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 In
"Grow Your Own Brain" science
confirms what many London cab drivers already suspected -
that portions of the drivers' brains are actually larger than
that of the average person. The exhaustive training required
to obtain a taxi license makes London's classic black cab
drivers unique in the world. To build this mental map of London's
roundabouts and one-way streets, hopeful cab drivers must
participate in a venerable institution called "The Knowledge."
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Origins
of the Knowledge
Prospective London cabbies have been struggling with The Knowledge
since 1851. That's the year the Public Carriage Office (PCO),
a branch of the Metropolitan Police Department, first established
the standards for horse-drawn hackney carriages. The Knowledge
then, as now, encompassed the 1,242 square miles within a
six-mile radius of Charing Cross, the center of the city of
London. The last horse-drawn carriage was licensed in 1947.
Today, there are some 23,000 black cabs on the road.
Obtaining
the Knowledge
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| Perspective
cabbies learn The Knowledge on bikes in 1947 |
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Learning
the roughly 25,000 streets and 1,400 landmarks of London can
be a full time job and take two to four years. Students of
The Knowledge, self-proclaimed "Knowledge Boys," must first
master the 400 routes in the PCO's infamous Blue Book. Then,
the Knowledge Boys (and some Knowledge Girls) must pass a
series of written and oral tests, by which they prove they
can always find the shortest and therefore cheapest routes
between any two London landmarks. George Harper, a 27-year-old
Londoner who has studied The Knowledge for two years says
the best and most common way to study is on a bike or moped.
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 Photos:
Corbis
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