Things you didn't know about... Bow

Cockneys need a fine set of lugs in Bow
Everyone knows that true cockneys must be born within the sound of Bow bells. Most people mistakenly take that to mean the bells at St Mary's, on an island in the middle of Bow Road. In fact, it refers to the bells of St Mary-Le-Bow on Cheapside, near St Paul's Cathedral, in the City of London.

Bow championed workers' rights...
In Victorian London, match girls were a common sight, but in 1888 they went on strike at the Bryant & May factory in Bow. Social historians see the dispute as instrumental in leading to the trade union movement. Match production ceased in 1979 and the building is now home to luxury flats known as the Bow Quarter.

...and Bow championed women's rights
When Emmeline Pankhurst's daughter, Sylvia, formed the East London Federation of Suffragettes in 1912, her head office was a baker's premises on Bow Road.

Bow was a fair bet for a rowdy, boozy day out
Bow was the home of the Green Goose Fair throughout the Middle Ages. By the mid-1800s, the fair's reputation as a venue for lewd, rowdy and drunken behaviour was such that the authorities shut it down for good.

Bow is top drawer, defensively speaking...
Bow has given England two of its finest defenders, though they play on rival teams. Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Ledley King was born in Bow, while former Arsenal and now Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole went to Bow Boys' School.

Girl singers, take a Bow...
Coincidentally, Mrs Ashley Cole, Cheryl Tweedy, has a Bow connection too: along with her fellow Girls Aloud bandmates, she was put up in a flat in Bow when they first formed. Bad girl and cult singer Amy Winehouse also put Bow in the news throughout 2007 and 2008 as paparazzi photographed her and her friends arriving at her Bow flat to party until the small hours and beyond.