Matlock

Matlock was already on my "to-do" list as one of the places to visit on what will be many trips to and from Manchester over the next two years (I was in Edale on Monday), but I'd forgotten quite how much there is to see there. I did go there once before, shortly after the cablecar opened (and got a ride on the prototype Sprinter diesel train as a bonus).

By the way, the "little snaking road" you can see from the cable car is the mighty A6 - which shows how high up you really are.

The ineffectual train

It means that Melton and Oakham get a direct train to and from London every morning and every evening. There are much larger towns in the East Midlands that can only dream of such a bounty.

St George's Hospital

The original main building of St Georges, near Hyde Park Corner, closed in 1973, when the former Tooting branch (originally known as the Grove Hospital, before being taken under the wing of St Georges in 1954) was earmarked as the new site of the main hospital.

Bus data

The raw data on bus usage can only tell you where people got on, and therefore not which is the busiest section, because that also depends where people get off. You can get an approximation of loadings over the day if you assume travel patterns are symmetrical - that is to say the number of people getting off a westbound bus at stop X over the course of a day is probably close to the number getting on eastbound buses at the corresponding stop across the road.

Heathrow Express

There may be people for whom the difference between Tube and HEx (approximately £1 per minute) is worth it, but we should note that the average time advantage is not as good as that. HEx only runs every 15 minutes, so much of the time advantage may be lost in waiting for the next departure. And Paddington is not very central.

Taxis

Sometimes, even in London, a taxi is the only practical option. But I don't think I've used more than two in the past ten years - both were 1km journeys which would have involved two buses (pre-Hopper), it was pouring with rain, and I was travelling with someone on crutches.

(Actually, for short journeys with two or three people, a taxi can be cheaper than the bus)

First Class

Surely no-one would buy a first class ticket to or from Slade Green, as there is no first class on that line?

Other than the London termini, The only stations in Greater London on South Eastern to have First class services are Orpington, St Mary Cray and Bromley South - the first two of which are in Zone 6.

Manhattan Loft Building

The Landmark Background Protection Area does not include Newham, possibly because no-one ever thought anything that tall would be built that far from the Square Mile

Given that the Manhattan Loft Building is now a fait accompli, the simplest way of restoring the sky background to the view of St Pauls might be to move King Henry's Mound about 100 yards further south!

The Manhattan Loft is in the Olympic Park site, not Docklands, so the relevant planning authority in 2011 was the Olympic Delivery Authority

The London Docklands Development Corporation was wound up in 1998.

The protected area extends 3km behind St Pauls - The Olympic Park is more than twice that distance.

Peninsular

A pedant notes: "peninsular" is an adjective, as in the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (better known as P&O). The noun is "peninsula", as in the Iberian Peninsula to which P&O originally sailed.

Uniqueness

Uniqueness, as you say, is a binary thing - either it is unique (in some way, however small and insignificant) or it is identical in every respect with something else.

I suppose "most unique" might mean it has more unique features.

Leopard Field

Leopard Field could potentially also have Impala, Chamois, Gazelles, Hawks, Kestrels, Hornets, Mustangs, Ponys, Stingrays and Barracuda, but none are very likely. If it also takes coaches you might indeed see a Leopard.

Major Pringle

It was not a general (pun not intended) practice for the Civil Service to recruit from the military, but from its founding in 1840 right up until the 1960s Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate drew its personnel from the officers of the Corps of Royal Engineers. The last Chief Inspector with a military background, Major Rose, retired as recently as 1988.

Major Pringle worked on construction of railways in east Africa and India, before joining HMRI in 1900. He was appointed as head of His Majesty's Railways Inspectorate in 1916, by which time he had been promoted to Colonel.

Signalling

I think the oldest signalling still in use on the Underground is at Edgware Road, which was last resignalled in 1926 (some reports say it was decommissioned recently, but I understand they have jumped the gun as the press release only reported the replacement as having been given the go-ahead)

The 1926 resignalling by the Metropolitan Railway was designed to accommodate a new relief line between Kilburn and Edgware road, and the platform destination displays were thus made capable of displaying exotic destinations like Watford and Quainton Road.

Once the Met and LER were both incorporated into London Transport, a less ambitious relief plan was formulated, using the Bakerloo Line and missing out Edgware Road altogether.

George Osborne

Given that the Evening Standard's editor signed off the government funding for this folly (in his previous job) it would be surprising if the subsequent scrapping were to be welcomed with open arms. There was an opinion column in it today, from the Chairman of the Trust which was not only somewhat inaccurate (in its assertions that it would be "open all year" but also, rather worryingly given his position, (and his former experience as chairman of a major bank) he doesn't seem to understand the "sunk cost" fallacy.

Trees

Even with a high maintenance budget, keeping trees as large as those in the artists' impression alive in such a location would have been a challenge, with the inevitably shallow roots (because they're on a bridge!) depriving them of both stability and nourishment - not to mention that any Thames bridge can get quite windy.

Henry VIII

Before Henry VIII's privatised the monasteries (by selling them off) he first had to nationalise them (by seizing them from the Church)

SWT

SWT was one of three franchises due to start on the same day in Feb 1996. The very first privatised service was a rail replacement bus from Fishguard. The Great Western franchise was bought out by First Group (who already had a minority holding in it) in 1998 and the franchise, now expanded, is still in the same ownership today.

The second franchise to start up would have been a management buyout of the Essex Thameside services, but the franchise was halted literally the evening before startup after the managers in question were found to be involved in accounting irregularities which improved the franchise's financial position at the expense of London Transport. This left SWT to run the very first privatised passenger train.

Waterloo

Waterloo's congestion problems would be a lot less if they announced platform numbers more promptly. The present practice of leaving it until the last minute results in congestion on the concourse as people wait for their train to be announced, and a mad scrum at the barriers when it is finally called, (not to mention the conflicts with people arriving off the train) and because the train is due to depart so soon people naturally jump on the nearest carriage, meaning that people getting to the platform a little later can't get on at the rear and haven't got time to get further down the train, thus getting left behind and having to wait for another train, further adding to the congestion on the concourse.

It is simply not credible that the people responsible for the departure screens do not know which platform a train is to go from until it arrives. (And if a late change is necessary, it would be much easier to manage if the concourse is not clogged up with people).