Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Why Manor House holds a Special Place in the Heart of every London Cabbie
Manor House holds a special place in the heart of every London cabbie.
Fascinating fact of the day: Out of over 25,000 streets and 400 routes an apprentice black cabbie must learn, the very first route in the blue book is Manor House Station to Gibson Square. This ensures that it is a route that will always remain engraved on the memory of every cabbie.
What's perhaps more interesting than the local connection is the findings of a recent study at the department of neurology at University College. This research showed showed that the posterior hippocampi of a group of London taxi drivers was significantly larger than that of the general population. Dr Eleanor Macguire, the senior research fellow who conducted the experiment, says that there could be a number of explanations but all of them add up to the fact that this part of a taxi driver's brain grows while doing the Knowledge.
So, with all the se super developed cabbie brains around and with our neighbourhood being so firmly engraved on their minds, there should never be any excuse for a cabbie not knowing the quickest route to your home!
Link: Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers
Tags for Forum Posts: history of harringay, manor house / woodberry down
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Don on
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Years ago, I did genuinely hail a black cab at Manor House and ask to be taken to Theberton Street, just next to Gibson Square. The cabbie laughed and we spent the journey chatting about both “The Knowledge” and the Knowledge he’d done. Drivers have told me since that the behaviour of Nigel Hawthorne’s monstrous examiner in the film is, if anything, an understatement of the reality. Even if minicab standards have improved and satnav helps on routes, I’d still prefer to take a black cab anyday for the depth of the drivers’ experience and often esoteric chat (the occasional obsessive apart) — if only they weren’t so bloody expensive….
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Yes definitely Black Cabs preferred choice for taxiing ...............and conversation. I used to go out with a very pretty girl, mid 60s (era NOT her age!!), she lived on Woodberry Down Estate and her dad was a cabbie. Remember watching boxing on telly with him, he threw, ducked and dived every punch from the comfort of his armchair. He didn't like his daughter associating with me though cos I wasn't of the faith. Jewish ! She talked of me 'converting' but...........it wasn't for me !! Funny old life.
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