Wander the streets by gas light

It sounds odd, but there are still more than 2,000 gas-powered street lights in London, silently flickering away offering added atmosphere in a huge gas-lit areas covering The Royal Parks, Covent Garden, Mayfair, and the outside of Buckingham Palace.


Pall Mall was the first street to be gas-lit, in 1807, and in 1812 the London and Westminster Gas Light and Coke Company was formed as the world's first gas company to manage the lights.

So search them out today. The (probably hugely inefficient) lights are identifiable by their glimmering filaments and their dim lights.

Oh, and if you're interested, you can read the 1819 Parliamentary debate on the introduction of gas lights (where some Luddites were against it) here.

_{^Picture from Flickr courtesy of James Cridland^}