Streetwise (1996) – BBC doc about The Knowledge (memorising every London street)

This is the training undertaken by Black Cab (taxi) drivers in London. They memorise every street in London and have to be able to mentally direct from any location to any other. It is known to change the brain (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3268356/)

I found this absolutely fascinating. The first scene alone, slowly zooming in on the chief examiner (an ex cop) in front of the map as he rattles off the definition of an “important place”, made my jaw drop, As this knowledge of all the streets of london gets less and less relevant because of ubiquitous GPS, I find myself (a Londoner) more drawn than ever to these “human computer”-like tasks.

Some amazing atmosphere from the 90s here. Race relations. Relations between the English and the Irish. Class differences. It’s all here. I was so happy to find this and hope someone else can enjoy it too.