With Tottenham Hotspur due in town for our glamour FA Cup tie on Sunday, we throw the spotlight on the cultural capital of North London.

Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book; hence Tota's hamlet became Tottenham. In 1086 it was recorded in the Domesday Book as Toteham and at that time about 70 families lived within the area of the manor, mostly labourers working for the Lord of the Manor.

From the Tudor period onwards, Tottenham became a popular recreation and leisure destination for wealthy Londoners. Henry VIII is known to have visited Bruce Castle and also hunted in Tottenham Wood. A rural Tottenham also featured in Izaak Walton's book The Compleat Angler, published in 1653.

Tottenham remained a semi-rural and upper middle class area until the 1870, but this all changed when the Great Eastern Railway introduced special workman's trains and fares on its newly opened Enfield and Walthamstow branch lines. Tottenham's low-lying fields and market gardens were then rapidly transformed into cheap housing for the lower middle and working classes, who were able to commute cheaply to inner London. There goes the neigbourhood.

And once the plebs had moved in, a bit of bother was sure to follow. In 1985, the Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham was the scene of rioting between the police and local youths, which led to the death of PC Keith Blakelock, while local councillor (and later MP) Bernie Grant said that the Police had received “a bloody good hiding”. And in 2011 the fatal shooting of 29-year-old , Mark Duggan in Tottenham led to riots all over the country.

The area where the Broadwater Farm estate now stands was a working farm until as recently as 1932, though by then it had been surrounded by housing all sides. The land had been considered to be unsuitable for development due to waterlogging and flooding caused by the River Moselle, but then it was bought by Tottenham Urban District Council. Heavy concrete dykes were built to reduce the risk the risk of flooding, and construction of the infamous estate began in 1967.

During the second world war shortages led to the creation of Tottenham Pudding, a mixture of household waste food which was converted into feeding stuffs for pigs and poultry. The "pudding" was named by Queen Mary on a visit to Tottenham Refuse Works. It sounds absolutely lovely.

From 1963 onwards the ‘Dave Clark 5’ were promoted as the "Tottenham Sound", hoping to become a southern version of the Beatles and the rest of the ‘Mersey Beat’ groups. Though they never did eclipse the fame of the Fab Four, the DC5 did manage a respectable 12 top 40 hits by 1967, including the classic ‘Glad all over’.

According to their current MP David Lammy, Tottenham now has the highest unemployment rate in London and the 8th highest in the United Kingdom, and it has some of the highest poverty rates within the country. So it’s probably fair to assume that these days there are very few local people who can afford the exorbitant ticket prices charged by Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs Latin motto ‘Audere est Facere’ means "To Dare Is to Do".

Spurs can claim several ‘firsts’, the first only non-league team to win the FA Cup (in 1901), the first team in the 20th century to win the double (in 1961) and the first winners of the new UEFA cup in 1972. Leeds were or course the last team to win it in it’s former guise of the Fairs Cup.

Spurs first ever game against Arsenal was in 1887, but in those days Arsenal had to trek all the way from Woolwich, and arrived late, which eventually led to the match having to be abandoned due to bad light.

And in 1995 Spurs became the only English club to suffer their heaviest ever defeat in the Intertoto Cup. They crashed out of the tournament in fine style with an 8–0 spanking by FC Köln, and although they had only fielded a side of guest players while their proper squad was on tour elsewhere, it was still officially a first team game and went down as such in the record books.

Photo: Action Images

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