History Main / DriverOfABlackCab

The test taken to qualify as a Black Cab driver in London is called "The Knowledge,"[[note]] as in, the Knowledge of London Examination[[/note]] takes at least ''three years'' to study for, and requires a ridiculously intuitive knowledge of [[UsefulNotes/OneLondonThirtyThreeBoroughs London geography]] - which is all the more remarkable since London is what happens when one city spends two thousand years growing, absorbing smaller surrounding villages, towns, and cities, while being intermittently flooded, burned to the ground, and bombed into oblivion, resulting in a form of urban kudzu. It gets to the point where the memory centres of a cabby's brain are recognisably larger than those of a normal person. As Creator/BillBryson put it, "[London cabbies] would sooner entrust their teenage daughters to [[EvilChancellor Alan]] [[ReallyGetsAround Clark]] for a weekend than admit they've never heard of your destination," but chances are they have. Once they receive their "req" and pass, they earn the right to wear the coveted green badge.

* ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' often has its "A Taxi Driver Writes" like this, mocking any given public figure who happens to have said or done something crudely right wing. Usually involves the CatchPhrase "I had that [X] in the back of my cab the other day, very clever man..."

->''String 'em up! It's the only language they understand...''

Another stereotype is that cab drivers like to drop the names of celebrity passengers, as in "I 'ad that Liam Gallagher in the back of my cab last Friday".

* The cabbie in ''{{Film/Paddington}},'' full stop.

[[caption-width-right:350:Note the green badge]]

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheKnowledge'' is a comedy about the "Knowledge boys", who aspire to be London cabbies.
* The second stereotype occurs in ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', where the black cab is replaced by a Thames ferry boat. "I had Christopher Marlowe in my boat once."
* The taxi driver in ''Film/TheFootballFactory'', who moans about controversial topics, such as immigration in London.

* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082624/ The Knowledge]]'' is about four men taking "The Knowledge" with Creator/NigelHawthorne as their eccentric examiner. [[spoiler:He acts strangely on purpose, in order to see how the candidates will deal with the equally strange General Public.]]
* ''Film/CarryOnCabby'' is based around this. A couple of {{workaholic}} taxi drivers try to make a rival company go out of business.

* Alluded to in the novel ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', when after Richard returns to "London Above," the first thing he does when hailing a cab is to express interest in hearing all of the driver's geopolitical opinions. He is so eager about it that the guy thinks Richard is mocking him.

* ''Literature/TheBookOfDave'' by Creator/WillSelf is about the diary of a London cab driver accidentally becoming the basis of an JustForFun/IntellectualPropertyReligion 500 years into the future.

* The British 1997 gangster black comedy ''Underworld'' had a taxi-driver hitman who drove a (plot-significantly) white cab, complete with constant moaning about the state of the country to his passengers, whether a BoundAndGagged kidnapped victim or someone whose throat he'd just cut.
* ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' discussed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Goma Guy Goma,]] the guy who showed up at a BBC news studio looking for an IT job, but was mistaken for the tech writer Guy Kewney and PushedInFrontOfTheAudience. Andy Hamilton said that it had been initially reported that Goma was a taxi driver by trade, but he knew that was false because "a taxi driver would have talked much more authoritatively about something he knew nothing about."
** Another time it came up was when the caption competition at the end of the episode pictured the queen sitting in the driver's side of some kind of black vehicle, which Paul interpreted as the city having to take on more part-time drivers during the Christmas season: ''[posh accent]'' "I'm not going south of the river this time of night. You must be jokin'."
** Another example was when it was revealed that Prince Philip owned a black cab, which was a particularly good fit as he is known for making gaffes about other countries' peoples.
--> '''Ian (as Prince Philip)''': "Bloody Chinese, guv? Slit-eyed bastards! Where you going, Buckingham Palace? That'll be ten quid."
* The character of Charlie Slater in ''Series/{{EastEnders}}'' was a black-cab driver, but in his ten-year stint on the show, he averted the trope; he was generally good-natured and was portrayed as apolitical.

* ''Series/SchoolOfComedy'' has one, who gives us everything.

* Ray in ''Film/WhenImSixtyFour'', although he's not an especially gabby cabbie.
* Although involving a New York cabbie, there's a scene in ''Series/TheEqualizer'' that has a stereotypical cabbie griping to Robert [=McCall=] about crime and PoliceAreUseless. It's not until the cab is stopped by some thugs running a shakedown racket on unlicensed cab drivers that the audience realises it's actually exposition on why he's called the Equalizer for help.

