Lavender Hill

Lavender Hill is a hill, and a shopping and residential street, near Clapham Junction in Battersea, south London. Lavender Hill forms the section of the A3036 as it rises eastwards out of the Falconbrook valley at Clapham Junction, and retains that name for approximately 1.3 km to the corner of Queenstown Road in Battersea, beyond which it is called Wandsworth Road towards Vauxhall.

History of Lavender Hill

Origin of the name

The earliest known reference to the name 'Lavender Hill' is in 1774 when a Mr Porter, advertising a reward for the return of his lost pony, described it as having strayed or been stolen from 'a Field on Lavender-Hill', suggesting that the name was already widely known.

The name refers to the commercial cultivation of lavender on the gentle north facing slopes of this part of the Thames estuary - helped by well drained soil, fresh air and several natural springs.

The first building to reflect the name was Lavender Hall on the south side of the road in 1790. The road itself, which ran just below the crest of the hill, was not widely referred to as Lavender Hill until the later 1800s. Several smaller streets developed in the Victoria era including Lavender Gardens, Lavender Walk (an ancient farm lane) and Lavender Sweep also reflect the area's historic lavender industry.

Hill

A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit (e.g. Box Hill, Surrey).

Terminology

The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be less tall and less steep than a mountain. In the United Kingdom, geographers historically regarded mountains as hills greater than 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, which formed the basis of the plot of the 1995 film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. In contrast, hillwalkers have tended to regard mountains as peaks 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level: the Oxford English Dictionary also suggests a limit of 2,000 feet (610 m) and Whittow states "Some authorities regard eminences above 600 m (2,000 ft) as mountains, those below being referred to as hills." The Great Soviet Encyclopedia defines hill as an upland with a relative height up to 200 m (660 ft).

Lavandula

Lavandula (common name lavender) is a genus of 39 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India. Many members of the genus are cultivated extensively in temperate climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils. The most widely cultivated species, Lavandula angustifolia, is often referred to as lavender, and there is a colour named for the shade of the flowers of this species.

Description

The genus includes annual or short-lived herbaceous perennial plants, and shrub-like perennials, subshrubs or small shrubs.

Leaf shape is diverse across the genus. They are simple in some commonly cultivated species; in others they are pinnately toothed, or pinnate, sometimes multiple pinnate and dissected. In most species the leaves are covered in fine hairs or indumentum, which normally contain the essential oils.

Smooth jazz

Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz and is influenced by rhythm and blues, funk, rock and roll, and pop music styles (separately, or, in any combination). Musicians such as Kenny G., Ramsey Lewis, David Koz, and Spyro Gyra have had hits with instrumental recordings, while singers such as Anita Baker, Sade, Sting and Norah Jones have found success with vocal releases. George Benson remains a popular Smooth Jazz artist as both a singer and guitar player.

Smooth jazz was once successful as a radio format. However, in 2007, the popularity of the format began to slide. Consequently, it was abandoned by several high-profile radio stations across the U.S.A., including WQCD (now WFAN-FM) in New York, WNUA Chicago (now WEBG), WJJZ in Philadelphia (now WISX), and KKSF (now KOSF) in San Francisco. Programmers say the audience for the format has aged beyond the prime demographic sought by advertisers. Despite the format's demise outside a handful of commercial radio outlets, a number of non-commercial and HD stations have taken up the music. It is still available on SiriusXM on Channel 66, known as "Watercolors" and on the Music Choice cable radio service. In addition, smooth jazz concerts, recording sales, as well as increased smooth jazz offerings on the Internet, continue to show strong fan support for the genre.

Buses in London

The London Bus is one of London's principal icons, the archetypal red rear-entrance Routemaster being recognized worldwide. Although the Routemaster has now been largely phased out of service, with only two heritage routes still using the vehicles, the majority of buses in London are still red and therefore the red double-decker bus remains a widely recognised symbol of the city.

History

Organisation

Buses have been used on the streets of London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating his horse drawn omnibus service from Paddington to the city. In 1850 Thomas Tilling started horse bus services, and in 1855 the London General Omnibus Company or LGOC was founded to amalgamate and regulate the horse-drawn omnibus services then operating in London.

LGOC began using motor omnibuses in 1902, and manufactured them itself from 1909. In 1904 Thomas Tilling started its first motor bus service. The last LGOC horse-drawn bus ran on 25 October 1911, although independent operators used them until 1914.