\nHave you ever visited the capital city of the United Kingdom and wondered about its deep and fascinating history?\n
Maybe you\u2019ve seen pictures of London that have sparked your curiosity to learn more about this famous city. Or maybe you\u2019re wondering how this city has evolved over hundreds of years.\n
This is your chance to find out why London is so iconic and why people flock to visit every year.\n
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You might expect London to be bigger and busier than any other city in the country.\n
But you may be surprised that London is more than three times larger than the next biggest city, Manchester!\n
More than 9.6 million people call London home. This is far more than the 2.7 million people living in Manchester, making London the clear winner.\n
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Imperial College London and University College London are consistently ranked among the best universities in the world.\n
They are known for their research expertise and excellence in subjects like engineering, medicine, and business.\n
Around 23,000 students attend Imperial College London at any given time. More than 9,500 degrees are awarded annually.\n
Over at University College London, more than 50,000 students come through the doors every year!\n
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On the busy roads of London, the red bus is an iconic sight. But did you know that they have been painted red since 1905?\n
The London Motor Omnibus Company was the first to adopt red for their \u201cVanguard\u201d fleet of buses that year.\n In 1908, the London General Omnibus Company took over the Vanguard fleet. London buses have stayed red ever since, becoming a well-known feature of England\u2019s largest city!\n This famous museum in London welcomes more than five million visitors every year.\n The museum contains exhibits from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as Asia, the Middle East, and North America.\n That isn\u2019t the only popular museum in London, though.\n Tourists also flock to the Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, National Gallery, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, all of which welcome at least 3 million people annually.\n This grand palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. Due to its vast size, it could take hours to explore.\n It takes up a large chunk of the city, measuring 354 feet (108 meters) by 394 feet (120 meters).\n The palace itself has 52 bedrooms for members of the royal family and their guests, plus 188 bedrooms for the staff. It also has a whopping 78 bathrooms and almost a hundred offices!\n During the summer, visitors to London can buy tickets to Buckingham Palace and wander through 19 State Rooms.\n At other times of the year, they are closed to the public as the King hosts official receptions and events in these extravagant rooms.\n Around 110-120 AD, the Romans built the Roman Fort of Londinium as the capital of Roman Britain.\n The fort itself occupied a fairly small area, taking up just 400,000 square meters (around 1.5% of a square mile).\n A city wall was built into the fort in 200 AD, but not long after, the site was shut down. Britannia (as Britain was known back then) had become more secure, and the fort was no longer needed.\n If you visit London today, you can spot some of the remains of the Roman Fort of Londinium.\n Take a city tour or look for them on Noble Street and along the London Wall, where you will see the old Roman Fort Gate.\n London\u2019s iconic clock tower is often referred to as \u201cBig Ben,\u201d but did you know it is really called the Elizabeth Tower?\n Known for decades as the Clock Tower, this striking building was renamed in 2012 to mark Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s Diamond Jubilee.\n The \u201cBig Ben\u201d bells have been chiming since 1367. You can hear them ringing throughout Westminster every hour.\n And on New Year\u2019s Eve in 1923, the whole country could hear the bells of Big Ben ringing as its chimes were broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time.\n If you travel to Philpot Lane, you will find a tiny sculpture of two mice eating cheese. This is London’s tiniest statue, expertly constructed onto a building at 23 Eastcheap.\n Nobody is quite sure why two mice fighting over a piece of cheese ended up on the wall of this grand building.\n Some say the workmen decided to play a joke when they finished constructing the building in 1862.\n Others believe mice kept stealing the workmen\u2019s lunches, so they left the artwork behind as a tribute.\n Whatever the reason, this little statue certainly piques the interest of those who pass by!\n Subway systems and underground railways are common in cities worldwide today, but London was the only city to have one in 1863.\n On London’s Metropolitan Railway, people could travel between Paddington and Farringdon, stopping at four other stations in between.