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THE MAGIC OF LONDON
Table of contents
Argument
An introductory note
City of
3.1 Nelsons Column, since 1843
The National Gallery
Saint Jamess Park
3.4
3.5 The
3.6 Houses of Parliament
3.7
The Tate
3.9 Picaddily Circus
3.10
3.11
The
3.13 The
3.14
Other important edifices
4 Topography
5 Climate
6 Districts
7.Etymology
8. The History Of
8.1 Early
8.2 Norman and medieval
8.3
Rise of modern
9.Transport
9.1 Railways
9.2 Busses
9.3 Air
9.4Road
10.Education
Conclusion
Argument
Since my early childhood i have been fascinated by travelling and foreign cultures.I remeber asking my mother to buy maps and travelling guides,my most prized possesion was an atlas.The graphic was amazing such vivid colors it still exists in my collection.I recieved it on my 8th birthday and from that moment on I started reading it with great interest.It had historical and cultural details,a wonderful paper.As i was reading it i stumbled across England and the city of London.I begun reading and I felt odly drawn to it..i needed to learn more.And so i begun my research which hasent ended to this day.
I have synthetized most of the information I have gathered and the result was this paper.
It consists of ten chapters which deal with the presentation of ceratin historycal buildings such as The Big Ben, Picaddily Circus,Buchkingam Palace etc.It also deals with the toponomy of the city.
Continuing I presented climat,I disscused about districs and etymology.
After dealing with those aspects I started analysing the history of this great city,and continued by presenting the means of transportation.I finished my paper by disscusing education
London is one of the most important culturaly speaking capitaly of Europe
1. An introductory note
London is the largest urban area and capital of England and the United Kingdom. At its core, the ancient City of London, to which the name historically belongs, still retains its limited mediaeval boundaries; but since at least the 19th century the name 'London' has also referred to the whole metropolis which has developed around it. Today the bulk of this conurbation forms the London region of England and the Greater London administrative area, with its own elected mayor and assembly.
An important settlement for two millennia, London's history goes back to its founding by the Romans. Since its settlement, London has been the centre of many important movements and phenomena throughout history such as the English Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the Gothic Revival. In light of this, the city has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world which has increased over the years due to the city's economic growth. London boasts four World Heritage Sites; these are Palace of Westminster, the Tower of London, the historic settlement of Greenwich, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It is one of the world's leading business financial, and cultural centers, and its influence in politics education entertainment media fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as a major global city.London has an official population of 7,512,400 (as of mid-2006) within the boundaries of Greater London and is the most populous municipality in the European Union. The urban area of London extends beyond the limits of Greater London and has a population of 8,278,251 (as of 2001). The metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of between 12 and 14 million. London's diverse population draws from a wide range of peoples, cultures, and religions, and over 300 different languages are spoken within the city. It is an international transport hub, with five major international airports serving the area and a large port. It serves as the largest aviation hub in the world, and the multi-terminal Heathrow Airport carries more international passengers than any other airport in the world
2. City of London
With a population
of just under eight million, and stretching more than thirty miles at its
broadest point,
East of Piccadilly
Circus, Soho and Covent Garden form the heart of the
A couple of miles
downstream from Westminster, The City the City of London, to give it its full
title is at one and the same time the most ancient and the most modern part
of London. Settled since Roman times, it became the commercial and residential
heart of medieval
The
Lambeth and
Southwark comprise the small slice of central
In the districts
Hyde Park, Kensington and
Some of the most
appealing parts of
3.
Political,
religious and regal power has emanated from
The monuments and
buildings from this region include some of
Despite being
little more than a glorified, sunken traffic island, infested with scruffy
urban pigeons,
3.1 Nelsons Column, since 1843
Nelsons Column,
raised in 1843 and now one of the
Keeping Nelson company at ground level, on either sides of the column, are bronze statues of Napier and Havelock, Victorian major-generals who helped keep India British; against the north wall are busts of Beatty, Jellicoe and Cunningham, more recent military leaders. In the northeast corner of the square, is an equestrian statue of George IV, which he himself commissioned for the top of Marble Arc, over at the northeast corner of Hyde Park, but which was later erected here temporarily; the corresponding pedestal in the northwest corner was earmarked for William IV, but remains empty.Taking up the entire north side of Trafalgar Square, the vast but dull Neoclassical hulk of the National Gallery houses one of the worlds greatest art collections. Unlike the Louvre or the Hermitage, the National Gallery is not based on a former royal collection, but was begun as late as 1824 when the government reluctantly agreed to purchase 38 paintings belonging to a Russian migr banker, John Julius Angerstein.
