Forgotten Years Trivia Quiz

Answer: The sale of collars called piccadillies

Piccadilly Circus is a major road junction in London, England. It connects to the equally famous Regent Street. Many famous buildings can be seen in this part of London. The name was first given to this area in 1626, and was called after a business belonging to a tailor named Robert Baker. Mr Baker sold a range of fashionable collars at that time.

These were all known under the general term of piccadills or piccadillies.

Answer: Named after a leading mercenary of King John

Vauxhall is an area in southwest London that is a combination of commercial enterprises, residential sites, leisure centres and gracious parks. Its long history until the late century, when it had a facelift, was more or less centred around a working class background.

It seems fitting then that it was named after the head mercenary of the famous Magna Carta King John (1666-1216). That mercenary was one Falkes de Breaute. He owned a large residence in the area which was known as Falkes' Hall. The region around the original home eventually became known as Foxhall, before changing once more into Vauxhall.

Answer: True

It's hard to believe that Britain and Spain fought a war for almost ten years over an ear, but of course there is more to this sorry tale than that. Britain and Spain, as you would know, had been traditional enemies for centuries, with a long history of ongoing wars and skirmishes ensuing between the two nations. Following another of these engagements, known as the War of Spanish Succession in 1713, Britain gained the right to supply slaves and goods to the overseas colonies of Spain. Part of the Treaty of Seville in the follow up Anglo-Spanish War of 1727 gave Spain's warships the right to stop and inspect any British ships in their waters to make sure they weren't violating this treaty. Well, one thing led to another in the ongoing spats between these two nations, and when the commander of a hostile Spanish patrol boat boarded the ship captained by Jenkins off the coast of Florida in 1731, he chopped off the unfortunate captain's ear in the dustup that followed - threatening to do the same to the British king. It took another seven years before Jenkins testified in front of the British Parliament over this incidence, but after doing so, Britain decided this insult to British honour was enough to declare war on Spain - again - and the following year it began. The War of Jenkins' Ear, as it later became known, lasted from 1739-1748.

During the war that followed, British forces, commanded by Admiral Vernon, captured the town of Puerto Bello in a major victory against the Spanish. Back in English, an inoffensive farm on a road called Green's Lane, was subsequently named Portobello in Vernon's honour in 1840. This area developed greatly during the Victorian area, and Portobello Road is the result today.

Answer: Brompton Road

Travelling through Knightsbridge, Kensington, Westminster and Chelsea in London, Brompton Road passes through some of the more posh areas of this world capital city. Top restaurants, five star hotels, and famous stores such as Harrods can all be found along this road.

The name Brompton is believed to derive from the Old English words "brom", which meant "broom", and "tun" which meant a farm or settlement. It was known originally as Old Brompton Road, but as the city grew around it and more streets connected to it, the "Old" was eventually dropped altogether from the newer sections of London, with Old Brompton Road still to be found west of the city in Kensington.

Answer: Abbey Road

The lovely tree-lined Abbey Road runs through the borough of Camden and the City of Westminster in London, passing by Lord's Cricket Ground along the way. This is the road over which the English rock band, The Beatles, walked, as portrayed on the front cover of their 1969 album of the same name.

It was once just a 19th century path which led its travellers to Kilburn Priory and its surrounding Abbey farm. In 1874, the Saint John's Wood Permanent Benefit Building Society was founded in a church there, by which time that small track had become known as Abbey Road.

Answer: King Charles II

Charles II (1630-1685) was King of England and Scotland - nominally from 1649 on, and after Cromwell's Commonwealth went pear-shaped, de facto 1660 until his death in 1685. He had a private road known as King's Road along which he travelled from one of his residences to Kew. King Charles always had a bit of an eye for the lasses, so it possibly could have even been from the home of one of his mistresses. It remained a private road until 1830 when people higher up on the social ladder were graciously given permission to travel along it - and then finally the general public. By then it was known as Portugal Road.

Nowadays, however, Portugal Road is found near Holborn in the City of Westminster, not too far from famous London sites such as Covent Garden, the Royal Opera House and the Royal Courts of Justice.

Answer: The contractor who laid out the street

Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes is the fictional, and frightfully superior, detective who solves crimes at the drop of a deerstalker hat. Doyle locates Holmes and his buddy, Dr Watson at 221B Baker Street, London in his many stories about this detective, but in the period that the stories were based, Baker Street didn't stretch long enough to incorporate such a residential number. Named after the 18th century contractor who initially constructed it in the Marylebone district of London, this famous road expanded north in 1830 and now does indeed have a residence with that number in its midst.