\n Today, there are more than 270 stations in London\u2019s underground system, which locals know as \u201cthe Tube.\u201d\n In December, visitors to London\u2019s Trafalgar Square will find carol singers, markets, and a huge Christmas tree.\n To express thanks for Britain\u2019s support during the Second World War, Norway has gifted the people of London a Christmas tree since 1947.\n It is carefully chosen from the forests around Oslo and typically stands at around 65 feet (20 meters) tall. It is brought to the UK by boat before going to London in a lorry.\n When Christmas ends, the tree is dismantled and recycled to make mulch.\n The Summer Olympic Games have been held in London three times.\n In 1906, Mount Vesuvius erupted in Italy, and the 1908 Olympics had to be hosted elsewhere. London was chosen, and 66,000 people could watch the games in the new White City Stadium.\n Forty years later, London hosted the 1948 Olympic Games after the competition went on hiatus due to WWII.\n In 2012, visitors again flocked to London to watch the world\u2019s leading athletes compete at Olympic Park.\n Walk through London and you will see many tourists lining up for a photograph of the famous red telephone booths. They first appeared in 1926 and have become one of the city’s most iconic sights.\n Today, they are mainly used as the backdrop for a good Instagram photo, but it\u2019s still possible to pick up the phone and make a call.\n In fact, you can even call the telephone booths.\n Dial +44 20 7930 1397 to reach the telephone booth in Parliament Square, one of the most famous due to its location near Elizabeth Tower, the home of Big Ben.\n If you\u2019re lucky, a surprised tourist may pick up the phone!\n In 1666, thousands of people became homeless as a huge fire swept through the city. The Great Fire of London wiped out 87 churches and even destroyed the famous St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral.\n Homes were made of timber in the 1600s, and people didn\u2019t know about fire safety as they do today.\n The fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane and soon spread throughout London. There was no fire brigade then, so the navy blew up houses to prevent the fire from spreading further!\n It took more than 30 years to reconstruct London after the devastating inferno.\n If you spend a few days in London, you will likely have an opportunity to watch the Changing of the Guard. This ceremony is held at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle every day of the week.\n It is the moment when the famous royal guardsmen, in their bearskin hats and red jackets, hand their duties over to their colleagues. Thousands of people watch, and a royal band plays.\n People who watch British royal ceremonies might notice sparkling gemstones among the pomp and circumstance.\n These are from a collection of 23,578 jewels, which have been stored in the Tower of London since 1661.\n Armed guards look after the Crown Jewels in the tower’s Jewel House.\n They are only moved for special occasions, like royal coronations, and important events like the State Opening of Parliament.\n British singers like David Bowie and Amy Winehouse hail from London, contributing to the city’s worldwide recognition as a hub of music and culture.\n The influence of these musicians can be seen throughout the city, too. A statue of Amy Winehouse stands in Camden Stable Market, while Brixton is home to a mural of David Bowie.\n And it doesn\u2019t stop there. Coldplay started in London, performing to the locals in Camden Town.\n Adele came from humble beginnings in Tottenham before winning Grammy Awards and performing in Las Vegas.\n As revenge for the oppression of Roman Catholics under King James I, Guy Fawkes and his accomplices came up with the famous \u201cGunpowder Plot.\u201d\n They wanted to do away with the King and his chief ministers as they met inside Parliament for the official state opening.\n Guy Fawkes left 36 barrels of gunpowder in a cellar underneath the Houses of Parliament, hoping they wouldn\u2019t be discovered.\n But his plan was foiled when the gunpowder was found. Guy Fawkes was arrested and revealed the names of his co-conspirators after being tortured in the Tower of London.\n He was due to be executed but died jumping from the gallows instead.\n In Britain, Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated on November 5 to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.\n The River Thames is 205 miles (330 kilometers) long. It is well-known as a feature of London, and it is not difficult to spot the River Thames if you visit this famous city.\n However, it extends outside of London and well beyond the city, reaching surrounding places like the Cotswolds and Northamptonshire.\n If you want to travel around London differently, you can ride along the River Thames on a boat. Join 4 million other passengers who cruise along on Uber Boat every year!\n People travel from around the world to witness once-in-a-lifetime royal events, like Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.