The National Gallery
The gallery hundred
and seventy years of canny acquisition has produced a collection of more than
2200 paintings, but the collections virtue is not so much its size, but the
range, depth and sheer quality of its contents. The National Gallerys original
collections was put on public display at Angerteins
old residence at 100
Around the east side of the National Gallery lurks the National Portrait Gallery, which was founded in 1856 to house uplifting depictions of the good and the great. Through it has some fine works among its collection of 10,000 portraits, many of the studies are of less interest than their subjects, and the overall impression is of an overstuffed shrine to famous British rather than a museum offering any insight into the history of portraiture. However, it is fascinating to trace who has been deemed worthy of admiration at any moment: warmongers and imperialists in the early decades of this century, writers and poets in the 1930s and 40s, and, latterly, retired footballers and pop stars. The special exhibitions, too, are well worth seeing and the photography shows, in particular, are often excellent.
3.3 Saint Jamess Park
St Jamess Park, on the south side of The Mall, is the oldest of the royal parks, having been drained for hunting purpose by Henry VII and opened to the public by Charles II, who used to stroll through the grounds with his mistresses, and even take a dip in the canal. By the eighteenth century, when some 6500 people had access to night keys for the gates, the park had become something of a byword for prostitution. The park was finally landscaped by Nash into its present elegant appearance in 1828, in a style that established the trend for Victorian city parks.
Today the pretty
tree-lined lake is a favorite picnic spot for the civil servants of
3.4
Changing the guards
The graceless
colossus of
For ten months of the year theres little to do here, with the Queen in residence and the palace closed to visitors not that this deters the crowds who mill around the railings all day, and gather in some force to watch the changing of the guard, in which a detachment of the Queens Foot Guards marches to appropriate martial music from St Jamess Palace (unless it rains).
3.5 The
The
The original
3.6 Houses of Parliament
Westminster Hall -
virtually the only relic of the medieval palace is the bare expanse of
Westminster Hall, on the north side of the complex. First built by William
Rufus in 1099, it was saved from the 1834 fire by the timely intervention of
the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, who had the fire engines brought into the
hall itself, and personally took charge of the fire fighting. The sheer scale
of the hall 240 ft by 60 ft and its huge oak hammerbeam roof, added by
Richard II in the late fourteenth century, make it one of the most magnificent
secular halls in
St Stephens Hall and the Central Lobby - from Stephens Porch the route to the parliamentary chambers passes into St Stephens Hall, designed by Barry as a replica of the chapel built by Edward I, where the Commons met for nearly 300 years until 1834. The ersatz vaulted ceilings, faded murals statuary and huge wooden doors create a rather sterile atmosphere doing nothing to conjure up the dramatic events that have unfolded here. Shortly after wards the Civil War began, and no monarch has entered the Commons since St Stephens also witnessed the only assassination of a Prime Minister, when in 1812 Spencer Perceval was shot by a merchant whose business had been ruined by the Napoleonic wars. After a further wait the door keeper shepherds you through the bust link, octagonal Central Lobby, where constituents lobby their MPs. In the tilling of the lobby Pugin inscribed in Latin the motto : Except the Lord keep the house, they labor in vain that build it.
3.7
Westminster Abbey
is the oldest and most famous of the great churches of
3.8 The Tate
Founded in 1897 with money from Sir Henry Tate, inventor of the sugar cube, the Tate Gallery does its best to perform a difficult dual function as both the nations chief collections of British art and its primary gallery for international modern art.
The Tate hosts some
of
3.9 Picaddily Circus
Anonymous and
congested it may be, but
Although it has
declined in popularity today, the tradition of afternoon tea has been a part of
English life since the 18th century. The most formal afternoon tea is served at
grand hotels, such as the Ritz on
3.10
This historic
English city seats the 12th-century
The heart of
To the north of
3.11
Cambridge has many
outstanding edifices, including the Church of Saint Benet, a 10th-century Saxon
structure; the restored Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the four round
Norman churches in England; and the 15th-century Kings College Chapel, one of
the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. The many museums and
galleries here include the
The 15th-century Kings
College Chapel is one of the grandest buildings in the university town of
Also in Kensington
are the
3.12 The
The historic
fortress known as the
The tower was used
as a royal residence as well as for a prison until Elizabethan times. It is now
largely a showplace and museum. It holds the crown jewels of
The
The
From the 16th
century onward, royalty and courtiers lived at Kew, which was conveniently
located close to
3.14
The royal residence of the British monarchs since the Middle Ages, Windsor Castle adorns the north bank of the River Thames about 35 kilometers (about 20 miles) west of London in the ancient town of Windsor. William the Conqueror originally chose this site for a fortress in the 11th century, after his triumph at the Battle of Hastings. Over the next eight centuries, various monarchs transformed and altered the castle into a 5-hectare (13-acre) royal spread.
