thestreetnames

Little slices of London's history

Cabbie Blog and the London Grill

Exciting news: I was recently privileged enough to be invited to contribute to the Cabbie Blog website. For those of you who haven’t encountered this blog, it is a fascinating mix of London facts, dates, quotes and London taxi drivers’ stories. It is easy to spend hours browsing around the various sections of the website.

For instance, there is a story from one cabbie about Diana Rigg removing her trousers in his taxi. And a quote from John le Carré: “Smiley was soaked to the skin and God as a punishment had removed all taxis from the face of London.”

But back to my exciting news: among the regular features is the London Grill, a series of “ten devilishly probing questions” about London, and yours truly was featured yesterday. You can read the post here.

I realise I have recently been breaking every rule about blogging, particularly the rule about blogging regularly. Once again I will endeavour to post more regularly. I have two subjects that may bear closer inspection: street names based on fruit and veg (it’s preserving season at the moment so I am elbow deep in jams and pickles) and streets associated with fictional murders (I’m reading a murder mystery that revolves around a building “on the banks of the Thames at Battersea”).

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Cabbie Blog and my small contribution.

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thestreetnames

Exploring and sharing the weird and wonderful stories behind London streets, their names, their history, and their famous (and infamous) residents, visitors, and buildings. Tangents and coincidences a speciality.

WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT
HA HA ROAD?

What is so funny about Ha Ha Road, and whose heart bled in Bleeding Heart Yard? Why did Broken Wharf break? Who was unfortunate enough to head off down Wild Goose Drive?

Beware: you wouldn’t make wine from the grapes of Grape Street, put the stew of Stew Lane on a menu, or finish off with the pudding from Pudding Lane.

Nothing is what it seems: London streets and their names provide an endless source of entertainment and information mixed in with political intrigue, bloody murder and celebrity scandals.

Come in and sample the wonders of the city’s A-Z: the legends, the history – and the theories – behind the streets, their names, and their residents.

About Me (and my Obsession)

My obsession with London street names began in the early 90s when I worked in the Smithfield area and happened upon Bleeding Heart Yard. In my wanderings around London, I kept adding to my store of weird and wonderful street names. Eventually it was time to share – hence my blog. I hope you enjoy these names as much as I do.
– Elizabeth

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