This Week In London’s History
- Monday - 10th June 2000: The Millennium Footbridge opens, spanning the Thames between Bankside and the City. It would initially suffer from 'synchronous lateral excitation' (a.k.a. wobbliness), necessitating its closure and the fitting of dampers.
- Tuesday – 11th June 1988: The 'Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute' (a.k.a. 'Mandela Day Concert') takes place at Wembley Stadium. On a scale approaching the Live Aid concert that took place some three years earlier, more than 600 million people worldwide tune in to watch the epic day-long concert featuring dozens of high profile bands protesting against the apartheid regime in South Africa and the ongoing incarceration of Nelson Mandela.
- Wednesday – 12th June 1991: The 'Outrage!' gay rights group stage a mass “queer wedding” in Trafalgar Square to demand equal rights for same-sex partners as for married couples.
- Thursday – 13th June 1981: Teenager Marcus Sarjeant fires six blank shots at the Queen during the Trooping the Colour ceremony. The Queen is unharmed, and Sarjeant is later imprisoned for treason.
- Friday – 14th June 1961: George O’Dowd is born in Eltham, South-East London. In the 1980s he would become better known as Boy George, the androgynous lead-singer of 'Culture Club'.
Random London Quote Of The Week
There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear - the city of London and the South Seas.
Herman Melville, 'The South Seas'
Photo by Richard Watkins LRPS via the Londonist Flickr Pool.
