Things you didn't know about... Croydon

Permission to land, Croydon
London's first airport, and the world's first purpose-built international airport, was the Croydon Aerodrome, opened in 1915 but closed in 1959 after Heathrow was built. It was built by combining two existing World War I airfields at Beddington and Waddon.

Paris, Milan, New York... and Croydon
With 2.5 million sq ft of retail space, Croydon is now London's second largest shopping and cultural centre after the West End. What's more, Surrey Street is thought to be London's oldest continuously running market, having been granted a Royal Charter in 1276.

Watch this space
It is often claimed that Croydon alone has more CCTV cameras than the whole of New York.

Croydon tops the UK tram table
Croydon Tramlink carries 22 million passengers a year over its 28 km system through south London. Begun in 1997 to help reduce the number of cars and buses on the road, and fully operational in Croydon since May 2000, it was launched nearly 50 years after the last trams were removed—to make way for more buses and cars.

Kate Moss, child of Croydon
Kate Moss was born in Croydon and attended Riddlesdown High School. When she was 14, she was discovered by Sarah Doukas, founder of the Storm model agency, while both were in the departure lounge at JFK Airport in New York.

Why Kate Moss is really a valley girl
Situated at the head of the River Wandle, just to the north of a gap in the North Downs, Croydon was first inhabited by the Saxons, who gave the place its name. It's thought to mean "crooked valley".

Croydon was the first to get up a head of steam
The Surrey Iron Railway (SIR), built by William Jessop to connect Wandsworth to Croydon, was arguably Britain's first public railway. Opened in July 1803, it boasted a double track some 8.5 miles long (with a 1.5 mile branch from Mitcham to Hackbridge) and cost about £7,000 to build.

Croydon gave spiritual leaders a break
The Archbishops of Canterbury were lords of the manor of Croydon from Saxon times until the 19th century. They had a manor house called Croydon Palace that was their principal summer residence until it was sold in 1780.

Croydon got into information technology early
Frederick Creed, resident of Croydon from 1909, was a pioneering inventor of teleprinter technology, converting Morse code and telex messages into printed pages.