London – Page 5 – Cottage Capers

On this day in history….11th July 1859

On this day in history : 11th July 1859 – Big Ben chimes for the first time….but just two months later it is to crack and is taken out of commission for nearly four years….

Big Ben – Image credit : D S Pugh CC BY-SA 2.0

Most people refer to the clock tower – (which was renamed Elizabeth Tower in 2012 for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee) – as ‘Big Ben’ ~ but it is actually the name given to the bell housed inside…. It is believed to have been named after Sir Benjamin, First Commissioner for Works – and indeed his name is inscribed upon it….

However, the current bell is not the original one…. In August 1856 a bell was cast by Warners of Norton, Stockton-on-Tees….and it was originally to be called the ‘Royal Victoria’…. Unfortunately this first bell cracked during testing in October 1857 and a second bell had to be cast…. This time the honour went to George Mears at his Whitechapel Foundry in April 1858…. However, this bell cracked too – but the problem was solved by turning it a quarter clockwise and chiming it with a lighter hammer….

Big Ben finally went into service in July 1859 – but disaster struck with yet another crack in the following September…. According to the foundry manager, a hammer more than twice the maximum weight specified had been used….

Since that time Big Ben has fallen silent on other occasions…. In 1976 it was taken out of commission for 9 months for repairs….and again for 7 weeks in 2007…. On Monday the 21st of August 2017, after the 12 noon chimes, Big Ben’s bongs temporarily ceased….as extensive repair, conservation and refurbishment work on the clock tower began….

Big Ben weighs a massive 13.7 tonnes, is 7.2ft (2.2m) tall and 8.9ft (2.7m) in diameter…. Its hammer weighs 200kg…. Elizabeth Tower is 96m tall and has 11 floors…. Each clock Face is 23ft (7m) in diameter and is made of 312 sections of opal glass…. The hour hand is 9.2ft (2.8m) in length and the minute hand is 14ft (4.3m)…. The clock is accurate to one second….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….16th May 1983

On this day in history : 16th May 1983 – The Metropolitan Police Force begin to clamp illegally parked cars – in the ‘Central London Wheel Clamp Experiment’….

Between its introduction in May and mid-November 1983 – 22,430 vehicles had been clamped, giving a gross revenue of £431,418…. When it was first introduced in the Knightsbridge area of London it proved popular with residents – who were finally able to claim their parking spaces back from those who were using them without authorisation…. There were problems that needed ironing out, such as when tradesmen and service engineers needed to park in order to carry out their work….

From the late 1980s local councils began to introduce stricter rules around parking….as a result drivers began to look for places to leave their cars where the traffic wardens wouldn’t find them…. Residential and private property became a target…. Understandably the owners of such properties were not happy….but the supply and maintenance of prohibitive equipment, such as barriers, proved expensive…. Wheel clamping, being self-funding, was an easy and often lucrative solution….it would effectively cost a landlord nothing to call out a wheel clamping company – and sometimes a commission would be paid to the property owner….

From 1990 onwards a steady rise of wheel clamp operatives was seen across the whole of the UK – with sometimes questionable practices…. However, the clampers did not always get things their own way….some motorists resorted to using bolt cutters or even angle grinders to remove clamps – meaning the operators lost not only the release fee but their clamp as well….

One of the best known wheel clamps used in the UK is the ‘London Wheel Clamp’…. Its designer, Trevor Whitehouse, filed for its patent in 1991 – originally it was to be named the ‘Preston’ after his hometown…. In the beginning it was used on private land but was introduced on public roads under the ‘Road Traffic Regulations Act of 1991’….and the wheel clamp became notorious…. The first areas to use it were 33 boroughs in London – hence the name change….

For many, especially those who had experienced having their car clamped, the practice became extremely controversial…. In 2012 the ‘Protection of Freedom Act 2012’, criminalising some wheel clamping on private land, came into force on the 1st of October…. It prohibited clamping in places such as supermarket car parks and effectively made it an offence for a private individual or company to act on its own behalf and have a car clamped…. Scotland had banned clamping and towing away in 1992….

It is still legal in the UK in some instances, such as by the police, DVLA or local authorities….and you are allowed to clamp your own car to prevent it from being stolen….

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….3rd May 1951

On this day in history : 3rd May 1951 – King George VI opens the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank and inaugurates the Festival of Britain – promoting the best of British in art, design and industry….

Timed to mark the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851 the festival was intended to raise public spirits after the austerity of the years following World War II…. There were those that said it was a waste of money – but the festival attracted 8.5 million visitors in 5 months…. It demonstrated Britain’s achievements in the arts, science, technology and industrial design….

Visitors to the Festival of Britain – Opringle at English Wikipedia CC SA

The day was one of celebration, tradition and prayer…. A large crowd cheered the royal procession on the route from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul’s Cathedral – where the King, Queen and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, along with other members of the royal family, attended a special service….

On route to St. Paul’s the procession stopped at Temple Bar where in a traditional ceremony King George received the Pearl Sword of the City…. The Lord Mayor of London has precedence over all other subjects within the boundaries of the City of London…. He surrenders the sword to the Sovereign as a symbol of recognition to the Sovereign’s supremacy…. King George then handed the sword back and the Lord Mayor led the procession on to St. Paul’s….

