How old is london
How old is london
London
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London is the capital city of the United Kingdom. It is the U.K.’s largest metropolis and its economic, transportation, and cultural centre. London is also among the oldest of the world’s great cities, with its history spanning nearly two millennia.
London’s founding can be traced to 43 CE, when the Roman armies began their occupation of Britain under Emperor Claudius. At a point just north of the marshy valley of the River Thames, where two low hills were sited, they established a settlement they called Londinium. The first definite mention of London occurs in 60 CE by the Roman historian Tacitus.
During World War II London suffered intense aerial bombardment by Nazi forces during the Blitz, a campaign from September 1940 to May 1941 that devastated the city. An estimated 43,000 Londoners died, and a further 50,000 were injured. More than 70,000 buildings were destroyed, and many more were damaged. The Blitz failed to break Britain, however, and Nazi Germany abandoned the attacks.
London is one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. It is the largest metropolis in the United Kingdom, and it is also the country’s economic, transportation, and cultural centre. In addition to its history, art, and politics, London is a popular tourist destination for its wide variety of museums, shops, restaurants, and sports teams.
London is situated in southeastern England, lying on both sides of the River Thames some 50 miles (80 km) upstream from its estuary on the North Sea.
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London, city, capital of the United Kingdom. It is among the oldest of the world’s great cities—its history spanning nearly two millennia—and one of the most cosmopolitan. By far Britain’s largest metropolis, it is also the country’s economic, transportation, and cultural centre.
London is situated in southeastern England, lying astride the River Thames some 50 miles (80 km) upstream from its estuary on the North Sea. In satellite photographs the metropolis can be seen to sit compactly in a Green Belt of open land, with its principal ring highway (the M25 motorway) threaded around it at a radius of about 20 miles (30 km) from the city centre. The growth of the built-up area was halted by strict town planning controls in the mid-1950s. Its physical limits more or less correspond to the administrative and statistical boundaries separating the metropolitan county of Greater London from the “home counties” of Kent, Surrey, and Berkshire (in clockwise order) to the south of the river and Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Essex to the north. The historic counties of Kent, Hertfordshire, and Essex extend in area beyond the current administrative counties with the same names to include substantial parts of the metropolitan county of Greater London, which was formed in 1965. Most of Greater London south of the Thames belongs to the historic county of Surrey, while most of Greater London north of the Thames belongs historically to the county of Middlesex. Area Greater London, 607 square miles (1,572 square km). Pop. (2001) Greater London, 7,172,091; (2011 prelim.) Greater London, 8,173,941.
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4 London is the capital of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland It was founded more than one thousand years ago More than eight million people live there. There are many interesting places to visit: Trafalgar square, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge Big Ben, Buckingham Palace London is famous for its museums, galleries and parks
5 Big Ben is a great attraction of tourists. They want to see the clock in its tower and to hear the bells. Big Ben is really a bell. You can hear it every hour.
6 The House of Parliament is a very large building which stands near the Thames. It has two tall towers at the corners of the building and one of them is the Clock Tower.
7 Westminster Abbey is the most famous church in England. It was built by King Edward in The coronation of all British Kings and Queens takes place in it. Some famous English people are also buried here.
8 You can see the Tower of London from the river Thames. The tower is very old. It has a long and cruel history. The Tower was Kings palace, prison, zoo. Now it is a museum. Where one can see treasure of British monarchy.
9 Buckingham Palace is the place where British Queen Elizabeth II lives. When the Queen is at home we can see the flag above the palace.
10 Trafalgar square is the center of London. In the center of square we can see Nelson Column in honor of admiral Nelson who defeated Napoleon fleet in There are four bronze lions around the column.
History of London
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«History of London»
What do you know about history of London?
Let’s check out what you know about London
1. How old is London?
2. Is London one of the world’s largest cities?
3. Which two great tragedies happened to London?
4. What sights worth visiting do you know in London?
Look through the text and say whether the following statements are true or false
London was built by the Roman invaders.
London grew stronger under the Tudor rule.
During the reign of Edward the Confessor London was a wealthy and successful city.
Two awful disasters happened in London during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Great Plague followed immediately after the Great Fire.
Many of the buildings in London today were built during the reign of Victoria.
Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) built a wooden palace at Westminster. Later Parliament met here. Because of this Westminster became the seat of government not the city of London itself.
Christianity grew stronger in Anglo-Saxon Britain. In 604 AD a cathedral was founded in London and named after the apostle, Saint Paul. There is still a cathedral on the site, St Paul’s Cathedral.
London grew in importance under the Tudor rule. It became the centre of trade and government. By the end of the Tudor era there were about 200,000 people living in London.
During the reign of Elizabeth I, London was a wealthy and successful city. Theatre became popular, helped by the arrival of playwright William Shakespeare sometime between 1585 and 1593. The most famous theatre is The Globe, in which Shakespeare owned a share. His plays were performed there. The original theatre was burnt down in 1613 and immediately rebuilt, but closed by the Puritans in 1642. In the 1990s a new Globe Theatre was built, as close to the original as possible, and thrives with constant productions of Shakespeare’s plays.
The first Stuart King, James I, came to the throne in 1603. In 1605 a group of men tried to blow up both him and the Houses of Parliament. This Gunpowder Plot failed.
London suffered two disasters in later Stuart years. In 1665 the Great Plague killed about 70,000 people. The bubonic plague was brought to London by rats on board of trading ships. It spread very quickly because people lived in very close quarters and hygiene standards were very low.
In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed two thirds of the City: 13,200 houses, 430 streets and 89 churches. The fire could be seen from forty miles round the capital. It started as a small fire accidentally in Pudding Lane in the City of London, and raged for four days as an enormous fire.
To prevent such a disaster happening again King Charles II commanded that all new houses in London should be of stone and brick, not wood. Sir Christopher Wren constructed St Paul’s Cathedral as well as many churches.
In 1714, George I became king. London quickly grew in size and population during the Georgian era. In 1801 the population reached about one million. Merchants and bankers grew rich and many lived in the new West End. Other people suffered terrible poverty. Thousands lived in filthy East End slums, where disease, crime and drunkenness were common.
During the reign of Victoria, London expanded enormously as industry came to Britain and railways were built linking much of Britain to the capital. London was the centre of world trade and had a large, powerful Empire.
Many of the buildings in London today were built in Victorian times. The most famous is probably the Houses of Parliament, built in 1834 after a fire destroyed the original buildings.
The World first Underground railway (‘The Tube’) opened in 1862.
Londinium – the early name of London
Edward the Confessor – Эдуард Исповедник
under the Tudor/Stuart rule – при правлении Тюдоров/Стюартов
during the reign of Elizabeth I – Elizabeth the First
James I (James the First) – Яков I. Gunpowder Plot – «Пороховой заговор»
Charles II (Charles the Second) – Карл II
William Shakespeare – one of the most prominent writers of England
Sir Christopher Wren – Сэр Кристофер Рэн
to invade – завоевывать, invader – захватчик
bubonic Plague – бубонная чума
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the Globe, the Tube, the Tower, the British Museum, Trafalgar Square, Nelson’s Column, Buckingham Palace
Ex.1 Match the main events of London with the ruling kings and queens
a. St. Paul’s Cathedral was built in stone.
b. Industry developed and railways were built.
3. Edward the Confessor
c. Gunpowder Plot failed.
d. The population of London reaches 1 mln.
e. Westminster Palace was built.
f. The Globe gained popularity.
Ex.2 Tell your friend about history of London using the key words
Roman invaders, to build a settlement, Anglo-Saxons, a wealthy city, the Great Plague, the Great Fire, stone buildings, size and population growth, Victorian times, the Tube.
Ex.3 Find additional information about places of interest in London and prepare a walking tour. Act as a guide of a tourist group. Use the following phrases:
I. Good morning, dear ladies and gentlemen!
Welcome to Exciting London tours.
I am your guide, my name is ….
Today you will enjoy a bus tour around London.
We are to start at ….
Then we are going to have a look at … and ….
After that you’ll be able to enjoy a marvelous view of ….
Also, we’ll see … with its famous ….
Besides, you will have a chance to watch ….
Finally, you will be able to make photos of ….
II. Let’s begin our tour. This is ….
Not far from … you can see ….
Look to the right, here is ….
In front of you there is ….
Next to … you see ….
III. Have you got any questions?
Thank you for your attention. I hope you’ve enjoyed our tour!
We can also offer you walking tours and or individual tours around the city.
The story of London
A very historic city
It was already a city with a long history, of course. London had become the British capital in Roman times, but since then, it had been built and destroyed and rebuilt so many times that there were few traces left of the capital city of Roman Britain, except deep below the ground.
Today, the oldest buildings in London include the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, which are almost a thousand years old.
LONDON RICH, LONDON POOR
London is one of the richest cities in Europe, and lots of people in London have plenty of money to spend. But like almost every big city, London has its prosperity but also its poverty.
Most tourists visit the «West End», with its shops, cinemas, theatres and monuments. This is London’s front window, where the streets are clean and most people, including the tourists, have jobs, and money to spend.
Harrod’s store, in Knightsbridge, claims it is the most famous shop in the world; in theory you can buy anything there, from an elephant to a pencil (though naturally, they would have to order the elephant specially for you, there are none on the shelves!)
In the small streets behind Regent Street, there are all sorts of specialist shops, selling high-quality products to people who can afford them. «Gentlemen’s tailor since 1788,» says the sign outside a tiny shop with beautiful suits in its window. Expensive suits. Most of this shop’s customers are businessmen, celebrities and diplomats; here at least, the foreign customer, after his first English lesson, can say «my tailor is rich».
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Student Worksheet
True or false. Say whether these statements are true or false, according to the article.
1. London has some fine Roman remains that can be visited. T / F
2. The Tower of London and Westminster abbey are about the same age. T / F
3. Lots of bankers and businessmen live in the city of London. T / F
4. The court of King Cnut was in Winchester, not in London. T / F
5. Chelsea is part of Westminster. T / F
6. London is the biggest city in the world T / F
Read the article above, then answer these questions.
1. Why was Gautier so surprised when he first saw London?
2. How old is London?
3. Why did Westminster become an important part of London?
4. Why are there not many people in the City of London at night?
5. Explain why London does not have a lot of very old buildings.
6. Why was London the first «modern» city?
7. Why are there more tourists in Knightsbridge than in Brixton?
8. Why was Brixton in the news ten years ago?
Notes for teachers
Introduction:
a) Brainstorm with your pupils, to see how much they know, collectively, about London. Some pupils who have visited London may try to dominate the debate; but try to let as many pupils as possible have their say.
To help the less vociferous pupils express themselves, allow everyone five or ten minutes, in groups of two or three, to prepare statements about London.
b) If you have a map of London, put it on the wall, and situate all the places referred to in this document.
The City, the Millennium Bridge, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Parliament, the West End, Waterloo station, the South Bank, Bethnal Green, Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, Carnaby St., Camden.
Other ideas?
EFL teachers: Help develop this resource by contributing extra teaching materials or exercises.
To contribute click here for further details
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London
Top: City of London skyline, Middle: Palace of Westminster, Bottom left: Tower Bridge, Bottom right: Tower of London.
London region in the United Kingdom
— London Assembly
— European Parliament
14 constituencies
London constituency
London, situated in south-eastern England at the head of the River Thames estuary, is the largest urban area and capital of England and the United Kingdom. An important settlement for two millennia, London’s history goes back to its founding by the Romans. Since its settlement, London has been part of many important movements and phenomena throughout history, such as the English Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the Gothic Revival. The city’s core, the ancient City of London, still retains its limited medieval boundaries; but since at least the nineteenth century, the name «London» has also referred to the whole metropolis which has developed around it.
London 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. Its diverse population draws from a wide range of peoples, cultures, and religions, and over 300 languages are spoken within the city. The city is home to a plethora of nationalities that have over time molded and shaped the city’s culture into what it is today. While London can claim to be a major influence in many areas, it is weak in religious practice. It is lower than any other part of the United Kingdom or Western Europe and is approximately seven times lower than American averages.
Contents
The city boasts four World Heritage Sites: The Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and St. Margaret’s Church; the Tower of London; the historic settlement of Greenwich; and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The city is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, and its popularity has increased over the years due to economic growth.
Geography
The term “City of London,” or “the City,” applies to a small area known as the Square Mile (2.59 square kilometers) that was the original settlement (ancient Londinium) and is now part of the financial and business district of the metropolis. Greater London covers an area of 609 square miles (1579 square kilometers), making it the 37th largest urban area in the world.
London lies within the bowl of the London Basin, 50 miles (80km) upriver from its mouth at the Nore, where the English Channel joins the North Sea. The center of the basin is dominated by the modern valley of the Thames, which forms a level corridor running from west to east. The modern floodplain is around half a mile wide to the west of Greater London, expanding to two miles wide to the east. This is bordered by slightly higher and older terraces often extending several miles from the floodplain, for example in Hounslow and Southwark.
London has a temperate marine climate, like much of the British Isles, with regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year—unlike the rest of the United Kingdom and even the nearby coast. The warmest month is July, with an average temperature range of 56.5 to 73.0 °F (13.6 °C to 22.8 °C).
The Thames, a navigable river flowing west to east across the London Basin, is tidal, rendering London vulnerable to flooding. Larger left bank tributaries include the Colne, Crane, Brent, Lea or Lee, Roding, Rom and Ingrebourne. Significant right bank tributaries include the Mole, Wandle, Ravensbourne, and the Darent and its tributary the Cray.
A number of canals or canalized rivers have been constructed in the London area, mostly in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, originally for goods traffic.
London began on the Thames’ north bank and for many centuries London Bridge was the only bridge, keeping most of the city on the north bank. When additional bridges were built in the 18th century, the city expanded in all directions.
The City of London is on the site where the Roman fort of Londinium, founded in the first century C.E., stood. St. Paul’s Cathedral stands on the western edge of the City, while the Tower of London, the repository of the Crown Jewels, lies to the south-east. West of Tower Bridge is London Bridge.
To the east and northeast of the City are the working-class districts of the East End. London’s new financial and commercial hub is the Docklands area to the east of the City, on the north bank of the Thames, dominated by the Canary Wharf complex. West of the City lie the Inns of Court, the legal district, and Fleet Street, once the home of Britain’s press. Other businesses located in the City of Westminster, the home of the UK’s national government and the well-known Westminster Abbey. The West End contains most of the best-known theaters and shopping districts. West London is also known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, Knightsbridge, and Chelsea.
History
Roman rule
During prehistoric times, London was most likely a rural area with scattered settlement. Londinium was established as a civilian town by the Romans about seven years after the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 C.E. In around 60 C.E., it was sacked by the Iceni, led by their queen Boudica, but rebuilt as a planned Roman town. During the second century, Londinium reached its height and replaced Colchester as the capital of Roman Britain (Britannia). Its population was around 60,000 inhabitants. It boasted major public buildings, including the largest basilica north of the Alps, a governor’s palace, temples, bath houses, amphitheatre and a large fort for the city garrison.
Anglo-Saxons
In 410 C.E., the Roman occupation of Britain came to an end. From the sixth century, Anglo-Saxons began to inhabit the area. By the 600s, the Anglo-Saxons had created a new settlement called Lundenwic approximately 1000 yards (1km) upstream from the old Roman city, around what is now Covent Garden. London revived, and by the eighth century, trade was prospering again across the English Channel and the North Sea.
A Viking raid in 851 destroyed that city. A Viking occupation 20 years later was short-lived. 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 Saxon city of Lundenwic became Ealdwic («old city»), a name surviving to the present day as Aldwych, which is in the modern City of Westminster.
Subsequently, under the control of various English kings, London once again prospered as an international trading center and political arena. Viking raids began again in the late tenth 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.
Medieval London
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 southeast 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.
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-fourteenth 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.
Tudor London
The Tudor period, from 1485 until 1603, was a dramatic period of English history, when Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I transformed England from a comparatively weak European backwater into a powerful state.
The Reformation produced little bloodshed in London. Before the Reformation, more than half of the area of London was occupied by monasteries, nunneries and other religious houses, and about a third of the inhabitants were monks, nuns and friars. Thus, Henry VIII’s “Dissolution of the Monasteries” meant nearly all of this property changed hands. The Crown redistributed Catholic Church property into the hands of royal supporters, who sold them, turned them into spectacular dwellings, or redeveloped them for industrial and commercial purposes.
During this period, trade expanded to Russia, the Levant, and the Americas. London boomed from a population of about 50,000 in 1500 to perhaps 140,000 in 1600, and to about 750,000 by 1700.
Plague and fire
The «Great Plague» occurred in 1665 and 1666, and killed around 60,000 people, which was one fifth of the population. The Great Fire of London broke out in the original City and quickly swept through London’s wooden buildings, destroying about 60 percent of the City, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, 87 parish churches, 44 livery company halls, and the Royal Exchange. Only 16 died.
Rebuilding took over 10 years largely under direction of a Commission appointed by King Charles II and chaired by Sir Christopher Wren, and followed the street plan of the old city. Many aristocratic residents never returned, preferring to take new houses in the West End, where fashionable new districts such as St. James’s were built close to the main royal residence, which was Whitehall Palace until it was destroyed by fire in the 1690s, and thereafter St. James’s Palace.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, led to a large migration on Huguenots to London. At this time the City of London was becoming the world’s leading financial center, superseding Amsterdam. In 1700, London handled 80 percent of England’s imports, 69 percent of its exports and 86 percent of its re-exports.
Eighteenth century
The eighteenth century was a period of rapid growth for London. New districts, such as Mayfair, were built for the rich in the West End, new bridges over the Thames encouraged an acceleration of development in South London and in the East End, the Port of London expanded downstream from the City. During this period was also the uprising of the American colonies.
Eighteenth century London was dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750, as a professional police force. Penalties for crime were harsh, with the death penalty being applied for fairly minor infractions. Public hangings were common in London, and were popular public events.
Nineteenth century
During the nineteenth century, London was transformed into the world’s largest city and capital of the British Empire. Its population expanded from one million in 1800 to 6.7 million a century later. While the city grew wealthy as Britain’s holdings expanded, nineteenth century London was also a city of poverty, where millions lived in overcrowded and unsanitary slums. Life for the poor was immortalized by Charles Dickens in such novels as Oliver Twist.
In 1829, the prime minister Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police as a police force covering the entire urban area. The force gained the nickname of «bobbies» or «peelers,» named after Robert Peel.
Nineteenth century London was transformed by the coming of the railways. A new network of metropolitan railways allowed for the development of suburbs in neighboring counties, from which middle-class and wealthy people could commute to the city’s center.
As the capital of a massive empire, London became a magnet for immigrants from the colonies and poorer parts of Europe. A large Irish population settled there, with many of the newcomers refugees from the Great Famine (1845-1849). London also became home to a sizable Jewish community, and small communities of Chinese and South Asians settled in the city.
The first railway to be built in London was a line from London Bridge to Greenwich, which opened in 1836. This was soon followed by the opening of great rail termini, which linked London to every corner of Britain.
One of the most famous events of nineteenth century London was the Great Exhibition of 1851. Held at The Crystal Palace, the fair attracted visitors from across the world and displayed Britain at the height of its Imperial dominance.
Twentieth century
London’s population continued to grow rapidly in the early decades of the twentieth century, and public transport was greatly expanded. A large tram network was constructed by the London County Council, through the LCC Tramways. And the first motorbus service began in the 1900s. Improvements to London’s overground and underground rail network, including large scale electrification were progressively carried out.
During World War I, London experienced its first bombing raids carried out by German zeppelin airships; these killed around 700 people and caused great terror, but were merely a foretaste of what was to come. The largest explosion in London occurred during World War I: The Silvertown explosion, when a munitions factory containing 50 tons of TNT exploded, killing 73 and injuring 400.
London suffered severe unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the East End during that same decade, politically extreme parties of both the right and left flourished. The Communist Party of Great Britain won a seat in the House of Commons, and the far-right British Union of Fascists received extensive support. Clashes between right and left culminated in the Battle of Cable Street in 1936. The population of London reached an all time peak of 8.6 million in 1939.
Large numbers of Jewish immigrants fleeing from Nazi Germany, settled in London during the 1930s, mostly in the city’s West End.
During World War II, London was bombed extensively by the Luftwaffe as a part of The Blitz. Hundreds of thousands of children were evacuated to the countryside to avoid the bombing. Civilians took shelter from the air raids in underground stations. Between September 1940, and May 10, 1941, London was subjected to 71 separate raids receiving over 18,000 tonnes of high explosive. Towards the end of the war, during 1944 and 1945, London came under heavy attack again by pilot-less V-1 and V-2 rockets, fired from Nazi occupied Europe. By the war’s end, just under 30,000 Londoners had been killed by the bombing, and over 50,000 seriously injured, tens of thousands of buildings were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless.
Rebuilding
London’s rebuilding was slow to begin. In the immediate postwar years housing was a major issue, due to the large amount of housing destroyed in the war. The authorities decided upon high-rise blocks of flats (apartments). During the 1950s and 1960s, the skyline of London altered dramatically as tower blocks were erected, although these later proved unpopular.
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 organizations.
An economic revival from the 1980s onward re-established London’s position. However, it has been subjected to bouts of terrorism. Provisional Irish Republican Army bombers sought to pressure the government into negotiations over Northern Ireland. More recently, a series of coordinated bomb attacks were carried out by Islamic extremist suicide bombers on the public transportation network on July 7, 2005, just 24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Government and politics
London is the home of the Government of the United Kingdom which is located around the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. Many government departments are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall, including the Prime Minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street.
London is represented in the national Parliament by 74 Members of Parliament (MPs) who correspond to local parliamentary constituencies. The City has its own governance and boundaries, giving it a status as the only completely autonomous local authority in London.
The administration of London takes place in two tiers—a city-wide, strategic tier and a local tier. City-wide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority, while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities. The Greater London Authority consists of two elected parts; the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly, who scrutinizes the mayor’s decisions and can accept or reject his budget proposals each year. The Greater London Authority was set up in 2000 to replace the similar Greater London Council which had been abolished in 1986. The 33 local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation. They are responsible for local services not overseen by the Greater London Authority, such as local planning, schools, social services, local roads and refuse collection.
Economy
Financial and business services sector accounts for about 85 per cent of London’s employment. London’s banking sector accounts for about 20 per cent of total international bank lending. London has one of the largest international insurance markets, the world’s largest center for trading overseas equities, the largest foreign exchange market, one of the biggest financial derivatives markets, the greatest concentration of international bond dealers, and major markets for transactions in commodities. London also has a vast range of legal, accountancy, management, property, computer, and advertising consultancy services.
A second, smaller financial district is developing at Canary Wharf, to the east of the City, which includes the global headquarters of HSBC, Reuters, Barclays, and the Magic Circle, which includes Clifford Chance, the largest law firm in the world.
Tourism employed the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in London in 2003. Annual expenditure by tourists is around £15-billion, and overseas visitors accounted for 70 percent of this spending. London has about 480 hotels. The most popular attractions are the British Museum (five million visitors in 2001), the National Gallery, Westminster Abbey (where the sovereign is crowned), Madame Tussaud’s waxworks, the London Eye (a giant Ferris wheel near Westminster Bridge), and the Tower of London.
Another half a million employees resident in Greater London work in manufacturing and construction, almost equally divided between both. Heavy industry has declined since World War II, and between 1982 and 1994, the numbers employed in manufacturing almost halved to approximately 328,000. Printing and publishing accounts for over a quarter of London’s manufacturing employment, reflecting London’s role as an administrative, financial, and media center. Other sectors include electrical and electronic engineering; food, drink, and tobacco; and chemicals and synthetic fibers. There is strong growth in the recycling/environmental sector.
The centerpiece of the public transport network is the London Underground—commonly referred to as The Tube—which has 11 interconnecting lines. It is the oldest, longest, and most expansive metro system in the world, dating from 1863. The Docklands Light Railway is a second metro system, which opened in 1987, serving East London and Greenwich on both sides of the Thames. High-speed Eurostar trains link St. Pancras International with Lille and Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium.
London’s bus network runs 24 hours, with 8000 buses, 700 bus routes, and over six million passenger journeys made every weekday.
Travel in outer London is automobile-dominated. The inner ring road (around the city center), 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 routes—but very few motorways penetrate into inner London. In 2003, a congestion charge of £8 per day was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city center.
London is a major international air transport hub. Eight airports use the words «London Airport» in their name, but most traffic passes through one of five major airports. London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, and is the major hub of the nation’s flag carrier, British Airways.
The Port of London is now only the third-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 50 million tonnes of cargo each year.