On the same day one year later, police detain thousands of protesters and unwitting bystanders in Oxford Circus for about six hours.
- Thursday – 2 May 1536: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, is arrested on charges of adultery and taken to the Tower of London.
- Friday – 3 May 1951: The Royal Festival Hall is opened by George VI, as a part of the Festival of Britain.
Random London Quote Of The Week
My fiftieth year had come and gone,
I sat, a solitary man,
In a crowded London shop,
And open book and empty cup
On the marble table-top.
While on the shop and street I gazed
My body of a sudden blazed;
And twenty minutes more or less
It seemed, so great my happiness,
That I was blessed and could bless.
William Butler Yeats
Photo by Amanda Farah via the Londonist Flickr Pool.
