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

(Senna, a deceased Brazilian racing driver); and beers are ‘Britneys’ (Spears).
    Crofty designs
    Pearly Kings and Queens originated in London in the late 19th century amongst East End costermongers who decorated their garments with pearl buttons, different patterns having meanings such as good luck (a horseshoe) or hope (an anchor). The Pearly Kings’ and Queens’ Association dates from 1911 and is associated with an orphan called Henry Croft (1862-1930) whose work as a roadsweeper in the East End enabled him to collect many pearl buttons which had fallen from clothing. These he used to decorate his own clothes and, with similarly accoutred costermongers, collected money for a variety of charities, notably orphanages and hospitals. A suit can hold tens of thousands of buttons and weigh as much as 30 kilograms. Henry died in 1930, his funeral being attended by 400 Pearly Kings and Queens and filmed by Pathé News. His statue is in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square. Pearly Kings and Queens are most likely to be seen on the streets at times of national celebration like royal weddings.

    Pearly King
    A dish associated with the East End is jellied eels, a cheap and nutritious food which was readily available (in its raw state at least) from Thames nets in the vicinity of London Bridge. It consisted of eels, chopped and boiled in stock and cooling to form a jelly. The first eel pie and mash houses opened in London in the 18th century and the oldest surviving one, Manze’s of Bermondsey, has been trading since 1902. Eels disappeared from the Thames when it became polluted in the mid-19th century and again in the mid-20th century. Luckily for them the Thames is once again clean enough to accommodate eels and nets are allowed as far upstream as Tower Bridge, so perhaps jellied eels are ready to stage a comeback.

At home with saints and sinners
Crosby Hall’s colourful occupants
    I n Danvers Street, Chelsea SW3, overlooking the Thames is a medieval building whose first home was the City of London. This is Crosby Hall, built in Crosby Place, Bishopsgate, for the wealthy grocer Sir John Crosby in 1475. In 1483 it was the home of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, shortly to become Richard III and, according to Shakespeare’s thoroughly biased account, a blackguard whose victims included the princes in the Tower. His murderous career began when he ordered the execution of his brother the Duke of Clarence. In Shakespeare’s play he addresses the murderers thus:

    Crosby Hall
    When you have done, repair to Crosby Place. But, sirs, be sudden in the execution,Withal obdurate, do not hear him plead; For Clarence is well-spoken, and perhaps may move your hearts to pity if you mark him.
    Clarence was duly drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine. In 1532 Crosby Hall became the home of Sir Thomas More, canonised in 1935, four hundred years after his execution by Henry VIII for opposing the king’s break with Rome. In 1908 the site was bought by an Indian bank. Gordon Selfridge wanted to move Crosby House to the roof of his Oxford Street department store but instead it was dismantled and moved to the site of Thomas More’s other home in Chelsea where it was re-erected as a hostel for university women. In 1989 it became the home of a successful businessman. Its magnificent hall, with hammerbeam roof, contains one of Holbein’s portraits of Saint Thomas More.

    Sir Thomas More

London’s burning... again
Women with full bladders on alert
    E very Londoner has heard of the Great Fire of 1666 which began on 2nd September and spread rapidly despite the disdainful comment of the Lord Mayor that ‘A woman might piss it out.’ It burned for three days, destroyed 400 acres of the City and was eventually halted through determined action by Charles II and his brother, the future James II, who used gunpowder to create fire breaks. The Monument to the Great Fire was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in Portland Stone and unveiled in