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.

Big Ben

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. The wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament. London grew rapidly in the 19th century, becoming the world's largest city at the time. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has referred to the metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which since 1965 has largely comprised the administrative area of Greater London, 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 world art, entertainment, fashion, commerce, finance, education, healthcare, media, science, technology, tourism, transport, and communications. Despite a post-Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange, London remains a European economic powerhouse, and one of the world's major financial centres. It hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, some of which are 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. It is the most visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system. The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system.

London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million made it Europe's third-most populous city, accounting for 13.4% of the United Kingdom's population and over 16% of England's population. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants as of 2011. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants as of 2016, making London a megacity. (Full article...)

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The Iranian Embassy, severely damaged by fire following the end of the siege

The Iranian Embassy siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1980, after a group of six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy on Prince's Gate in South Kensington, London.

The gunmen, Iranian Arabs campaigning for sovereignty of Khuzestan Province, took 26 people hostage, including embassy staff, several visitors, and a police officer who had been guarding the embassy. They demanded the release of prisoners in Khuzestan and their own safe passage out of the United Kingdom. The British government quickly decided that safe passage would not be granted and a siege ensued. Subsequently, police negotiators secured the release of five hostages in exchange for minor concessions, such as the broadcasting of the hostage-takers' demands on British television. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: David Iliff

The three tallest skyscrapers in Canary Wharf, a large business and shopping development in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, as viewed from Cabot Square: 8 Canada Square (centre-left), One Canada Square (centre), Citigroup Centre (centre-right).

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Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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Pinter in 2005

Harold Pinter CH CBE (/ˈpɪntər/; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964) and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen. His screenplay adaptations of others' works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), The Trial (1993) and Sleuth (2007). He also directed or acted in radio, stage, television and film productions of his own and others' works.

Pinter was born and raised in Hackney, east London, and educated at Hackney Downs School. He was a sprinter and a keen cricket player, acting in school plays and writing poetry. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but did not complete the course. He was fined for refusing national service as a conscientious objector. Subsequently, he continued training at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked in repertory theatre in Ireland and England. In 1956 he married actress Vivien Merchant and had a son, Daniel, born in 1958. He left Merchant in 1975 and married author Lady Antonia Fraser in 1980. (Full article...)

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William Shakespeare Henry Wood Jack the Ripper Samuel Johnson Jack Sheppard Mary Wollstonecraft Noël Coward Mellitus David Bowie Alice Ayres Edgar Speyer 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

“

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner,
That I love London so;
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner,
That I think of her wherever I go.
I get a funny feeling inside of me,
Just walking up and down;
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner,
That I love London town.

”

Hubert Gregg, "Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner" (1947)

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Did you know...

The "Circle of Lebanon" in Highgate Cemetery, London

…that the Magnificent Seven are a group of 19th-century cemeteries on what were then the fringes of London?

…that Kensal Green Cemetery is the only Victorian cemetery in Britain established by an Act of Parliament with a mandate that its bodies may not be exhumed?

…that London's first non-demoninational garden cemetery, at Abney Park, is the most important burial place in the UK of 19th-century Congregational, Baptist, Methodist and Salvation Army ministers and educationalists?

…that there were reports of a vampire haunting Highgate Cemetery (pictured) in the 1970s?

…that Beatrix Potter took the names for many of the characters in her children's books from headstones in Brompton Cemetery? (There is even a certain Peter Rabbett buried there.)

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General images

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

Image 1The Shard (left), an icon of 21st-century London (from History of London)
Image 2A view of London from the east in 1751 (from History of London)
Image 3Samuel Pepys, chronicler of Stuart London (from History of London)
Image 4Cheapside pictured in 1909, with the church of St Mary-le-Bow in the background (from History of London)
Image 5John 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 6A Carausius coin from Londinium mint (from History of London)
Image 7Tourists consulting a map near St Paul's Cathedral (from Tourism in London)
Image 8A depiction of the imprisonment of Charles, Duke of Orléans in the Tower of London, from a 15th-century manuscript. Old London Bridge is in the background (from History of London)
Image 9A detailed copy of John Rocque's Map of London, 1741–5 (from History of London)
Image 10London 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 11Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre (from Culture of London)
Image 12Shaftesbury Avenue, c. 1949 (from History of London)
Image 13Main entrance to the British Museum (from Culture of London)
Image 14The "Woodcut" map of London, formally titled Civitas Londinum (c. 1561) (from History of London)
Image 15A medal of Constantius I capturing London (inscribed as lon) in 296 after defeating Allectus. From Beaurains treasure. (from History of London)
Image 16Ogilby & 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 17A plaque in the City of London noting the re-establishment of the Roman walled city (from History of London)
Image 18A silver coin of Alfred, with the legend ÆLFRED REX (from History of London)
Image 19The National Gallery from Trafalgar Square (from Culture of London)
Image 20Maughan Library, King's College London (from Culture of London)
Image 21Section 1 (from History of London)
Image 22Girl in costume at the Notting Hill Carnival (from Culture of London)
Image 23Tourism in London 2013 (from Tourism in London)
Image 24Section 2 (from History of London)
Image 25Buckingham Palace as it appeared in the 17th century (from History of London)
Image 26Section 3 (from History of London)
Image 27A tourist stall selling various London and United Kingdom related souvenirs on the edge of Trafalgar Square on the Strand (from Tourism in London)
Image 28Firefighters putting out flames after an air raid during The Blitz, 1941 (from History of London)
Image 29Richard Blome's map of London (1673). The development of the West End had recently begun to accelerate. (from History of London)
Image 30Brixton Academy (from Culture of London)
Image 31Satellite image by Sentinel-2 satellite (from Geography of London)
Image 32Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House (from Culture of London)
Image 33A signpost on Parliament Square with directions for nearby attractions (from Tourism in London)
Image 34The statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester, erected 1899 (from History of London)
Image 35Young people in Carnaby Street in 1966 (from History of London)
Image 36People gathered in Whitehall to hear Winston Churchill's victory speech, 8 May 1945. (from History of London)
Image 37Amy Winehouse was a singer-songwriter from Southgate, north London. (from Culture of London)
Image 38Buckingham Palace in 1837, enlarged by John Nash (from History of London)
Image 39London c. 1300 (from History of London)
Image 40John Evelyn's plan for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire (from History of London)
Image 41The Clock Tower of Wren's St Paul's Cathedral (from History of London)
Image 42In spite of heavy traffic, several companies operate tour buses in London. (from Tourism in London)
Image 43The Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge in the early 1890s (from History of London)
Image 44Outline of the London region (from Geography of London)
Image 45Tourists at Buckingham Palace (from Tourism in London)
Image 46Three cultural icons of London: a K2 red telephone box, Big Ben and a red double-decker bus (from Culture 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.