History Tottenham Court Road, London Middlesex England
History
Published: 26th June 2010
The area across which the road is built is described in the Domesday Book as belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral. In the time of Henry III (1216 – 1272) a manor house slightly north-west of what is now the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street belonged to one William de Tottenhall. In about the 15th century, the area was known variously as Totten, Totham, or Totting Hall. After changing hands several times, the manor was leased for 99 years to Queen Elizabeth, when it came popularly to be called Tottenham Court. In the next century it appears to have become the property of the Fitzroys, who built Fitzroy Square on a part of the manor estate towards the end of the 18th century.
In popular culture
[edit]Music
Pink Floyd played many early concerts at the UFO Club at 31 Tottenham Court Road where they were the house band.[2] The road is referred to in the lyrics of Underworld (band)'s Born Slippy .NUXX and Andrew Lloyd Webber's song "Grizabella the Glamour Cat", from his musical, Cats.
The Pogues mention Tottenham Court Road in the song Transmetropolitan, written by Shane MacGowan, from their first album, released in 1984, entitled Red Roses For Me. The lyrical reference is here:
From a 5 pound bet in William Hills/ To a Soho sex-shop dream/ From a fried egg in Valtaro's/ To a Tottenham Court Road ice cream/ We'll spew and lurch, get nicked and fixed/ On the way we'll kill and maim/ When you haven't got a penny, boys/ It's all the bloody same!
[edit]Books
The road is featured briefly in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling as well as The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw and its musical adaptation, My Fair Lady, Saturday and Atonement by Ian McEwan, several Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, several stories by John Collier, A Room with a View by E.M. Forsterand The Wish House by Celia Rees.
[edit]Movies
It is mentioned briefly as the location where 'I' was allegedly arrested for 'toilet trading' in the 1986 Bruce Robinson cult-classic movie Withnail and I. It is also featured briefly in the 2008 crime film, The Bank Job.