Other famous "residents" of Baker Street over time include "Basil the Great Mouse Detective, Sherlock Hound, Danger Mouse, Sexton Blake, Carland Cross and James Black of "Case Closed" - along with the flesh and blood British Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, and singer Dusty Springfield - while over in the USA, that cantankerous Gregory House, from "House, MD" resides at Flat B, 221 Baker Street, Princeton, New Jersey.

Answer: The Strand

Once home to creative minds such as Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Henry Huxley and Virginia Woolf, the Strand is a famous road in London, England, that runs from Trafalgar Square to Temple Bar to Fleet Street. Dating right back to early Saxon days - 1052 at least, where it is mentioned in chronicles from that time - the Strand was originally known as the "Strond", an old English word that translates to "the edge of the river", because of its location on the north bank of the mighty Thames. Over the centuries that followed, the Strond became an area for the wealthy upper classes before they moved to the West End in the 17th century. Following that exodus, it evolved into an area famous for its coffee shops, taverns, pickpockets and ladies of the night.

It moved on from there to be noted for its eateries and restaurants. By the 19th century, it was a top spot for theatres, music halls and the famous Victoria Embankment. Then to the 21st century, where it contains a bit of everything - hospitals, hotels, well known businesses, houses, theatres, churches, colleges, the Royal Courts of Justice, and the Charing Cross Railway Station.

Answer: Carnaby Street

Located in Soho (where else?) in the centre of London, Carnaby Street touches on Oxford, Regent and the Little and Great Marlborough Streets, just like a lovely game of Monopoly. Its name derives from Karnaby House which was built there in 1683, but little else is known about its owner. By 1687, it was surrounded by small residences as the city began to grow, and another fifty years on saw the large mansion demolished. The residences remaining became known as plague houses, with many a lost soul spending his last few days on earth there. These were eventually replaced by a large abattoir, which led Prime Minister Disraeli to describe its owner as "a carcase-butcher famous in Carnaby-market". Even at that stage, a few tailors had already set up business in the area as well.

By the 1820s, a thriving market had begun to follow on from the demise of the abattoir, but in 1854, another tragedy struck the area with an overwhelming cholera outbreak. The cause of this epidemic was traced by the physician, John Snow, to a water pump that catered for the nearby residents and it was promptly shut down. One can imagine they were slightly less than appreciative at its closure. By then more tailors had moved into the area as it reputation for fine clothing began to be known far and wide. As the calendar turned over another 150 years into the 21st century, a now pedestrianised Carnaby Street is home today to top of the range fashion houses, boutiques and lifestyle centres - all with accompanying top of the range prices, no doubt.

Answer: 11 Downing Street

Named after the man who built it in the 1680s, Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, London's Downing Street is off Whitehall, London, and just a short walk away from Parliament and Buckingham Palace. 11 Downing Street is the residence of Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, and located right next door to the Prime Minister's number 10 residence. Before it became known as that famous street, a brewhouse ("The Axe"), owned by a nearby Abbey, stood there. A large mansion called Hampden House took its place some years later. Downing himself wanted to build townhouses there and rent or sell them to people of "good quality", but the owners of Hampden House had a lease on the land for thirty more years, so this couldn't be done right away. Frustrated, 1st Baronet George bought the land at the back of the mansion instead, and built there. When the lease expired on the Hampden House land, he bought it and built more townhouses to the west as well.

Designed by Christopher Wren, these numbered some twenty in all, and, just to make history a challenge, the numbering system on them changed several times over the years that followed. For example, number 10 at one stage, was number 5. They were also built rather too quickly and on bad foundations. Winston Churchill would describe his residence centuries later as "shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear". More confusion was added after the 1997 general election, when the new Prime Minister Tony, with his wife and young family, though officially described as living at 10 Downing Street, swapped residences with the Chancellor of the Exchequer instead because it was roomier.

By 1884, the government had acquired most of the buildings, knocked out walls here and there, and consolidated them all to form a rabbit warren of official government departments. There used to be a pub in Downing Street as well - the Rose and Crown - just perfect for the huff and puff clientele to quench their thirst after a hard day's talking.