Writings of Note

When a city is as littered with intriguing curiosities as this one, you need a framework to make sense of it all. What better framework than the Underground system? We'll take a stroll along a stretch of Tube line, learning about the secrets and oddities we pass along the way.

Walks

Strolls through time

Quizzes

For the curious

Blog

Musings & trifles

Magic

Team-building through tricks

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Writings of Note

Strolls through time

For the curious

Musings & trifles

Team-building through tricks

Blog

Apophenia - what's the one thing the SAS have in common with actors?

By: Mark Mason

Patterns in trivia

You wouldn't think actors had much in common with the SAS, would you? Apart from a sense of the dramatic, though in the SAS's case they back it up with a bit more than a vodka and tonic and a moan about how their agent just isn't getting them the right auditions. But there is one other thing shared by the two groups of people, and it's an example of a weird thing our brains engage in called ‘apophenia'.

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How many shots do you need to play to win a set of tennis?

By: Mark Mason

When Who Wants to be a Millionaire? got it wrong

You never know who to trust when it comes to trivia. A theme of this blog is the uncertainty surrounding many of the ‘facts' you hear. Wimbledon - and in particular Rosol's incredible serves as he beat Nadal last night - have reminded me of the time even a respected TV quiz show got it wrong.

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Where Jack and Jill really did go up the hill

By: Mark Mason

The joy of nursery rhymes

The best trivia is the stuff you bump into unexpectedly, those little facts that appear from nowhere and light up your day like an interesting old cove you've met in a pub. It happened to me recently in Somerset.

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How do you go to the toilet on the Tube?

By: Mark Mason

Maps and obsession

The Tube map inspired me to walk the whole system overground. But it's also inspired many people into another obsessive pursuit - breaking the record for visiting all the stations in the fastest time possible. Using the trains, that is. Using the system as it was intended to be used. (Well, sort of.) I recently had a chat with the one-time holder of this record (don't worry, he's trying to get it back), a wonderful man named Geoff Marshall. Never again will I look at a Ribena bottle in the same way ...

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At sixes and sevens - where truth becomes cloudy

By: Mark Mason

How trivia and coincidence can work together

I recently wrote about the disappointment you feel when you discover that a favourite piece of London trivia isn't true. Peter Watts has mentioned this on his blog too (concerning the claim that Phyllis Pearsall walked every London street to compile the A to Z). And yes, it can be disappointing to see a much-loved ‘fact' come tumbling down. But perhaps help is at hand from our old friend coincidence ...

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A Beatle at the Burlington

By: Mark Mason

Why Sir Paul McCartney is allowed to break a London tradition

It's horrible when cherished bits of trivia turn out to be untrue. The web has recently been fizzing with pieces pointing out some famous London facts that aren't facts after all. The ever-excellent Londonist had this list of impostors, while Peter Berthoud has debunked the ‘cells under the Viaduct Tavern' story. Well, I'm afraid I've got another one for you - BUT the reason for the fact not being true is just as delightful as the fact itself. Actually you could say it's even more delightful. It concerns the old custom that you're not allowed to whistle in the Burlington Arcade.

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State Opening of Parliament - the rehearsal

By: Mark Mason

Playing at soldiers in the middle of the night

Tomorrow sees the Queen popping down from her home to the other famous palace in SW1, the Palace of Westminster. Yes, it's State Opening of Parliament time. Black Rod knocking on the door, the Lord Chancellor walking backwards and all that. (Unless you're Ken Clarke a couple of years ago - he forgot to walk backwards, and therefore turned his back on the Queen. Oops.) All very silly, and not really that interesting. What I found fascinating, though, was watching the rehearsals for the State Opening, which took place in the dead of night last Friday.

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Acting up - why Parliament relies on goats

By: Mark Mason

The curious tale of the parchment from Newport Pagnell

It's comforting to know that in these days of tweeting MPs and office-hours sittings, Parliament still has a few of its quaint old traditions in place. Perhaps the quaintest of all is the custom of printing each new Act passed by MPs and Lords on parchment. These are then rolled up and stored in the Parliamentary Archives, housed in the Victoria Tower (the one at the far end of the building from the Clock Tower, aka Big Ben).

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Content

London Bus

A London double decker bus can lean further from the vertical without falling over than a human can. What a great way of learning about centres of gravity. The reason a Routemaster can lean so far is that there's a great long strip of pig-iron welded to its base, keeping you top-deckers safe as you go round corners. If you want reassuring photographic evidence, click here