Welcome to our weird and wonderful nation
mozzarella cheese from the only producer in London and was the first man to import Peroni beer to the UK.The second Pizza Express opened on London’s Coptic Street, next to the British Museum, in 1967. Peter Boizot died in 2018.
FIRST TRAFFIC LIGHTS Parliament Square, London
THE UK’s first traffic lights began operating in Parliament Square on December 10, 1868 – a manually operated revolving lantern with red and green lights but no amber.
They were invented by railway engineer JP Knight, although of fairly crude construction – as evidenced when the contraption exploded a few weeks later, injuring the policeman operating it.
THE ONE-ARMED DRUMMER Ladybower Reservoir Bridge, Sheffield
ON THE A57 outside Sheffield on New Year’s Eve 1984, Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen crashed his Corvette Stingray.
His left arm was torn off at the shoulder and had to be amputated.
Refusing to give up his career despite his injury, he carried on providing rhythm for the band.
FIRST KFC 92 Fishergate, Preston, Lancashire
THE first Kentucky Fried Chicken opened in Britain in Preston in May 1965, with a cardboard cut-out of Colonel Sanders welcoming customers.
The restaurant – which predated McDonald’s and Burger King – was set up by business partners Harry Latham and RaymondAllen.They soon expanded nationwide.
BORLEY RECTORY Hall Road, Borley, Essex
OFTEN labelled “the most haunted house in England”, this rectory was built in 1863, on the site of an old Benedictine monastery near the River Stour.
Over the years, all sorts of shenanigans, including phantom footsteps, ghostly nuns, doorbells ringing of their own accord and some unexplained stone throwing have been reported.
In 1930, the
Foyster family moved in and later claimed to have witnessed more than 2,000 poltergeist phenomena, ranging from smashed glasses and stone throwing to mysterious writing on the walls.
In 1939 the rectory was completely gutted by fire, and it was finally demolished in 1944. Experts have subsequently claimed all the happenings were the result of misinterpreted natural occurrences, hoaxing, hearsay and damp and shoddy workmanship when the house was originally
built.
BRITAIN’S FIRST CASHPOINT 20 The Town, Enfield, London
THE UK’s first cashpoint, or ATM, opened at a branch of Barclays Bank in Enfield on Tuesday June 27, 1967. The late Reg Varney, famous for playing Stan Butler in the sitcom On The Buses, was the first customer.
It was all very different to the cashpoints we use today. Customers had to buy a punched card in advance for £10, which was then inserted into the machine.The inventor of the machine was John Shepherd-Barron.
Other early cashpoints were installed in Hove, Ipswich, Luton, Peterborough and Southend-on-Sea.
BEWARE DOODLEBUG! Grove Road, Mile End, London
THE first V1, or Doodlebug as the Nazi weapons were known, fell on London next to a railway bridge on Grove Road, east London, at 4.25am on Tuesday June 13, 1944.
It was part of a wave of 10V1s, but five crash-landed after take-off in France. One went missing en route and four reached England – three falling short of their targets. This one killed six Londoners and badly injured another 30, as well as leaving around 200 people homeless.
THE FIRST ASBO Taunton Deane Shopping Centre
IT WAS in 2004 that the first Asbo was issued in the UK.Taunton Deane Magistrates’ Court ordered a 38-year-old not to loiter within 50 yards of any school in England andWales after he was arrested for exposing himself in the town centre.
KIDNAPPED ESTATE AGENT 37 Shorrolds Road, Fulham, London
ITWAS outside this London house on July 28, 1986, that 25-year-old estate agent Suzy Lamplugh arranged to meet the mysterious Mr Kipper, ostensibly to show him around the property.
Lamplugh drove from her nearby office and was never seen again.
Her car was discovered at 10pm outside a house a mile-and-a-half away. In 1994, Suzy Lamplugh was declared legally dead.
The chief suspect is a convicted killer called John Cannan, although he has consistently denied having anything to do with the abduction.
THE CORNISH DRACULA King Arthur’s Castle Hotel, Tintagel, Cornwall
THE 1979 film version of the famous vampire tale starred US actor Frank Langella, inset left, in the title role, Laurence Olivier asVan Helsing and Donald Pleasence as Dr Jack Steward.
Directed by John Badham, the film was set in 1913 as Count Dracula arrives in Whitby, Yorkshire, from Transylvania aboard the ship Demeter on a stormy night. Langella only agreed to the role as long as he would not have to do any promotional work as Dracula. King Arthur’s Castle Hotel stood in for the asylum from the original story. Still there today, it’s now the Camelot Castle Hotel.