This Week In London’s History Monday – 6th October 1985: Police Constable Keith Blakelock, whilst protecting firefighters during a riot in Tottenham, trips over and falls to the ground. Before he can regain his feet, he is hacked to death by a mob carrying knives and machetes. Tuesday – 7th October 2000: The last ever competitive football match to take place at the old Wembley Stadium results in England losing 1-0 to Germany. Wednesday......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 29th September 1829: The Metropolitan Police is founded by the Home Secretary, Robert Peel. In his honour, members of the force would become colloquially known as ‘bobbies’. Tuesday – 30th September 1928: Alexander Fleming discovers the antibacterial properties of penicillin at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. Wednesday – 1st October 1868: St Pancras Station is officially opened as the London terminus for the Midland Railway, despite its......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 22nd September 1955: A new television channel, ITV, launches at a ceremony at the Guildhall. Its broadcasting initially only covers the London area, but would be spread to the other UK regions over the next seven years. Tuesday – 23rd September 1939: Renowned psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, suffering from cancer, commits ‘assisted’ suicide at his home in Hampstead. Wednesday – 24th September 1917: A zeppelin drops a 50......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 15th September 2004: Five pro-hunt protesters burst into the House of Commons, disrupting a parliamentary debate around the ban on hunting with dogs. Tuesday – 16th September 1977: Iconic glam rock musician Marc Bolan dies in a car accident in Barnes, southwest London. Wednesday – 17th September 1993: Derek Beakton, an openly racist British National Party candidate, wins a council seat in Tower Hamlets. Thursday – 18th......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 8th September 1915: During the first bombing raid on London of the First World War, a Zeppelin drops incendiary bombs near Fenchurch Street. Tuesday – 9th September 1960: Hugh John Mungo Grant is born in Hammersmith. He would become a well-recognised film actor and producer. Wednesday – 10th September 1973: IRA bombs explode at King’s Cross and Euston mainline stations, injuring 13 people. Witnesses describe a teenager......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 1st September 1856: Richard Westmacott, the sculptor responsible for numerous London landmarks, dies at his Mayfair home. Tuesday – 2nd September 1666: The Great Fire of London breaks out. It would burn for three days, destroying over 13,000 buildings. Wednesday – 3rd September 1878: Passenger steamer Princess Alice collides with cargo ship Bywell Castle on the Thames near Woolwich Pier. All of the 700 passengers of the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 18th August 1937: William George Rushton is born in Chelsea. Better known as Willie Rushton, he would become a popular comedian and satirist, co-founding Private Eye magazine and featuring as a regular panellist on Radio 4’s I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue game show. Tuesday – 19th August 1897: London’s first horseless taxi is introduced by the London Electric Cab Company of Lambeth. The taxi is battery-powered,......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 11th August 1897: Enid Blyton is born in East Dulwich. She would become a hugely successful author of children’s fiction. Tuesday – 12th August 1827: Renowned poet and painter William Blake dies. Five days later, he would be buried in an unmarked grave in Bunhill Fields. Wednesday – 13th August 1977: Hundreds of protesters clash with police at a National Front march in Lewisham, south-east London. About......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 4th August 1902: The Greenwich Foot Tunnel is opened, providing pedestrian access between the Isle of Dogs and Greenwich. Tuesday – 5th August 1100: Henry I is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. Wednesday – 6th August 1937: Barbara Windsor is born in Shoreditch in central London. She would achieve fame as an actress, notably as a ‘saucy strumpet’ in the Carry On films of the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 28th July 1540: Thomas Cromwell is executed for treason at the Tower of London, at the behest of Henry VIII. Tuesday – 29th July 1981: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral. Wednesday – 30th July 1966: England defeat West Germany in the FIFA World Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, claiming the Jules Rimet Trophy (and, of course, the status of Football World Champions......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 21st July 2005: Two weeks after the July 7th bombings, four would-be suicide bombers attempt to detonate explosive devices on London’s public transport system. None of the bombs explode fully, but widespread disruption of the transport system ensues nonetheless. Tuesday – 22nd July 1987: Palestinian political cartoonist Naji Salim al-Ali is shot in the face outside his office in Chelsea. He would die of his injuries several......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 14th July 1824: On a state visit to London, King Kamehameha II of Hawaii dies of measles. Tuesday – 15th July 1966: A ‘colour bar’ at Euston Station, preventing black people from holding positions where they might come into contact with members of the public, is overturned. Wednesday – 16th July 1924: Crowds of photographers, reporters and ‘autograph seekers’ greet the pilots of the first (successful) round-the-world......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 7th 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. Tuesday – 8th 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. Wednesday – 9th July 1981: An......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 30th June 1894: Tower Bridge is opened by the Prince of Wales. It would become an iconic symbol of London, and arguably the most well-recognised ‘bascule bridge’ in the world (even if tourists do sometime mistake it for London Bridge). Tuesday – 1st July 1858: Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection is presented at the Linnean Society at Burlington House, Piccadilly. Wednesday – 2nd July 1865: One-time......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 9th June 1958: Queen Elizabeth II flies into a revamped Gatwick to officially open London’s second biggest airport. Tuesday – 10th June 2000: The Millennium Footbridge opens, spanning the Thames between Bankside and the City. It would initially suffer from ‘synchronous lateral excitation’ (a.k.a. wobbliness), necessitating its closure and the fitting of dampers. Wednesday – 11th June 1988: The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (a.k.a. Mandela Day......