London

London is a huge city with several district  articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings - consider printing them all.

Noisy, vibrant and truly multicultural, London is a megalopolis of people, ideas and energy. The capital and largest city of both the United Kingdom and of England, it is also the largest city in Western Europe and the European Union. Situated on the River Thames in South-East England, Greater London has an official population of nearly 8 million people - although the figure of over 14 million for the city's total metropolitan area more accurately reflects London's size and importance. London is one of the great "world cities," and remains a global capital of culture, fashion, finance, politics and trade.

London will host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Settlement has existed on the site of London since well before Roman times, with evidence of Bronze Age and Celtic settlement. The Roman city of Londinium, established just after the Roman conquest of Britannia in the year 43, formed the basis for the modern city (some isolated Roman period remains are still to be seen within the City). After the end of Roman rule in 410 and a short-lived decline, London experienced a gradual revival under the Anglo-Saxons, as well as the Norsemen, and emerged as a great medieval trading city, and eventually replaced Winchester as the royal capital of England. This paramount status for London was confirmed when William the Conqueror, a Norman, built the Tower of London after the conquest in 1066 and was crowned King of England in Westminster.

History

London went from strength to strength and with the rise of England to first European then global prominence and the city became a great centre of culture, government and industry. London's long association with the theatre, for example, can be traced back to the English renaissance (witness the Rose Theatre [1] and great playwrights like Shakespeare who made London their home). With the rise of Britain to supreme maritime power in the 18th and 19th centuries and the possessor of the largest global empire, London became an imperial capital and drew people and influences from around the world to become, for many years, the largest city in the world.

England's royal family has, over the centuries, added much to the London scene for today's traveller: the Albert Memorial, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall, Tower of London, Kew Palace and Westminster Abbey being prominent examples.

Despite the inevitable decline of the British Empire, and considerable suffering during World War II (when London was heavily bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the Blitz), the city is still a top-ranked world city: a global centre of culture, finance, and learning. Today London is easily the largest city in the United Kingdom, eight times larger than the second largest, Birmingham, and ten times larger than the third, Glasgow, and dominates the economic, political and social life of the nation (much to the annoyance of some people in the provinces i.e. everywhere except London!). It is full of excellent bars, galleries, museums, parks and theatres. It is also the most culturally and ethnically diverse part of the country, making it a great multicultural city to visit. Samuel Johnson famously said, "when one is tired of London, one is tired of life." Whether you are interested in ancient history, modern art, opera or underground raves, London has it all.

If you ask a Londoner where the centre of London is, you are likely to get a wry smile. This is because historically London was two cities: a commercial city and a separate government capital.

The commercial capital was the City of London. This had a dense population and all the other pre-requisites of a medieval city: walls, a castle (The Tower of London), a cathedral (St Pauls), a semi-independent City government, a port and a bridge across which all trade was routed so Londoners could make money (London Bridge).

About an hour upstream (on foot or by boat) around a bend in the river was the government capital (Westminster). This had a church for crowning the monarch (Westminster Abbey) and palaces. As each palace was replaced by a larger one, the previous one was used for government, first the Palace of Westminster (better known as the Houses of Parliament), then Whitehall, then Buckingham Palace. The two were linked by a road called The "Strand", old English for riverbank.

London grew both west and east. The land to the west of the City (part of the parish of Westminster) was prime farming land (Covent Garden and Soho for example) and made good building land. The

The City and Westminster

land to the east was flat, marshy and cheap, good for cheap housing and industry, and later for docks. Also the wind blows 3 days out of 4 from west to east, and the Thames (into which the sewage went) flows from west to east. So the West End was up-wind and up-market, the East End was where people worked for a living.

Modern-day London in these terms is a two-centre city, with the area in between known confusingly as the West End.

Climate

Despite a perhaps unfair reputation for being unsettled, London enjoys a dry and mild climate on average. Only one in three days on average will bring rain and often only for a short period. From June through September average daily high temperatures peak at over 20°C (68°F) with July and August the warmest months at 23°C (73°F) while London's highest temperature since 2000 was recorded once in August at 38°C (100°F). This means London can feel hot and humid in the summer months. Winter days are rarely cold and frost is rather rare, and while sunshine is at a premium and wet days are more common, the average daily maximum is 8°C (46°F) in December and January, making London milder than most nearby continental European capital cities.

London 2012 Olympic Games

The International Olympic Committee decided in 2005 that London will serve as the host city for the Games of the XXX Olympiad, the Summer Olympic Games of 2012. This will make London the first city to hold the Olympic Games three times, having hosted the games previously in 1908 and 1948. The vast majority of events will be held in a regenerated area in East London.

Tourist Information Centres

Details of London's primary Tourist Information Centre are given below. There are other more minor centres and those are listed in the relevant district articles.

    * Britain and London Visitor Centre (BLVC), 1 Regent St, SW1Y 4XT (nearest tube station Piccadilly Circus), ☎ +44 8701 566 366. M 9:30AM-6PM (Oct-Mar), M 9:30AM-6:30PM (Apr-Sep), Tu-F 9AM-6PM (Oct-Mar), Tu-F 9AM-6:30PM (Apr-Sep), Sa 10AM-4PM (Oct-May), Sa 9AM-5PM (Jun-Sep), Su 10AM-4PM, Public holidays: 10AM-4PM. Closed on 25 and 26 Dec and 1 Jan. Visit London is the official visitor organisation for the capital and has a lot of free information for visitors in several different languages. It also acts commercially and can have some astoundingly good last minute deals on accommodation.

 

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