The dominant
feature of
3.15 Other important edifices
Big Ben - is a 13.5-ton bell, tolls the hours in the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament. The original palace on the site of the Houses of Parliament was largely destroyed by fire in 1834. The current building was completed in 1852.
The House of Commons if youre heading for the House of Commons, youll be ushered into a small room where all visitors sign a form vowing not to cause a disturbance; long institutional staircases and corridors then lead to the Strangerss Gallery, rising steeply above the chambers. Since an incendiary bomb in May 1941 destroyed Barrys original chamber, what you see now is rather lifeless reconstruction by Giles Gilbert Scott, completed in 1950. Members of the cabinet occupy the two front benches; the rest are backbenchers.
The House of Lords On the other side of the Central Lobby a corridor leads to the House of Lords (or Upper House), a far dozier establishment, peopled by unselected Lords and Ladies, both hereditary and appointed by successive Mps, and a smattering of bishops. Their home boasts a much grander dcor than the Commons, full of regal gold and scarlet, and dominated by a canopied gold throne where the Queen sits for the state opening of parliament in November.
The royal apartments if the House of
Lords takes your fancy, you can see pomp and glitter by joining up with a
guided tour. Youll be asked to meet at the
Norma Porch entrance below
4 Topography
Greater
The
5. Climate
]Weather averages for London |
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London has a temperate marine climate, like much of the British Isles, with regular but generally light precipitation throughout the yearunlike the rest of the UK and even the nearby coast. The warmest month is July, with an average temperature range at Greenwich of 13.6 C to 22.8 C
(56.5 to 73.0 F). Record high
temperatures of up to 38.1 C (101 F) were recorded in different
parts of
Climate chart for London |
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temperatures in C
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6. Districts
London is
one of the world's three largest financial centers (alongside New York and Tokyo) with a dominant role in several
international financial markets, including cross-border bank lending,
international bond issuance and trading, foreign-exchange trading,
over-the-counter derivatives, fund management and foreign equities trading. It
also has the world's largest insurance market, the leading exchange for dealing
in non-precious metals, the largest spot gold and gold lending markets, the
largest ship broking market, and more foreign banks and investment houses than
any other centre. The City has its own governance and boundaries, giving it a
status as the only completely autonomous local authority in
The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, with locations such as Oxford Street Leicester Square Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus acting as tourist magnets. The West London area is known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill Knightsbridge and Chelseawhere properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds. The average price for all properties in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is 894,000 with similar average outlay in most of Central London
The eastern
side of
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7.Etymology
The etymology of London remains unclear. The earliest mention of the city'stoponym can be attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae. The name is described as originating from King Lud in which he had allegedly taken over the city and named it after himself to Kaerlud. This was then eventually slurred into Kaerludein and finally London. Few modern sources support this theory. Many other theories have been advanced over the centuries, mostly deriving it from Welsh or British, but occasionally from Anglo-Saxon or even Hebrew
In 1998 Richard Coates, a linguistics professor now at the University of the West of England criticised both these suggestions on linguistic grounds, and proposed his own argument that the name derives from the pre-Celtic *plowonida, which roughly means 'a river too wide to ford'. He suggested that the part of Thames at London was given this name, and then when a settlement was established, the inhabitants added the suffix -on or -onjon to the name for the settlement. Proto-Indo-European *p was regularly lost in proto-Celtic, and through linguistic change, the name developed from Plowonidonjon to Lundonjon, then contracted to Lundein or Lundyn, Latinised to Londinium, and finally borrowed by the Anglo-Saxons as Lundene.
