22 March: First metered London taxis

On this date in 1907 the first cabs with taxi meters began operating in London. Some things you may not know about London taxis.

1. While the majority of them are Black, it isn't a legal requirement. Black is popular because it makes them recognisable. They come in a variety of colours and company liveries, including "Newspaper" ones. 50 golden cabs were produced for the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002.
2. You may know that the test London taxi drivers have to pass to get their licence is called "The Knowledge". You may not know that it involves memorising 25,000 streets and 20,000 landmarks; that there are two levels - Green, which covers central London and Yellow, which covers smaller suburban areas; that there is an 80% failure rate; and that neurologists have found that London taxi drivers have larger hippocampuses (the part of the Brain responsible for spacial navigation) than regular people.
3. Only around 2% of London's black cab drivers are women.
4. There are approximately 21,000 black cabs in London. 200,000 cab journeys are made in the city every day, 3.2 miles in length on average; at an average speed 9mph. The average fare is £11.79. On average a cab driver will make 5226 journeys a year.
5. Oliver Cromwell set up the Fellowship of Master Hackney Carriages by Act of Parliament in 1654. Motorised taxis didn't appear until the early 20th century.
6. The vehicles used as black cabs are called TX4s. This is the iconic London black cab and they are built by The London Taxi Company. These are gradually being replaced by TX1s, introduced in 1997, a more modern vehicle which allegedly has a button the passenger can press to mute the driver if he talks too much!
7. The Governor's official car In the Falkland Islands was a London taxi between 1976 and 2010.
8. The ward “taxi” comes from taximeter, the counter used to calculate the fare. “Cab” was short for “cabriolet”, a French word for “to leap”, because that is what one did in order to get off.
9. It's da law! It is a legal requirement for a London taxi to have a turning circle of 25 feet. This is so they can negotiate the small roundabout in front of the Savoy Hotel. There are some wacky laws which may have been repealed now, but which persisted for a long time, such as, taxicabs had to be tall enough for a passenger to sit comfortably while wearing a Bowler hat, and were legally required (even when motorised) to carry a bale of hay for the Horse. Some say it is legal to urinate on a London taxi’s left rear wheel provided that the driver’s right hand is touching the cab. They support this by quoting the Town Police Clauses Act of 1847, but the Law Commission tends to disagree. Hailing a cab is fraught with legalities, too. It's technically against the law to hail one by yelling "taxi!" In reality, it's likely they simply wouldn't hear you. The correct way is to signal by holding out your arm. Finally, you could get in trouble with the law if you happen to have bubonic plague and try to hail a cab as this was illegal. The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act of 1984 still requires anyone suffering from a notifiable disease to inform the cab driver, who can then decide whether or not to take the fare. If he does, he is required to notify the authorities and disinfect the cab before taking another fare.
10. There are a handful of black cabs which would never stop for you - the ones owned by celebrities. Celebs who own black cabs for their personal use include Stephen Fry, Kate Moss, Yvette Fielding, Bez of the Happy Mondays, Noel Edmonds and Prince Philip.