Julia Horeftari for Art-Sheep
Greetings, my brave reader.
Aah, London! The Big Ben, Thames, the world’s first Underground, Tate, the Sex Pistols… The list goes on and on. This metropolis is one of the world’s favourite destinations and also one of the places you go if you want to be an artist.
Shopping? Yep! That’s place to be, too. History? Full of it. Theatre? Duh…! A truly fascinating city that can totally sweep you off your feet.
But we know all that, already. How about taking a look at a few facts about London, my brave reader, that probably never even crossed your mind?
1. In spite of its name, more than half of London’s Underground network actually runs overground.
2. In order to become a London black cab driver you have to know over 250,000 roads and 50,000 points of interest and also give a test -and pass it- called “The Knowledge”.
3. Modern British accent first appeared around the time of the American revolution and only among London’s upper class circles. Until then, the British accent sounded much like the American one.
4. Big Ben is not the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament but the bell inside the tower.
5. In 1814, a beer wave of 1.4 million litres flooded London after a huge vat ruptured.
6. Today, traffic in the centre of London moves no faster than horse-drawn carriages a century ago.
7. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
8. In 18th century London, you could pay for your ticket to the zoo if you brought a dog or cat to feed to the lions.
9. In the London Underground live about half a million mice.
10. In 16th century, a London law forbade a husband to beat his wife after 9pm, but only because the noise disturbed the neighbours.
11. in 1891, a structure was built in London that aimed to surpass the Eiffel tower in height. But it wasn’t steady, never completed and ended up being demolished in 1907.
12. In 1916, Harrods used to sell a package described as “a welcome present for friends at the front”, which contained cocaine, morphine, syringes and needles.