Although there is some evidence of scattered Brython settlement in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans in AD 43 as Londinium, following the Roman conquest of Britain. The first London lasted for just seventeen years. Around AD 61, the Iceni tribe of Celts led by Queen Boudica stormed London, burning it to the ground. The next, heavily-planned incarnation of the city prospered and superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in AD 100. At its height in the 2nd century AD, Roman London had a population of around 60,000. However, by the 3rd century AD, the city started a slow decline due to trouble in the Roman Empire, and by the 5th century AD, it was largely abandoned.
By AD 600, the Anglo-Saxons had created a new settlement called Lundenwic about 1,000 yards (1 km) upstream from the old Roman city, around what is now Covent Garden There was probably a harbour at the mouth of the River Fleet for fishing and trading, and this trading grew until disaster struck in AD 851, when the city's defenses were overcome by a massive Viking raid and it was razed to the ground. A Viking occupation twenty years later was short-lived, and Alfred the Great, the new King of England, established peace and moved the settlement within the defensive walls of the old Roman city (then called Lundenburgh). The original city became Ealdwic ('old city'), a name surviving to the present day as Aldwych
Subsequently, under the control of various English kings, London once again prospered as an international trading centre and political arena. However, Viking raids began again in the late 10th century, and reached a head in 1013 when they besieged the city under Danish King Canute and forced English King Ethelred the Unready to flee. In a retaliatory attack, Ethelred's army achieved victory by pulling down London Bridge with the Danish garrison on top, and English control was re-established.
Canute took control of the English throne in 1017, controlling the city and country until 1042, when his death resulted in a reversion to Anglo-Saxon control under his pious stepson Edward the Confessor, who re-founded Westminster Abbey and the adjacent Palace of Westminster. By this time, London had become the largest and most prosperous city in England, although the official seat of government was still at Winchester
Following a victory at the Battle of Hastings William the Conqueror, the then Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England in the newly-finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William granted the citizens of London special privileges, while building a castle in the south-east corner of the city to keep them under control. This castle was expanded by later kings and is now known as the Tower of London, serving first as a royal residence and later as a prison
In 1097, William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. The hall proved the basis of a new Palace of Westminster, the prime royal residence throughout the Middle Ages. Westminster became the seat of the royal court and government (persisting until the present day), while its distinct neighbor, the City of London, was a centre of trade and commerce and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. Eventually, the adjacent cities grew together and formed the basis of modern central London, superseding Winchester as capital of England in the 12th century.
London grew in wealth and population during the Middle Ages. In 1100 its population was around 18,000, by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000. However disaster struck during the Black Death in the mid-14th century, when London lost nearly a third of its population. Apart from the invasion of London during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, London remained relatively untouched by the various civil wars during the Middle Ages, such as the first and second Barons' Wars and the Wars of the Roses
After the successful defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, political stability in England allowed London to grow further. In 1603, James VI of Scotland came to the throne of England, essentially uniting the two countries. His enactment of harsh anti-Catholic laws made him unpopular, and an assassination attempt was made on 5 November the famous Gunpowder Plot
Plague caused extensive problems for London in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague in 16651666. This was the last major outbreak in England, possibly thanks to the disastrous fire of 1666. The Great Fire of London broke out in the original City and quickly swept through London's wooden buildings, destroying large swathes of the city. An incomparable first hand narrative of both plague and fire was provided by Sir Samuel Pepys Rebuilding took over ten years largely under direction of a Commission appointed by King Charles II and chaired by Sir Christopher Wren
Following London's growth in the 18th century, it became the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925. This growth was aided from 1836 by London's first railways, which put countryside towns within easy reach of the city. The rail network expanded very rapidly, and caused these places to grow while London itself expanded into surrounding fields, merging with neighboring settlements such as Kensington. Rising traffic congestion on city centre roads led to the creation of the world's first metro systemthe London Undergroundin 1863, driving further expansion and urbanisation. Because of this rapid growth, London became one of the first recordedcities in human history to reach a population of one million, and was the first ever to surpass five million.
London's local government system struggled to cope with the rapid growth, especially in providing the city with adequate infrastructure. Between 1855 and 1889, the Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion. It was then replaced by the County of London, overseen by the London County Council, London's first elected city-wide administration.
The Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe during World War II killed over 30,000 Londoners and flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The rebuilding during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was characterised by a wide range of architectural styles and has resulted in a lack of architectural unity that has become part of London's character. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded to take into account the growth of the urban area outside the County of London's borders. The expanded area was called Greater London and was administered by the Greater London Council
In the decades following World War II, large-scale immigration from Commonwealth countries and beyond transformed London into one of the most racially and culturally diverse cities in Europe. Integration of the new immigrants was not always smooth, with major race riots in Notting Hill and Brixton, but was certainly smoother than in other English regions and largely lacking in widespread support for far right organisations, unlike its European or American contemporaries.