* Creator/PeterKay recounts that he was once paid to do stand-up for the annual gathering of the cab driver's union, and he started off by making the audience turn their chairs around so they were facing away from him, and then opening with: "Been busy? What time are you on till?" (The two questions he claims it is physically impossible for a passenger to avoid saying to a cabbie).
* Creator/JasperCarrott, while talking about unexpected people he found running the London Marathon:
-->"Loads of London cabbies. I didn't know they could ''walk'', never mind run. You could tell 'em easily, they were the ones turning around and going "Ere, 'ow you doing, mate?" It took 'em all ages, 'cause they went via Bristol."
* Kevin Bridges [[https://youtu.be/zbuqke_fiDY?t=249 remarked]] on the resemblance of a prominent political figure to a Glaswegian taxi driver, showing the English stereotype also applies in Scotland.
-->"Everything UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump has said I have heard before from a Glasgow taxi driver!"

** Another time it came up was when the CaptionCompetition at the end of the episode pictured the queen sitting in the driver's side of some kind of black vehicle, which Paul interpreted as the city having to take on more part-time drivers during the Christmas season: ''[posh accent]'' "I'm not going south of the river this time of night. You must be jokin'."

[[folder:Film]]

* A deleted scene in ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' shows Selena, Jim and Hannah taking turns driving the black cab and doing their best London cabbie impersonation, much to the annoyance of actual cab driver Frank. The DVD commentary mentions that you can't drive a black cab without experiencing an irresistible urge to do this.
* Anthropomorphic British taxis can be seen during the last third of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'', which takes place in London, England.

* Cabbies in training may be seen beetling around London on scooters with maps attached to the windscreen, getting a feel for various routes. London is an extremely large city with an ''unbelievably'' random and complicated road system (being 2000 years old and made up of a good couple of dozen of other villages/towns will have this effect. Having been periodically flooded, burned down, and bombed flat has, surprisingly, not helped) and [[http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/london-taxi-driver-memory/ one study]] found that successfully memorizing all these damn routes actually ''rewires the drivers' brains''. They're also required to demonstrate a high standard of spoken English and take some first aid training. In return, they have the right to drive in bus lanes and certain other privileges.

Although in the US, [[TheTaxi taxi]] drivers often have a FunnyForeigner stereotype, it's quite different (in a sense, the antithesis) in England. Often ex-[[OldFashionedCopper police]], the drivers of black cabs (or to be technical, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney_carriage#Black_cabs Hackney Carriages]]) are known for falling into the second type of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad and liking to share with their customers their views on what's wrong with society today (immigrants, the youth, etc.) and their proposed solutions (public hangings and floggings). Not to be confused with black people who drive cabs, toward whom this character might not be congenial,[[note]]This is heading for DiscreditedTrope status in modern times, as London has one of the highest ratios of ethnic minorities to white people in the whole country and it's much easier to be prejudiced against an abstract concept than against people you've actually met.[[/note]] or with Uber drivers who offer the company's luxury service in black-on-black sedans.

The test taken to qualify as a Black Cab driver in London is called "The Knowledge,"[[note]] as in, the Knowledge of London Examination[[/note]] takes about ''three years'' to study for, and requires a ridiculously intuitive knowledge of [[UsefulNotes/OneLondonThirtyThreeBoroughs London geography]] - which is all the more remarkable since London is what happens when one city spends two thousand years growing, absorbing smaller surrounding villages, towns, and cities, while being intermittently flooded, burned to the ground, and bombed into oblivion, resulting in a form of urban kudzu. It gets to the point where the memory centres of a cabby's brain are recognisably larger than those of a normal person. As Creator/BillBryson put it, "[London cabbies] would sooner entrust their teenage daughters to [[EvilChancellor Alan]] [[ReallyGetsAround Clark]] for a weekend than admit they've never heard of your destination," but chances are they have.

* Averted by Creator/{{Stephen Fry}}, if only because of the fact that he isn't a real cabbie. Although strangers have been known to get into the back seat while he's stopped at a red light and ask him to drive them to Waterloo Station.

A made-for-TV comedy ''LiveActionTV/TheKnowledge'' about those aspiring to be London cabbies and their attempts to pass "The Knowledge" exam was made in 1979.

* ''LiveActionTV/TheKnowledge'' is a comedy about the "Knowledge boys", who aspire to be London cabbies.

