Things you didn't know about... Brixton

Brixton has a windmill
London's last surviving windmill can be found just off Brixton Hill, near the Windmill pub. It's hard to believe it was originally in the countryside, surrounded as it is now by an ocean of Victorian houses.

Brixton hits the right notes
Unsurprisingly, given its vibrant cultural significance, Brixton has been the focus of a lot of modern music.

Perhaps most famously, there's the 1979 punk-reggae fusion track The Guns of Brixton by The Clash. It was written by Paul Simonon who, like band mate Mick Jones, grew up in Brixton. Eddie Grant's 1982 hit Electric Avenue referred to the street of the same name in central Brixton.

And the fascist mob attending a rally in Pink Floyd's Waiting for the Worms in 1979's The Wall are addressed by megaphone: "We have been ordered to convene outside Brixton Town Hall..."

Brixton welcomes Nelson Mandela
Brixton's place as the heart and soul of black Britain was recognised in 1996 when Nelson Mandela came to see the area on a tour of Britain. The visit included a trip to Mandela Street, built in the mid-1980s when the former South African president was still imprisoned on Robben Island.

Politicians made in Brixton
London mayor Ken Livingstone grew up in the area and as a youngster former prime minister John Major lived with his family in a two-bed flat off Coldharbour Lane.

Vincent in Brixton
The artist Vincent van Gogh lived for a time in a boarding house on Hackford Road.

More musical roots in Brixton
David Bowie was born in Stansfield Road, while Mike Skinner of The Streets has adopted Brixton as his home and subject matter for much of his work. Sharon Osbourne is a Brixton lass too.

The butler's butler was Brixton-born
Legendary comic author PG Wodehouse revealed that his fictional manservant Jeeves grew up in Brixton.

Brixton—fit for a Queen?
A story persists that Sir Walter Raleigh had a house in the area and that Queen Elizabeth I travelled by barge along the now subterranean River Effra to visit him. Seems a lot of trouble but, of course, there was no Tube back then!