An economic revival from the 1980s onwards re-established London's position as a pre-eminent international centre. However, as the seat of government and the most important city in the UK, it has been subjected to bouts of terrorism Provisional Irish Republican Army bombers sought to pressure the government into negotiations over Northern Ireland, frequently disrupting city activities with bomb threatssome of which were carried outuntil their 1997 cease-fire. More recently, a series of coordinated bomb attacks were carried out by Islamic extremist suicide bombers on the public transport network on 7 July just 24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics
Transport is one of the four areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London.However the mayor's financial control is limited and he does not control the heavy rail network (although in November 2007 he assumed responsibility for the in the world, but faces congestion and reliability issues, which a large investment programme is attempting to address, including 7 billion (10 billion) of improvements planned for the Olympics. London was recently commended as the city with the best public transport. Cycling is an increasingly popular way to get around London. The London Cycling Campaign lobbies for better provision.
The London Underground is the oldest, longest, and most expensive metro system in the world, dating from 1863.
The centrepiece of the public transport network is the London Underground commonly referred to as The Tube which has eleven interconnecting lines. It is the oldest, longest, and most expensive metro system in the world, dating from 1863. The system was home to the world's first underground electric line, the City & South London Railway, which began service in 1890. Over three million journeys a day are made on the Underground network, around nearly 1 billion journeys are made each year. The Underground serves the central area and most suburbs to the north of the Thames, while those to the south are served by an extensive suburban rail surface network.
The Docklands Light Railway is a second metro system using smaller and lighter trains, which opened in 1987, serving East London and Greenwich on both sides of the Thames. Commuter and intercity railways generally do not cross the city, instead running into fourteen terminal stations scattered around its historic centre; the exception is the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect, with terminus stations at Bedford Brighton and Moorgate. Since the early 1990s, increasing pressures on the commuter rail and Underground networks have led to increasing demands particularly from businesses and the City of London Corporation for Crossrail: a 10 billion east-west heavy rail connection under central London, which was given the green light in early October 2007.
High-speed Eurostar trains link St Pancras International with Lille and Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium. Journey times to Paris and Brussels of 2h 15 and 1h 51 respectively make London closer to continental Europe than the rest of Britain by virtue of the newly-completed High Speed 1 rail link to the Channel Tunnel. From 2009 this line will also allow for high speed domestic travel from Kent into London. The redevelopment of St. Pancras was key to London's Olympic bid, as the station also serves two international airports through Thameslink, and will also provide direct rail links to the Olympic site at Stratford using British Rail Class 395 trains running under the Olympic Javelin name; these will be based on Japanese Shinkansen high-speed trains.
The modern Enviro 400 double decker bus operating services on route 24
London's bus network is one of the biggest in the world, running 24 hours, with 8,000 buses, 700 bus routes, and over 6 million passenger journeys made every weekday. In 2003, the network's ridership was estimated at over 1.5 billion passenger trips per annum which is more than the Underground. Around 850m is taken in revenue each year and London has the largest wheelchair accessible network in the world and, from the 3rd quarter of 2007, became more accessible to hearing and visually impaired passengers as audio-visual announcements were introduced. The buses are internationally recognised, and are a trademark of London transport along with black cabs and the Tube.
Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest airport in terms of numbers of international passengers
London is a major international air transport hub. No fewer than eight airports use the words London Airport in their name, but most traffic passes through one of traffic, and is the major hub of the nation's flag carrier, British Airways. After completion of the fifth terminal in March 2008, Heathrow may once again be the world's busiest airport, handling a mixture of full-service domestic, European and inter-continental scheduled passenger flights. Plans are already being considered for a sixth terminal, to the disapproval of residents near to the airport and to its take-off and landing corridors Similar traffic, with the addition of some low-cost short-haul flights, is also handled at London Gatwick Airport London Stansted Airport and London Luton Airport cater mostly for low-cost short-haul flights. London City Airport, the smallest and most central airport, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic.
The M25
Although the majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, travel in outer London is car-dominated. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs), and the outer orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) encircle the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routesbut very few motorways penetrate into inner London. A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly canceled in the early 1970s. In 2003, a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay 8 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of congested central London. Motorists who are residents of the defined zone can buy a vastly reduced season pass which is renewed monthly and is cheaper than a corresponding bus fare.
