It’s 74 years to the day since London’s last tram left Woolwich for its final journey. Vast crowds lined the route to bid an old friend goodbye and packed the trams on the last day, lamenting the loss of cheap fares. No one counted how many people attended the wake, but the number was comparable to the turnout for the funeral of George VI earlier that year.

With the passage of time, two notable mourners have largely been forgotten. One was Ethel Revnell, star of screen, stage and the BBC radio programme Midday Music Hall. On 5 July she was a celebrity passenger on one of the last trams. The tram had been hired to raise money for the Infantile Paralysis (polio), a charity she supported.

Revnell had grown up on London’s Farringdon Road, with the number 17 tram passing her front door every few minutes, and she was determined to make the most of her last tram ride, as this clip from Pathé News shows.

A bottle of stout was broken over the front of the tram to launch it on its final journey, and judging from the newsreels there was no shortage of lubrication for the tram’s passengers.

Another previously unrecognised celebrity mourner was Queen Mary (the mother of George VI), who wrote to London Transport to say what fond memories she had of the trams. The letter caused some squirming at 55 Broadway, the headquarters of London Transport, as I reveal in The Great Tramways Conspiracy, published by Pen and Sword.