salisbury court fleet street, samuel pepys calls on a surgeon to remove a gall stone, first a pipe is used up the penis to locate it, then it isremoved it with a pair of pliers – it gets used as a paperweight 1658
hole-in-the-wall tavern chandos street, claude du vall beloved highwayman of the ladies having come from venice to charm with manners is captured & hung – not even king charles II can save him 1670
jerusalem passage, coal merchant thomas britton stores coal a-plenty in his cellar, choral concerts held upstairs, he has table for composing, coffee costs a penny a cup 1714
covent garden, boasts taverns theatres and coffee shops 22 gambling dens 56 brothels, fair rosamund sugarcunt creates her own perfume, sells it to intoxicated love sick suitors 1722
bunhill gardens, dame mary page shows no fears at operations, is tapped 60 times yielding 240 gallons of water, she never complains & attains middle age 1728
green canister in half moon street, first sex shop sells flagellation machines & woman comforters in leather, also preservatives known as cundums to stop the stream of bastard progeny especially for the royals 1732
gentleman’s club white’s in piccadilly, duke of queensbury courts ladies & wagers a wacky bet “short of time” that within an hour a 4 wheeled carriage can cover 19 miles, he wins by using a whalebone & silk harness to lighten the load 1747
greek street 47, casanova arrives from venice setting up lodgings in london, advertises for young ladies claiming the art of seduction to be a profession, he belittles a troublemaker by parading a parrot shouting charpillon is a whore 1763 if thy heart a male look to thy purse, if thou are a female look to thy heart – casanova
burlington arcade piccadilly, lord cavendish has the arcade erected for his wife to shop in, safety excludes rowdies who throw oysters & enforces a code of conduct – no whistling no singing or opening of umbrellas 1819
upper floor execeter exchange the strand, edward cross having a menagerie here in the city centre has an ageing destructive elephant chunee dissected publically, sells tickets for public to watch 1826
athenaeum club pall mall, honours the duke of wellington who defeated napoleon by erecting a granite block to use in dismounting his horse taking into account his old age 1830
royal acquirium & winter garden opposite westminister abbey, the entertainer farini uses a 14 year old girl zazel as a human cannonball, shoots her a distance of 30 feet by means of a long tube fitted with springs, crowds flock to see the spectacle 1877
audley square mayfair at the height of the cold war the lamppost with a little trapdoor on the side situated outside number 2, is used for message drops by the russian secret service spies 1950-60
old kent road bermondsey, russell gray having been refused permission to build, installs a 35ton T34 tank on a small plot the council agreeing that he could have a tank 1995 juli Jana