Street Smart

Would-be black cab drivers navigate the super-tough ‘Knowledge’ of London.

Next time you jump into one of London’s iconic black cabs, spare a thought for what the driver had to go through in order to gain his or her coveted green badge.

All black cab drivers must pass ‘The Knowledge’, a super-tough series of exams for which they must learn 25,000 streets and 100,000 points of interest in the capital, and the quickest routes between them.

MIND MAPS

As a feat of memory, it’s up there with cramming for a law or medical degree, and has a dropout rate of around 70 per cent.