Portal:London

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The London Portal

Panorama of modern London, taken from the Golden Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral. See Panorama of London for more panoramic images.

St Paul's Cathedral

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which since 1965 has largely comprised Greater London, which is governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority.

As one of the world's major global cities, London exerts a strong influence on its arts, entertainment, fashion, commerce and finance, education, health care, media, science and technology, tourism, and transport and communications. Its GDP (€801.66 billion in 2017) makes it the largest urban economy in Europe, and it is one of the major financial centres in the world. With Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, it is home to some of the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world—Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences, the London School of Economics in social sciences, and the comprehensive University College London. London is the most visited city in Europe and has the busiest city airport system in the world. The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world.

London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The mid-2018 population of Greater London of about 9 million made it Europe's third-most populous city, accounting for 13.4% of the population of the United Kingdom and over 16% of the population of England. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe with about 9.8 million inhabitants at the 2011 census. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe with about 14 million inhabitants in 2016, granting London the status of a megacity. (Full article...)

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An unofficial topological tube map of the London Underground system. Also included are the London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, the Tramlink and Elizabeth line systems for integration purposes.

The London Underground is a metro system in the United Kingdom that serves Greater London and the home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire. Its first section opened in 1863, making it the oldest underground metro system in the world – although approximately 55% of the current network is above ground, as it generally runs on the surface in outlying suburbs.

The system is composed of eleven lines – Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, and Waterloo & City – serving 272 stations. It is operated by Transport for London (TfL). (Full article...)

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Photo credit: David Iliff

30 St Mary Axe, otherwise known as "The Gherkin" or the Swiss Re building, at 180 m (590 ft) is the 6th tallest in London, England. Designed by Foster and Partners, the architectural design of the tower contrasts sharply against more traditional buildings in London, such as the Church of St Andrew Undershaft in this photograph.

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Subcategories

Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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Coward in 1972

Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 1899 – 26 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".

Coward attended a dance academy in London as a child, making his professional stage début at the age of eleven. As a teenager he was introduced into the high society in which most of his plays would be set. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter, and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well over a dozen musical theatre works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet and comic revues), screenplays, poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel Pomp and Circumstance, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works, as well as those of others. (Full article...)

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William Shakespeare Henry Wood Jack the Ripper Samuel Johnson Jack Sheppard Mary Wollstonecraft Mellitus David Bowie Alice Ayres Edgar Speyer Harold Pinter Edmund Evans Elizabeth Canning Henry Moore William Sterndale Bennett Gilbert Foliot Lilias Armstrong Laurence Olivier George Lansbury Marie Lloyd Stanley Holloway Robert of Jumièges

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Selected quotation

“

London is a modern Babylon.

”

Benjamin Disraeli, Tancred (1847), Book V, Chapter 5.

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Did you know...

…that the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly was the first British hotel with a private bathroom to each room?

…that the forecourt of the Savoy Hotel (pictured) is the only street in the United Kingdom where vehicles are required to drive on the right?

…that the Mayfair hotel Claridge's has been called an "extension to Buckingham Palace" due to its royal connections?

…that the Langham Hotel appears in two Sherlock Holmes stories and that The Goon Show broadcasts were recorded in its ballroom?

…that Winston Churchill had a wall built for privacy between his balcony at the Dorchester Hotel and that of the room next door, which survives to this day?

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General images

The following are images from various London-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A silver coin of Alfred, with the legend ÆLFRED REX (from History of London)
Image 2A view of London from the east in 1751 (from History of London)
Image 3Tourism in London 2013 (from Tourism in London)
Image 4Tourists at Buckingham Palace (from Tourism in London)
Image 5People gathered in Whitehall to hear Winston Churchill's victory speech, 8 May 1945. (from History of London)
Image 6Buckingham Palace as it appeared in the 17th century (from History of London)
Image 7Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre (from Culture of London)
Image 8A medal of Constantius I capturing London (inscribed as lon) in 296 after defeating Allectus. Beaurains hoard. (from History of London)
Image 9A Carausius coin from Londinium mint (from History of London)
Image 10Section 2 (from History of London)
Image 11In spite of heavy traffic, several companies operate tour buses in London. (from Tourism in London)
Image 12Firefighters putting out flames after an air raid during The Blitz, 1941 (from History of London)
Image 13Richard Blome's map of London (1673). The development of the West End had recently begun to accelerate. (from History of London)
Image 14A plaque in the City of London noting the re-establishment of the Roman walled city (from History of London)
Image 15Maughan Library, King's College London (from Culture of London)
Image 16Three cultural icons of London: a K2 red telephone box, Big Ben and a red double-decker bus (from Culture of London)
Image 17London c. 1300 (from History of London)
Image 18Section 1 (from History of London)
Image 19Shaftesbury Avenue, c. 1949 (from History of London)
Image 20John Evelyn's plan for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire (from History of London)
Image 21The Clock Tower of Wren's St Paul's Cathedral (from History of London)
Image 22A depiction of the imprisonment of Charles, Duke of Orléans, in the Tower of London from a 15th-century manuscript (from History of London)
Image 23Buckingham Palace in 1837, enlarged by John Nash (from History of London)
Image 24The "Woodcut" map of London, formally titled Civitas Londinum (c. 1561) (from History of London)
Image 25The Shard, an icon of 21st century London (from History of London)
Image 26John Norden's map of London in 1593. There is only one bridge across the Thames, but parts of Southwark on the south bank of the river have been developed. (from History of London)
Image 27Cheapside pictured in 1909, with the church of St Mary-le-Bow in the background (from History of London)
Image 28The statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester, erected 1899 (from History of London)
Image 29A detailed copy of John Rocque's Map of London, 1741–5 (from History of London)
Image 30Amy Winehouse was a singer-songwriter from Southgate, north London. (from Culture of London)
Image 31Satellite image by Sentinel-2 satellite (from Geography of London)
Image 32Tourists consulting a map near St Paul's Cathedral (from Tourism in London)
Image 33Ogilby & Morgan's map of the City of London (1673). "A Large and Accurate Map of the City of London. Ichnographically describing all the Streets, Lanes, Alleys, Courts, Yards, Churches, Halls, & Houses &c. Actually Surveyed and Delineated by John Ogilby, His Majesties Cosmographer." (from History of London)
Image 34Samuel Pepys, chronicler of Stuart London (from History of London)
Image 35The Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge in the early 1890s (from History of London)
Image 36Section 3 (from History of London)
Image 37Young people in Carnaby Street in 1966 (from History of London)
Image 38A tourist stall selling various London and United Kingdom related souvenirs on the edge of Trafalgar Square on the Strand (from Tourism in London)
Image 39London as engraved by J. & C. Walker in 1845 from a map by R Creighton. Many districts in the West End were fully developed, and the East End also extended well beyond the eastern fringe of the City of London. There were now several bridges over the Thames, allowing the rapid development of South London. (from History of London)
Image 40A signpost on Parliament Square with directions for nearby attractions (from Tourism in London)
Image 41Outline of the London region (from Geography of London)

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London Boroughs

City of London † City of Westminster Kensington and Chelsea Hammersmith and Fulham Wandsworth Lambeth Southwark Tower Hamlets Hackney Islington Camden Brent Ealing Hounslow Richmond Kingston upon Thames		Merton Sutton Croydon Bromley Lewisham Greenwich Bexley Havering Barking and Dagenham Redbridge Newham Waltham Forest Haringey Enfield Barnet Harrow Hillingdon
† sui generis – not a London borough

More about London Boroughs
Category: London boroughs

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London Topics

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Transport

London has one of the oldest and largest public transport systems in the world. Many components of its transport system, such as the double-decker bus, the Hackney Carriage black taxi and the Tube, are internationally recognised symbols of London. London has a comprehensive rail network with several major railway stations, including two international train stations at St Pancras railway station and Stratford International, which connect London to mainland Europe through the Eurostar service. London also has six international airports. In addition to public transport, London is the start point for a number of motorway routes. The M25 is an orbital motorway which enables vehicles to avoid travelling through central London, and is one of the busiest motorways in Europe.