Electric Avenue
Electric Avenue is a street in Brixton, London. Built in the 1880s, it was the first market street to be lit by electricity. Today, the street contains several butchers and fish mongers and hosts a part of Brixton Market, which specializes in selling a mix of African, Caribbean, and Portuguese products. It is located just round the corner from Brixton tube station (1972). The elegant Victorian canopies over the pavements survived until the 1980s.
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[edit] In popular culture
The road gave its name to Eddy Grant's 1982 single "Electric Avenue", which reached #2 on both the UK and U.S. singles charts.[1]
[edit] Bombing
On 17 April 1999 the neo-nazi bomber David Copeland planted a nail bomb outside a supermarket in Electric Avenue (junction with Brixton Road) with the intention of igniting a race war across Britain.[2] The bomb went off, injuring 39 people. Copeland planted two more bombs before he was caught: on 24 April in Brick Lane in the East End of London, which has a large South Asian community; and on 30 April in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho's Old Compton Street, the heart of London's gay community. The bomb killed three. He was later caught and sentenced to serve six life terms.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Laurel A. Saunders (2007). I Have Wings, So Why Am I Here?. Trafford Publishing. pp. 145. ISBN 978-1425119362. http://books.google.com/books?id=-4F82HNfrPkC&pg=PA145&dq=electric+avenue+became+the+first+shopping+street&hl=en&ei=hPDWTJGpFIq-sQODkJ2NCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=electric%20avenue%20became%20the%20first%20shopping%20street&f=false.
- ^ "Profile: Copeland the killer". BBC News. 30 June, 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/781755.stm. Retrieved 2011-04-16.
[edit] References
Coordinates: 51°27′44″N 0°06′50″W / 51.46229°N 0.11377°W
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