The Big London History Quiz of the Year 2024
Test your knowledge against London's finest.
Welcome to your Friday newsletter for paying subscribers, with a generous teaser for everyone else.
Bit of a format shift for this week’s instalment. A couple of days back, I hosted the seventh annual London Historians big pub quiz — 50 fiendish questions about the capital’s history… in a pub. See how well you’d have fared in what proved to be the toughest annual quiz yet.
That’s for the main read, but first the History Radar of upcoming London history events…
History Radar
🎶🎭 MAGNIFICENT MUSIC HALL: On 21 May, experience a traditional music hall of the 1890s, as Magnificent Music Hall returns to Wilton's. It's a gala performance featuring songs, dancing and music, with performers including pianist Tom Carradine -- who is best-known for hosting regular Cockney sing alongs.
⛵️⚓️ DUNKIRK AT THE DOCKS: Wapping's St Katharine Docks hosts the Dunkirk at the Docks classic boat festival from 24-26 May, with a number of the vessels which were involved in the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation mooring up for the weekend. Admire the ships (many prettily dressed in bunting), learn more about the part they played in the second world war, chat to owners, and maybe even step aboard one or two.
🍪☕️ BISCUIT DAY: National Biscuit Day falls on 29 May, but they're celebrating early at Bermondsey's Blue Market, where on 25 May biscuit historian Gary Magold, dives into the fascinating history of the local Peak Freans biscuit factory. Those who came on our recent Londonist: Time Machine trip to the biscuit museum will remember Gary as our enthusiastic host.
🍓🏠 STRAWBERRY HILL TOUR: Strawberry Hill librarian and guide Carole Tucker offers a tour of the garden. Begin with a private view of two nature-themed paintings by Dutch artist, Jan van Huysum, before visiting the garden to see how the estate's owner Horace Walpole combined architecture, sculpture, poetry and painting.
The Big London History Quiz of the Year 2024
Every year, London Historians puts on a big old pub quiz of London history. And every year, they kindly invite me to set the questions and run the show. This year’s event — the seventh annual competition — took place in the Christopher Hatton pub on 15 May.
Now it’s all done and dusted, I thought it’d be fun to put the questions out via this newsletter, to see how well the Londonist: Time Machine audience would fare.
London Historians, by the way, are an excellent organisation for anyone with a passion for the subject. They organise regular events and site visits, have a monthly pub meet and are generally a wonderful bunch of people. Check them out.
Now, on with the quiz… can you beat the winning score of 35 out of 50?
Round 1: Picture round
Round 2: The year in London History
1. The British Empire Exhibition opened 100 years ago this year. Which area of town was it hosted in?
2. What type of animal hit the news in September 2023, when it bred in the wild in London for the first time in 400 years?
3. Which of London’s major cultural venues celebrated its 200th anniversary in May 2024?
4. Which famous inventor had a wooden ventriloquist’s dummy named Stooky Bill, which played a major part in one of the Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials?
5. Susan Hall was recently trounced by Sadiq Khan in the 2024 Mayoral Election. Which individual stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate for both of the first two Mayoral Elections in 2000 and 2004?
Round 3: London sporting history
1. Which major football club has a badge featuring a long-lost London building?
2. Wembley is London’s largest sports stadium by crowd capacity, but which is the second largest?
3. What sport was first played in its modern form at the Red Lion in Wandsworth on 1 June 1926?
4. In what year did the first London Marathon take place?
5. What unlikely sport was demonstrated on Hampstead Heath in March 1950?
Round 4: Births, Marriages, Deaths
1. Who was the last British Prime Minister to be born in London?
2. And who was the last British Monarch to die in London?
3. Which Stepney-born broadcaster and former nurse died in 2010 with the famous last words: “Tell David Cameron that if he screws up my beloved NHS I'll come back and bloody haunt him."
4. Which London area’s registry office hosted many celebrity weddings, including those of Marc Bolan, Hugh Grant, Wallace Simpson, Pierce Brosnan, Bobby Moore and Judy Garland’s fifth?
5. A statue of Charles II can be found in Soho Square. In 1911, had its eyes been able to see, it would have witnessed the heroic death of which very famous figure?
Round 5: Plaques and memorials
1. In which park can you find a public memorial that features the words “dangerous entanglement of weed”?
2. A carved door panel in Cornhill depicts Charlotte and Anne Bronte meeting which other famous novelist?
3. There are two plaques commemorating a Sherlock in the Baker Street area. One is to the fictional detective on the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the other, round the corner, commemorates Dame Sheila Sherlock, who was very much NOT a fictional character. For which organ of the body was she a world authority?
4. Which green space is bookended by statues of Hugh Myddleton and Bob the Cat?
5. Multiple choice: Betty Boothroyd was the driving force behind getting a memorial to the Women of World War II on Whitehall. But in what unusual way did she personally raise a large sum of money for the cause?
(a) Completed a sponsored swim around the Serpentine, (b) Discovered a lost Monet in her attic, (c) Dressed up as a highwayman and demanded the cash from wealthy peers, (d) was a winning contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?