After the service at St. Paul’s King George, in a broadcast from the steps of the Cathedral, declared the festival open…. Later in the afternoon the royal family attended another service at the Royal Festival Hall….a service of dedication led by the Archbishop of Canterbury….

A 41-gun salute was fired from Hyde Park and the Tower of London…. Celebrations took place across the country, with art and design exhibitions….and in the evening 2,000 bonfires were lit across Britain….

The Royal Festival Hall was designed by Sir Robert Matthew, Leslie Martin and Sir Hubert Bennet along with a team of architects and designers…. Battersea Park was transformed into Festival Pleasure Gardens with fountains, a grotto and tree walk…. Several other buildings, such as the Skylon and Dome of Discovery were also built on what had been a bomb site near to Waterloo Station…. Now only the Royal Festival Hall remains, although it is surrounded by the National Film Theatre (1952), the Royal National Theatre (1963) and the Hayward Modern Art Gallery (1968)….

Night time view of the Skylon – HeresyOuk CC SA

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….27th April 1828

On this day in history : 27th April 1828 – The opening of the London Zoological Gardens in Regent’s Park – originally it was only intended for fellows of the Zoological Society but opened to the public in 1847….

Gardens of the Zoological Society Regent’s Park 1828 Project – Public domain

We all know it as London Zoo (or Regent’s Zoo) and many of us have visited at one time or other – but the World’s oldest scientific zoo was never originally intended to be anything other than a collection for scientific study and research….

The Zoological Society of London was established by Sir Stamford Raffles ad Sir Humphrey Davy in 1826. The Zoological Gardens opened in Regent’s Park in 1828; unfortunately Raffles was never to see the completed project as he died in July 1826….

In the beginning it housed animals such as Arabian oryx, Greater kudu and orangutan; it also had the now extinct quagga and thylacine….

Quagga – now extinct sub-species of zebra. Mare at London Zoological Gardens 1870. Public domain.

The last known Thylacine photographed at Hobart (formerly Beaumais) Zoo in 1933. image credit: Kelly Garbato via Flickr

It was granted a Royal Charter by King George IV in 1829 – and a couple of years later, either 1831 or 32, it was decided to rehouse the animals from the Tower of London Menagerie at the Zoological Gardens…. It is thought that the decision was taken due to an incident which had occurred at the Tower…. Stories conflict slightly but either a soldier was bitten by a lion or a sailor by a monkey….whichever way, the 60 or so species of the Menagerie found a new home at Regent’s Park…. Nowadays London Zoo houses over 670 species….

In 1847 the London Zoological Gardens opened to the public to help aid funding…. In 1849 it opened the World’s first reptile house, the first public aquarium in 1853 and the first insect house in 1881…. The first children’s zoo was added in 1938….

Up until 1902 all of the animals were kept indoors as it was believed they could not survive the cold London climate…. However, when Dr. Peter Chalmers-Mitchell was appointed Secretary he embarked on a major reorganisation of the buildings and enclosures…. Many of the animals were introduced to the open air….a concept inspired by Hamburg Zoo….

View of the Zoological Gardens 1835 – Public domain

British History, Uncategorized

On this day in history….29th March 1871

On this day in history : 29th March 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall in London is opened by Queen Victoria…. Originally it was to be called The Central Hall of Arts and Sciences….

Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, had a vision borne from the success of the Great Exhibition of 1851 – a venue to promote the understanding and appreciation of the arts and sciences…. After his death from typhoid fever in 1861 the plans were shelved – but later revived by his collaborator on the Great Exhibition, Henry Cole…. Inspired by the ancient Roman amphitheatres Cole’s original intention had been for an establishment to hold 30,000 people – but this was revised to 7,000 for financial and practicality reasons; nowadays, due to safety regulations it has a capacity of 5,500….

On the 20th of May 1867 Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone…. A special marquee designed to accommodate 7,000 was erected – but it was more like 10,000 who packed in to witness Her Majesty lay the red Aberdeen granite block…. Beneath the stone was placed a time capsule which has lain undisturbed ever since…. Inside we know are some gold and silver coins and an inscription from Prime Minister Edward Smith-Stanley…. Of what else lies in the capsule little is known; the foundation stone is now located in the K stalls, row 11, under seat 87 in the main auditorium….

Queen Victoria, who was still in mourning and wearing all black, was rarely seen in public…. As the stone was laid she said “It is my wish that this Hall should bear his name to whom it will have owed its existence and be called The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Science”…. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave the benediction and a composition by Prince Albert ‘Invocation to Harmony’ was performed by an orchestra…. The ceremony was closed by a 21 gun salute from Hyde Park and a trumpet fanfare by Her Majesty’s Life Guards….

The Hall at the opening ceremony, seen from Kensington Gardens. Public domain

At the opening ceremony of the Royal Albert Hall, some four years later, Queen Victoria was so overcome with emotion that her son, Edward Prince of Wales, had to make a speech on her behalf…. Her only recorded words of the day being that it reminded her of the British constitution….