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 2nd June 1953: The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II takes place in Westminster Abbey. Tuesday – 3rd June 1982: Israeli ambassador to Britain, Shlomo Argov, is shot in the head outside the Dorchester Hotel in London. He would survive the attack, but be left permanently paralysed. Three men would be convicted of attempted murder. Wednesday – 4th June 1762: A newly installed peal of ten bells at......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 19th May 2004: Security at the House of Commons is breached, as two protesters from the ‘Fathers 4 Justice’ campaign group throw condoms filled with purple flour at Prime Minister Tony Blair as he addresses the House. Tuesday – 20th May 1609: London publisher Thomas Thorpe publishes Shakespeare’s Sonnets for the first time, possibly without The Bard’s permission. Wednesday – 21st May 1853: The Aquatic Vivarium, the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 12th May 1967: Pink Floyd stage their ‘Games for May’ concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank. The concert is notable for being the first ever live performance to use a quadraphonic sound system. Unfortunately, the use of bubbles and daffodils during the performance stain the carpets and seats, resulting in the band being banned from the venue. Tuesday – 13th May 1966: Alison......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 28th April 1801: Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, is born at 24 Grosvenor Square. He would become a noted politician and philanthropist, whose works would be commemorated by the construction of the Shaftesbury Memorial (a.k.a. ‘The Angel of Christian Charity’, a.k.a. ‘Eros’) in Piccadilly Circus. Tuesday – 29th April 1745: Cowper Thornhill, keeper of the Bell Inn in Stilton, Cambridgeshire, rides from the inn to Shoreditch......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 21st April 1509: Henry VII dies in Richmond Palace, supposedly as the result of a ‘broken heart’ following the deaths of his son and wife several years before. Tuesday – 22nd April 1925: George Cole is born in Tooting, and given up for adoption. He would become a successful film and television actor, arguably best known for his role as used car dealer Arthur Daley in the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 14th April 1471: During the Wars of the Roses, the Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians in the Battle of Barnet, allowing Edward IV to resume the throne. Tuesday – 15th April 1755: Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London. Wednesday – 16th April 1889: Hollywood great Charlie Chaplin is born in Walworth, South London. Thursday – 17th April 1999: ‘London nailbomber’ David Copeland......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 7th April 1779: The Reverend James Hackman follows Martha Ray, a singer and the mistress of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. When she leaves the theatre after the performance, Hackman shoots her dead, seemingly out of jealousy. Tuesday – 8th April 1908: Edward VII appoints Herbert Asquith as Prime Minister, following the resignation of his predecessor, Henry Cambell-Bannerman, due......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 31st March 1990: Violence erupts as hundreds of thousands of anti-poll-tax protesters take to the streets in the West End. An estimated £400,000 of damage is caused to property as cars are overturned and set alight. Hundreds of arrests are made. Tuesday – 1st April 1965: The administrative area known as Greater London is formed, amalgamating and consuming parts of central London and the home counties. Wednesday......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 17th March 1984: The Boat Race is postponed after the Cambridge boat crashes into a moored barge less than an hour before the race’s scheduled start. Tuesday – 18th March 1496: Mary Tudor is born at Richmond Palace. She would become ‘queen consort of France’ due to her marriage to Louis XII. Wednesday – 19th March 2005: As many as 200,000 protesters march through central London on......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 10th March 1906: The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opens, running between Baker Street and Elephant & Castle stations. It would soon become known as the Bakerloo Line. Tuesday – 11th March 1692: The Royal Chelsea Hospital is founded by Charles II. Designed by Christopher Wren, the hospital would also become the model for Greenwich’s Royal Navel Hospital. Wednesday – 12th March 1988: The Bank of England......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 3rd March 1982: The Barbican Centre is opened by the Queen. After 15 years of construction, at a cost of £161 million, the centre would become the largest performing arts centre in Europe (as well as being voted the ugliest building in London). Tuesday – 4th March 1882: Britain’s first electric trams go into operation in Leytonstone, East London. Wednesday – 5th March 1856: The second Covent......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 25th February 1900: The first tube station to be known as ‘Bank’ is opened, effectively replacing the old ‘City’ station and providing a link between the Waterloo & City Railway and the newly extended City & South London Railway (now part of the Northern Line). At the same time, nearby King William Street station is closed. Tuesday – 26th February 1797: The Bank of England issues its......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 18th February 1996: An IRA bomb explodes on a double-decker bus on Aldwych, killing the bomber and injuring eight members of the public. Tuesday – 19th February 1960: Prince Andrew is born in the Belgian Suite of Buckingham Palace. Wednesday – 20th February 1913: Two suffragettes set fire to the tea pavilion at Kew Gardens at around 3am, destroying it completely. Thursday – 21st February 1946: Alan......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 11th February 1826: The University of London is founded. It would later be known as University College London (or UCL). Tuesday – 12th February 1554: Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley are executed at the Tower of London. Wednesday – 13th February 1247: A major earthquake causes considerable damage to London. Curiously, it is reported that the quake was preceded for three months by......