islands in the scrum

IT'S one of the many little things Londoners take for granted, a handy but unremarkable refuge for pedestrians, strategically placed midstream between lines of traffic trundling in opposite directions. But have you ever stopped to wonder who invented the first traffic island?

One of several significant firsts for London, it was actually a Colonel Pierpoint who came up with the idea in 1864, placing his prototype just south of Piccadilly in St James's Street so he could safely cross the road to his club.

Unfortunately the colonel, understandably proud of his creation, liked to turn around to admire his pride and joy, and one time missed his footing and was promptly killed by a cab.

In those days, of course, his nemesis arrived with a horse up- front, as the first mechanically-driven versions didn't arrive until 1897. But even when they did, and despite their considerable novelty value, these comparatively quiet early motorised cabs were far from successful, being much too heavy, thanks to the heavy batteries needed to power their electric motors, and so were considerably slower than their horse-drawn competitors.

As a result, having led the world with this new technology, by 1905 there were still only 19 electric cabs up and running in the capital, compared to 10,361 horse-drawn, the last of which - incredibly remained in service around Victoria Station until the late 1940s.

The first multi-storey car park made a surprisingly early debut, too, opening for business in 1901, when cars were still a rarity.

Located immediately behind Piccadilly Circus in Denman Street (where NCP still offers a similar service) and covering more than 19,000 square feet, it had no fewer than seven storeys, the upper ones being reached via a hydraulic lift which could raise a three- ton vehicle.

The existence of such a big car park so early suggests that almost a century ago parking in central London was already a problem.

So why did it take so long to intro-

duce the parking meter? They first sprouted on the sidewalks of Oklahoma City, but it wasn't until 1958 that British motorists got some of their own.

Once again London led, the first few appearing on the pavements of Mayfair when a shilling (5p) would keep the authorities at bay for a full hour.

Compare that to up to 2 an hour in some parts of Kensington today.

London can claim Britain's first self-service petrol station, too (if you discount an earlier unsuccessful experiment at Patcham in East Sussex), as well as this country's first drive-in bank. Designed with passing motorists in mind, this was installed by Drummond's Bank, a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, close to Admiralty Arch.

Roadside petrol pumps were nothing new (another American innovation, the first in this country was installed in Shropshire before the First World War). But self-service stations were decidedly novel, the first opening in November 1961 at Southwark Bridge - though not before its operators had taken steps to resolve the shortcomings of an earlier one in Sussex, where a primitive shilling- in-the-slot pump installed in the 1930s had proved highly unreliable, and, more significantly, far too easy to fiddle.

LONDON cannot claim to have built the first car, but it has certainly spawned some pretty odd examples. Willesden was home to the Iris factory from 1905 to the outbreak of the First World War, churning out a cumbersome and crudely-made tourer named after the goddess of the same name.

She was known as the Speedy Messenger of the Gods, although the name was also said by the factory to indicate (rather optimistically) that It Runs In Silence.

Then there was E H Owen of Kensington, which from 1899 to 1935 advertised in The Autocar and elsewhere, claiming to be a car manufacturer. But no car called an Owen has ever been seen, and nor has the precise location of the factory ever been discovered.

And finally, a major player still with us today, which was first established in Lambeth. Its original factory took its name from the home of a medieval warrior who once lived there, and when the company relocated to Luton, coincidentally where the warrior had his country seat, it took his heraldic emblem to use as the company logo.

The warrior was called Fulk Le Br"ant, his home was Fulk's of Fawke's Hall, and the logo is still the one found on the front and rear of every car Vauxhall Motors builds today.

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