London also has 2 central park and ride sites for the convenience of shoppers on Oxford Street and Bond Street, Westminster City Council car parks run a courtesy bus service from its Park Lane and Marble Arch car parks.
Royal Holloway, as a part of the University of London, a federation of
The British Library of Political and Economic Science was founded in 1896, and is the largest social sciences library in the world, part of the prestigious LSE
Home to a range of universities, colleges and schools, London has a student population of secondary schools in London follow the same system as the rest of England
With 125,000 students, the University of London is the largest contact teaching university in the United Kingdom and in Europe. It comprises 20 colleges as well as several smaller institutes, each with a high degree of autonomy. Constituent colleges have their own admissions procedures, and are effectively universities in their own right, although most degrees are awarded by the University of London rather than the individual colleges. Its constituents include multi-disciplinary colleges such as UCL King's and Royal Holloway and more specialized institutions such as the London School of Economics SOAS, the Royal Academy of Music and the Institute of Education
Imperial College London and UCL have been ranked among the top ten universities in the whole world by The Times Higher Education Supplement: in 2007 Imperial was ranked the 5th best and UCL the 9th best university in the world. In addition, the London School of Economics is considered the worlds leading social science institution for teaching and research.
London's other universities, such as Brunel University City University London Metropolitan University Imperial College London Middlesex University University of East London, the University of Westminster and London South Bank University, are not part of the University of London. Some were polytechnics until these were granted university status in , and others which were founded much earlier. London is also known globally for its business education, with the London Business School (ranked 1st in Europe - Business Week) and Cass Business School (Europe's largest finance school) both being top world-rated business schools.
London is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions which are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The Natural History Museum (biology and geology), Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum (fashion and design) are clustered in South Kensington's 'museum quarter', while the British Museum houses historic artifacts from around the world. The British Library at St Pancras is the UK's national library, housing 150 million items. The city also houses extensive art collections, primarily in the National Gallery Tate Britain and Tate Modern. See the list of museums in London
Conclusion
More than anything ,cultural capital
London has been the setting for many works of literature. Two writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, famous for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire, and Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets has been a major influence on people's vision of early Victorian London. James Boswell's biographical Life of Johnson mostly takes place in London, and is the source of Johnson's famous aphorism: 'When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.' The earlier (1722) A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe is a fictionalization of the events of the 1665 Great Plague William Shakespeare spent a large part of his life living and working in London; his contemporary Ben Jonson was also based in London, and some of his work - most notably his play The Alchemist - was set in the city. Later important depictions of London from the 19th and early 20th centuries are the afore-mentioned Dickens novels, and Arthur Conan Doyle's famous Sherlock Holmes stories. Trollope's Palliser novels are largely set in London, vividly depicting Westminster and its surrounds. The 1933 novel Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell describes life in poverty in both cities. A modern writer pervasively influenced by the city is Peter Ackroyd, in works such as London: The Biography, The Lambs of London and Hawksmoor. Academic Bloomsbury and hilly Hampstead have traditionally been the liberal, literary heartlands of the city.
London has played a significant role in the film industry, and has major studios at Pinewood Shepperton Elstree and Leavesden, as well as an important special effects and post-production community centered in Soho in central London Working Title Films has its headquarters in London. Many films have also used London as a location and have done much to shape international perceptions of the city. See main article London in film
The city also hosts a number of performing arts schools, including the Central School of Speech and Drama (alumni: Judi Dench and Laurence Olivier), the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (alumni: Jim Broadbent and Donald Sutherland) and the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (alumni: Joan Collins and Roger Moore
In conclusion London is a wonderful city, filled with history and beauty. How can one not fall in love with such a exquisite place?
London, United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground (weather and elevation at Heathrow Airport) (online). Retrieved on - .
^ a b c T 08: Selected age groups for local authorities in the United Kingdom; estimated resident population; Mid-2006 Population Estimates (XLS). Office for National Statistics (August 22, 2007). Retrieved on - .
^ a b c KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas www.statistics.gov.uk
^ a b World Gazetteer - World: metropolitan areas
^ a b London Metropolitan Area population (August 28, 2007). Retrieved on - .
Neighbourhood Statistics
Mills, A., Dictionary of
^ a b Government Offices for the English Regions - Fact Files: London
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