Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: London by Editors of David & Charles Read Free Book Online

conductor was André Previn…
    In 1956 London Transport, fully nationalised since 1948, introduced the iconic Routemaster bus which was boarded via an open platform at the rear. Robust, reliable and painted red, the Routemaster became a much-loved feature of London’s streets. Such was its international celebrity that it was adopted in cities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Alaska and China, mostly as a means of transport but also for other purposes such as hot dog stands and mobile shops. The main disadvantage of the Routemaster was that it required two crew – a conductor as well as a driver – and was largely inaccessible to wheelchairs. Services began to be withdrawn in 2003 to be replaced by driver-only vehicles with sliding doors. The last Routemaster service in London ran in December 2005. The Routemaster has now given way to the Bendy Bus, a single-decker of two conjoined sections much reviled by the mayor Boris Johnson who ran a competition for a replacement Routemaster design. It remains to be seen whether Boris will carry out his threat to replace the Bendies.
    LONDON’S SCARIEST MODE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT
    In 2012 London should see cable cars carrying people in gondolas, 50 metres above the Thames, between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks, to give access to the Olympics site. It is anticipated that the fare will be £3.50 by Oyster card. The first cable car, built with a tunnelling shield, was the Tower Subway which opened in 1870 between Tower Hill and Pickleherring Street, close to the present mooring site of the World War II cruiser HMS Belfast. Passengers paid a penny to be drawn in cable carriages beneath the river, pulled by a steam engine. Never a success, the subway still exists and is used to convey water and power lines beneath the river.

Rhyming slang and Bow Bells
How to tell if you’re a proper Cockney
    T he term ‘Cockney’ derives from 14th-century English and means ‘Cock’s egg’: an ironical reference to small or misshapen eggs laid by young hens. It was a pejorative term used by countrymen to describe supposedly weaker-bred city folk and came to refer specifically to Londoners though it has long since lost its pejorative associations and now refers to Londoners and their modes of speech. A Cockney is traditionally one who is born within the sound of the bells of the church of St Mary-le-Bow which is in Cheapside, half way between the Bank of England and St Paul’s Cathedral and thus in the heart of the ‘Square Mile’ of the City. Thus a Cockney is strictly speaking one born within the City itself – a rare phenomenon since few families live in the City and the only hospital within the City is St Bartholomew’s which has no maternity unit!

    St Mary-le-Bow
    In practice the term Cockney is extended to anyone who might just, with acute hearing, be able to detect the bells when the wind is in the right direction and thus encompasses those born in Tower Hamlets. True Cockneys value their heritage and are easily offended when others from further afield (for example Hackney and Bermondsey) are honoured with the title.
    Cockney rhyming slang originated in the East End of London in the early 19th century, especially amongst costermongers (market traders and barrow boys like the characters from
Only Fools and Horses
). It is a form of coded language which is understood by those using it but not by others (such as policemen and market inspectors!) whose attentions were not welcomed. A few examples are:
Dog
Dog and bone
phone
Boat
Boat race
face
Loaf
Loaf of bread
head
Brown
Brown bread
dead
Trouble
Trouble & strife
wife
Butcher’s
Butcher’s hook
look
    Some of these expressions have passed into general usage. Thus ‘Use your loaf’ means ‘Use your head (brains)’; and ‘Have a butcher’s’ means ‘Have a look’. The vocabulary continues to grow. Recent additions make reference to TV presenter Emma Freud (haemorrhoid); a ten pound note or ‘tenner’ is an ‘Ayrton’