Not just anyone can be a cabbie in London – to be one, you must pass a series of examinations.
These examinations, put together, have been described as the most difficult test in the world.
To begin with, for an ‘All London’ license, the prospective cabbie must ‘thoroughly’ know the area within a 10-km radius of Charing Cross, a junction in London, England.
This means ‘thorough knowledge’ of 25000 streets, hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, houses, parks, estates – the list goes on and on.The list as provided by Transport of London, the agency that administers the test, includes 30 things such as commercial centres, shopping complexes, town halls, registry offices, clubs, museums, schools, colleges, courts, hospitals, stadiums, places of worship, clubs, airline offices, diplomatic premises, government offices, etc.
In one of the exams, the examinee is given two geographical points – he/she must provide the precise locations of these points, the best route between them, and the names of all the streets on that route.
This is done a number of times and as the exam progresses, the geographical points become harder; distances between them longer.
Cabbies are expected to be so thorough that if a passenger just mentions ‘a fancy hat shop in Charing Cross right next to the bakery’, the cabbie should be able to drop the passenger at the right spot.
If someone has not spent years going from place to place in London, it is unlikely he/she will pass the exam, and so, more than 50% of those taking the test drop out.
As a first step to prepare for the test, the prospective cabbies need to master 300+ runs (distance between two points), on a scooter, bike, or by foot, trying to figure out the shortest routes and exploring areas around these points.
So intense is this navigational training that it physically changes a part, the hippocampus, of the cabbies’ brains.
The hippocampus (each person has 2 hippocampi – one on each side of the brain) is responsible for memory-development.
In one research, MRI scans of the brains showed that the rear part of the hippocampi was larger in the London cab drivers than in non-cabbies, and even bus drivers, who mostly drive on the same routes.
Furthermore, it was found that the more time a person had spent as a cab driver, the larger the hippocampi of that person were.
This research was repeated, covering other variables, and the results were conclusive – the rear part of the hippocampi in the London cab drivers is indeed bigger.