\n More than 2.6 million visitors came to London to mark 70 years of the Queen\u2019s reign.\n International tourists are drawn to the royal history of London, and visitors from the United States are particularly attracted to the Royal Family.\n Flight bookings from the US increase by 10% in the summer, and visitors spend their cash on souvenirs like plates, socks, and tea towels.\n Some finance firms have estimated the British monarchy brings half a billion pounds (over $US600,000) to the UK\u2019s economy annually.\n Although Britain is an island, there are other means of transport to other countries besides planes and boats.\n If you want to travel from London to European cities like Paris, Amsterdam, or Brussels, you can easily hop on a train across the English Channel.\n The Eurostar takes more than 18 million passengers a year between these popular destinations.\n And with less than two and a half hours of travel time from London to Paris, it\u2019s no wonder why so many people are ditching the airlines and going by rail instead.\n Around 3,300 people have been buried in Westminster Abbey. Among the most famous tombs is that of the \u201cUnknown Warrior,\u201d which commemorates soldiers who gave their lives during the First World War.\n In November 1920, the remains of an unknown soldier were brought to Westminster Abbey.\n Nobody knew where the soldier came from or whether he had served in the Navy, Army, or Air Force.\n It has since become a memorial to all the soldiers who died during the war and have no known graves.\n All eight Harry Potter movies were filmed at Warner Bros. Studio in London. More than two million visitors a year enjoy a behind-the-scenes studio tour to learn more about these world-famous films.\n London has iconic locations linked to the Harry Potter movies, like Platform 9 \u00be at Kings Cross station.\n Another, Leadenhall Market, a Victorian market built in 1881, appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone as the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron pub and Diagon Alley.\n Dishes from India are among the most popular in the United Kingdom, so it\u2019s no surprise that London is home to hundreds of Indian restaurants.\n British people love Indian food so much that, in 2001, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook called chicken tikka masala a \u201ctrue British national dish.\u201d\n Thousands of South Asians live in London, and many have joined the catering industry.\n Today, you will find more Indian restaurants in this city than in Mumbai and Delhi combined.\n The M25 motorway circling around London sees more than 200,000 cars every day.\n However, a 2013 poll of more than 23,500 drivers suggested the M25 was the least popular motorway in the entire country.\n This busy highway is Europe\u2019s second-longest city bypass, stretching 117 miles (188 kilometers).\n It is one of the busiest roads in Europe and cost \u00a3909 million (1.15 billion US dollars) to construct. That\u2019s an average of \u00a37.5 million (9.5 million US dollars) per mile!\n Standing at 443 feet (135 meters) tall, the London Eye cannot be missed along the city\u2019s skyline. While not the largest in the world, it is the largest that\u2019s cantilevered (supported only on one side).\n Launched on March 9, 2000, the London Eye is one of the city\u2019s most popular attractions.\nThe British Museum is London\u2019s most popular tourist attraction.\n
\nBuckingham Palace – one of London\u2019s biggest tourist attractions – has 775 rooms.\n
\nLondon was first known as Londinium.\n
\n\u201cBig Ben\u201d is the name of the bells, not the tower.\n
\nLondon\u2019s smallest statue is just a few inches tall.\n
\nThe world\u2019s first underground railway was in London.\n
\nLondon\u2019s world-famous Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square comes from Norway.\n
\nLondon has hosted the Olympic Games more than any other city.\n
\nLondon\u2019s iconic red telephone booths are still active.\n
\nMore than 13,000 homes were destroyed in the Great Fire of London.\n
\nThe Changing of the Guard ceremony happens every day in London.\n
\nThe Crown Jewels are kept in the Tower of London.\n
\nSome of the world\u2019s most famous musicians are from London.\n
\nGuy Fawkes plotted to blow up London\u2019s Houses of Parliament in 1605.\n
\nThe River Thames is the longest river in England and runs through the City of London.\n
\nRoyal occasions bring millions of visitors to London.\n
\nYou can travel between London and Europe by train.\n
\nLondon\u2019s Westminster Abbey is the final resting place for the \u201cUnknown Warrior.\u201d\n
\nThe Harry Potter movies were filmed in London.\n
\nThere are more Indian restaurants in London than in Mumbai.\n
\nLondon\u2019s motorway was once the most hated in Britain.\n
\nThe London Eye is the largest cantilevered Ferris wheel in the world.\n
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