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 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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Exterior of the theatre, 2023

His Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The building, designed by Charles J. Phipps, was constructed in 1897 for the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) at the theatre. In the early decades of the 20th century Tree produced spectacular productions of Shakespeare and other classical works, and the theatre hosted premieres by such playwrights as Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge and, later, Noël Coward and J. B. Priestley. Since the First World War the wide stage has made the theatre suitable for large-scale musical productions, and His Majesty's has accordingly specialised in hosting musicals. It has been home to record-setting musical theatre runs such as the First World War hit Chu Chin Chow and Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, which has run at His Majesty's since 1986, except during the COVID-19 pandemic theatre closures.

The first theatre on the site was established in 1705 by the architect and playwright John Vanbrugh as the Queen's Theatre. Legitimate drama unaccompanied by music was prohibited by law in all but the two London patent theatres, and the theatre quickly became an opera house. Between 1711 and 1739 more than 25 operas by George Frideric Handel premiered here. The theatre burnt down in 1789, and a new theatre was completed in 1791. Some of Joseph Haydn's series of concerts in London took place at the theatre in the 1790s. In the early 19th century the theatre was home to an opera company (which moved to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, in 1847) presenting the first London performances of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni. It also hosted the ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre in the mid-19th century, before returning to opera with the London premieres of such works as Bizet's Carmen and Wagner's Ring cycle. A third building was constructed in 1868. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: Colin

St James’s Park Lake, looking east from the Blue Bridge towards Whitehall and beyond to the London Eye. St James’s Park is the oldest of the Royal Parks of London and lies at the southernmost tip of the area of St James's.

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Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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As illustrated c. 1820

Elizabeth Canning (married name Treat; 17 September 1734 – June 1773) was an English maidservant who claimed to have been kidnapped and held against her will in a hayloft for almost a month. She ultimately became central to one of the most famous English criminal mysteries of the 18th century.

She disappeared on 1 January 1753 and returned almost a month later to her mother's home in Aldermanbury in the City of London, emaciated and in a "deplorable condition". After being questioned by concerned friends and neighbours, she was interviewed by the local alderman, who then issued an arrest warrant for Susannah Wells, the woman who occupied the house in which Canning was supposed to have been held. At Wells' house in Enfield Wash, