London

1
London

• London is the capital city of England and the
  United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in
  the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in
  the European Union by most measures. Located on
  the River Thames, London has been a major
  settlement for two millennia, its history going
  back to its founding by the Romans, who named it
  Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of
  London, largely retains its square-mile mediaeval
  boundaries. Since at least the 19th century, the
  name London has also referred to the metropolis
  developed around this core. The bulk of this
  conurbation forms the London region and the
  Greater London administrative area, governed by
  the elected Mayor of London and the London
  Assembly.

2
Government

• The administration of London is formed of two
  tiersa city-wide, strategic tier and a local
  tier. City-wide administration is coordinated by
  the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local
  administration is carried out by 33 smaller
  authorities. The GLA consists of two elected
  components the Mayor of London, who has
  executive powers, and the London Assembly, who
  scrutinise the mayor's decisions and can accept
  or reject his budget proposals each year. The
  headquarters of the GLA is City Hall, Southwark
  the current mayor is Boris Johnson. The mayor's
  statutory planning strategy is published as the
  London Plan, which was most recently revised in
  2011. The local authorities are the councils of
  the 32 London boroughs and the City of London
  Corporation. They are responsible for most local
  services, such as local planning, schools, social
  services, local roads and refuse collection.
  Certain functions, such as waste management, are
  provided through joint arrangements. In 20092010
  the combined revenue expenditure by London
  councils and the GLA amounted to just over 22
  billion (14.7 billion for the boroughs and
  7.4 billion for the GLA)

3
Middle Ages

• With the collapse of Roman rule in the early 5th
  century, London was effectively abandoned.
  However, from the 6th century an Anglo-Saxon
  settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly
  to the west of the old Roman city, around what is
  now Covent Garden and the Strand, rising to a
  likely population of 1012,000. In the 9th
  century London was repeatedly attacked by
  Vikings, leading to a relocation of the city back
  to the location of Roman Londinium, in order to
  use its walls for protection. Following the
  unification of England in the 10th century
  London, already the country's largest city and
  most important trading centre, became
  increasingly important as a political centre,
  although it still faced competition from
  Winchester, the traditional centre of the kingdom
  of Wessex.

4
Architecture

• London's buildings are too diverse to be
  characterised by any particular architectural
  style, partly due to their varying ages. Many
  grand houses and public buildings, such as the
  National Gallery, are constructed from Portland
  stone. Some areas of the city, particularly those
  just west of the centre, are characterised by
  white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few
  structures in central London pre-date the Great
  Fire of 1666, these being a few trace Roman
  remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered
  Tudor survivors in the City. Further out is, for
  example, the Tudor period Hampton Court Palace,
  England's oldest surviving Tudor palace, built by
  Cardinal Thomas Wolsey c. 1515. Wren's late 17th
  century churches and the financial institutions
  of the 18th and 19th centuries such as the Royal
  Exchange and the Bank of England, to the early
  20th century Old Bailey and the 1960s Barbican
  Estate form part of the varied architectural
  heritage. The disused, but soon to be
  rejuvenated, 1939 Battersea Power Station by the
  river in the southwest is a local landmark, while
  some railway termini are excellent examples of
  Victorian architecture, most notably St. Pancras
  and Paddington.

5
Parks and gardens

• The largest parks in the central area of London
  are three of the Royal Parks, namely Hyde Park
  and its neighbour Kensington Gardens at the
  western edge of central London, and Regent's Park
  on the northern edge. Regent's Park contains
  London Zoo, the world's oldest scientific zoo,
  and is located near the tourist attraction of
  Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.
• Closer to central London are the smaller Royal
  Parks of Green Park and St. James's Park. Hyde
  Park in particular is popular for sports and
  sometimes hosts open-air concerts. A number of
  large parks lie outside the city centre,
  including the remaining Royal Parks of Greenwich
  Park to the south-east and Bushy Park and
  Richmond Park to the south-west, as well as
  Victoria Park, London to the east. Primrose Hill
  to the north of Regent's Park is a popular spot
  to view the city skyline.
• Some more informal, semi-natural open spaces also
  exist, including the 320-hectare (790-acre)
  Hampstead Heath of North London. This
  incorporates Kenwood House, the former stately
  home and a popular location in the summer months
  where classical musical concerts are held by the
  lake, attracting thousands of people every
  weekend to enjoy the music, scenery and
  fireworks.

6
Economy

• London generates approximately 20 per cent of the
  UK's GDP160 (or 446 billion in 2005) while
  the economy of the London metropolitan areathe
  largest in Europegenerates approximately 30 per
  cent of the UK's GDP (or an estimated 669
  billion in 2005). London is one of the
  pre-eminent financial centres of the world and
  vies with New York City as the most important
  location for international finance.
• London's largest industry is finance, and its
  financial exports make it a large contributor to
  the UK's balance of payments. Around 325,000
  people were employed in financial services in
  London until mid-2007. London has over 480
  overseas banks, more than any other city in the
  world. Currently, over 85 (3.2 million) of the
  employed population of greater London works in
  the services industries. Due to its prominent
  global role, London's economy has been affected
  by the Late-2000s financial crisis. The City of
  London estimates that 70,000 jobs in finance will
  be cut within a year. The City of London is home
  to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange,
  and Lloyd's of London insurance market.

7
Music

• London is one of the major classical and popular
  music capitals of the world and is home to major
  music corporations, such as EMI, as well as
  countless bands, musicians and industry
  professionals. The city is also home to many
  orchestras and concert halls, such as the
  Barbican Arts Centre (principal base of the
  London Symphony Orchestra), Cadogan Hall (Royal
  Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Royal Albert Hall
  (The Proms). London's two main opera houses are
  the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum Theatre.
  The UK's largest pipe organ can be found at the
  Royal Albert Hall. Other significant instruments
  are found at the cathedrals and major churches.
  Several conservatoires are located within the
  city Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of
  Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and
  Trinity College of Music.

8
Transport Air

• London is a major international air transport hub
  with the largest city airspace in the world.
  Eight airports use the word London in their name,
  but most traffic passes through six of these.
  London Heathrow Airport, in Hillingdon, West
  London, is the busiest airport in the world for
  international traffic, and is the major hub of
  the nation's flag carrier, British Airways. In
  March 2008 its fifth terminal was opened. There
  were plans for a third runway and a sixth
  terminal however these were cancelled by the
  Coalition Government on 12 May 2010. In September
  2011 a personal rapid transit system was opened
  at Heathrow to connect to a nearby car park.

9
Sport

• London has hosted the Summer Olympics three
  times in 1908, 1948, and 2012. London was chosen
  in July 2005 to host the 2012 Olympics and
  Paralympics, making it the first city to host the
  modern Games three times. London was also the
  host of the British Empire Games in 1934. London
  will host the 2017 World Championships in
  Athletics.
• London's most popular sport is football and it
  has fourteen League football clubs, including six
  in the Premier League Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham,
  Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, and West
  Ham United.

10
Tourism

• Thames between London is a popular centre for
  tourism, one of its prime industries, employing
  the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in
  2003, while annual expenditure by tourists is
  around 15 billion. London attracts over 14
  million international visitors per year, making
  it Europe's most visited city. London attracts 27
  million overnight-stay visitors every year. In
  2009 the ten most-visited attractions in London
  were
• British Museum
• National Gallery
• Tate Modern
• Natural History Museum
• London Eye
• Science Museum
• Tower of London
• National Maritime Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• Madame Tussauds

11
Tourism British Museum

• The British Museum is a museum in London
  dedicated to human history and culture. Its
  permanent collection, numbering some eight
  million works, is amongst the largest and most
  comprehensive in existence and originates from
  all continents, illustrating and documenting the
  story of human culture from its beginnings to the
  present.
• The British Museum was established in 1753,
  largely based on the collections of the physician
  and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first
  opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in
  Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the
  current museum building. Its expansion over the
  following two and a half centuries was largely a
  result of an expanding British colonial footprint
  and has resulted in the creation of several
  branch institutions, the first being the British
  Museum (Natural History) in South Kensington in
  1887. Some objects in the collection, most
  notably the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon, are
  the objects of intense controversy and of calls
  for restitution to their countries of origin.

12
Tourism London Eye

• The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel situated
  on the banks of the River Thames in London,
  England. The entire structure is 135 metres (443
  ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120
  metres (394 ft).
• It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the
  most popular paid tourist attraction in the
  United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million
  people annually. When erected in 1999 it was the
  tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until
  surpassed first by the 160 m (520 ft) Star of
  Nanchang in 2006 and then the 165 m (541 ft)
  Singapore Flyer in 2008. Supported by an A-frame
  on one side only, unlike the taller Nanchang and
  Singapore wheels, the Eye is described by its
  operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered
  observation wheel". It provides the highest
  public viewing point, and is the 20th tallest
  structure, in London.

13
Tourism National Gallery

• The National Gallery is an art museum on
  Trafalgar Square, London. Founded in 1824, it
  houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings
  dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The
  Gallery is an exempt charity, and a
  non-departmental public body of the Department
  for Culture, Media and Sport. Its collection
  belongs to the public of the United Kingdom and
  entry to the main collection is free of charge.
  It is the fourth most visited art museum in the
  world, after the Musée du Louvre, the
  Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum.

14
Tourism Tate Modern

• Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in
  London, England. It is Britain's national gallery
  of international modern art and forms part of the
  Tate group (together with Tate Britain, Tate
  Liverpool, Tate St Ives and Tate Online). It is
  the most-visited modern art gallery in the world,
  with around 4.7 million visitors per year. It is
  based in the former Bankside Power Station, in
  the Bankside area of Central London. Tate holds
  the national collection of British art from 1500
  to the present day and international modern and
  contemporary art.

15
Tourism Tower of London

• Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more
  commonly known as the Tower of London, is a
  historic castle on the north bank of the River
  Thames in central London, England, United
  Kingdom. It lies within the London Borough of
  Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of
  the square mile of the City of London by the open
  space known as Tower Hill. It was founded towards
  the end of 1066 as part of the Norman Conquest of
  England. The White Tower, which gives the entire
  castle its name, was built by William the
  Conqueror in 1078, and was a resented symbol of
  oppression, inflicted upon London by the new
  ruling elite. The castle was used as a prison
  since at least 1100, although that was not its
  primary purpose. A grand palace early in its
  history, it served as a royal residence. As a
  whole, the Tower is a complex of several
  buildings set within two concentric rings of
  defensive walls and a moat. There were several
  phases of expansion, mainly under Kings Richard
  the Lionheart, Henry III, and Edward I in the
  12th and 13th centuries. The general layout
  established by the late 13th century remains
  despite later activity on the site.