* Cabbies in training may be seen beetling around London on scooters with maps attached to the windscreen, getting a feel for various routes. London is an extremely large city with an ''unbelievably'' random and complicated road system (being 2000 years old and made up of a good couple of dozen of other villages/towns will have this effect. Having been periodically flooded, burned down, and bombed flat has, surprisingly, not helped) and [[http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/london-taxi-driver-memory/ one study]] found that successfully memorizing all these damn routes actually ''rewires the drivers' brains''. They're also required to demonstrate a high standard of spoken English and take some first aid training. In return, they have the right to drive in bus lanes and certain other privileges.

A made-for-TV comedy ''LiveActionTV/TheKnowledge'' about those aspiring to be London cabbies and their attempts to pass "The Knowledge" exam known was made in 1979.

A made-for-TV comedy ''LiveActionTV/TheKnowledge'' about those aspiring to be London cabbies was made in 1979, and their attempts to pass the legendarily difficult exam known as "The Knowledge".

* ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082624/ The Knowledge]]'' is about four men taking "The Knowledge" with Creator/NigelHawthorne as their eccentric examiner. [[spoiler:He acts so strange to see how the candidates will deal with the equally strange General Public.]]

--> '''Ian (as Prince Philip)''': "Bloody Chinese, guv? Slit-eyed bastards! Where you going, Buckingham Palace? That'll be ten quid".

* Derren Brown made one of them forget where the London Eye was. This is tricky, as it's 400 feet tall and visible from just about everywhere.

* ''The Up Series'' includes Tony, who became a cab driver (who was in the middle of the knowledge at 21) and also played one in several TV shows.

* The cabbie in ‘’Film/Paddington,’’ full stop.

* Kevin Bridges [[https://youtu.be/zbuqke_fiDY?t=249 remarked]] on the resemblance of a prominent political figure to a Glaswegian taxi driver.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' fic "[[http://www.whofic.com/viewstory.php?sid=39333 Among the Jarveys of the Metropolis]]" has Amy and Rory hail a [[FlyingCar flying cab]] in future London, whose driver tells them "the monologue" is extra. Apparently the tourists expect it.

* [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082624/ The Knowledge]] is about four men taking The Knowledge with NigelHawthorne as their eccentric examiner [[spoiler:he acts so strange to see how the candidates will deal with the equally strange General Public.]]

* Alluded to in the novel ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', when after Richard returns to "London Above", the first thing he does when hailing a cab is to express interest in hearing all of the driver's geopolitical opinions. He is so eager about it that the guy thinks Richard is mocking him.

* When ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' discussed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Goma Guy Goma]], the guy who showed up at a BBC news studio looking for an IT job but was mistaken for the tech writer Guy Kewney and PushedInFrontOfTheAudience, Andy Hamilton said that it had been initially reported that Goma was a taxi driver by trade, but he knew that was false because "a taxi driver would have talked much more authoritatively about something he knew nothing about."

Although in the US, [[TheTaxi taxi]] drivers often have a FunnyForeigner stereotype, it's quite different (in a sense, the antithesis) in England. Often ex-[[OldFashionedCopper police]], the drivers of black cabs (or to be technical, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney_carriage#Black_cabs Hackney Carriages]]) are known for falling into the second type of PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad and liking to share with their customers their views on what's wrong with society today (immigrants, the youth, etc.) and their proposed solutions (public hangings and floggings). Not to be confused with black people who drive cabs, toward whom this character might not be congenial[[note]]This is heading for DiscreditedTrope status in modern times, as London has one of the highest ratios of ethnic minorities to white people in the whole country and it's much easier to be prejudiced against an abstract concept than against people you've actually met.[[/note]], or with Uber drivers who offer the company's luxury service in black-on-black sedans.

The test taken to qualify as a Black Cab driver in London is called "The Knowledge[[note]]of London Examination[[/note]]", takes about ''three years'' to study for, and requires a ridiculously intuitive knowledge of [[UsefulNotes/OneLondonThirtyThreeBoroughs London geography]] - which is all the more remarkable since London is what happens when one city spends two thousand years growing, absorbing smaller surrounding villages, towns, and cities, while being intermittently flooded, burned to the ground, and bombed into oblivion, resulting in a form of urban kudzu. It gets to the point where the memory centres of a cabby's brain are recognisably larger than those of a normal person. As Creator/BillBryson put it, "[London cabbies] would sooner entrust their teenage daughters to [[EvilChancellor Alan]] [[ReallyGetsAround Clark]] for a weekend than admit they've never heard of your destination", but chances are they have.

* ''The Book of Dave'' by Will Self is about the diary of a London cab driver accidentally becoming the basis of an JustForFun/IntellectualPropertyReligion 500 years into the future.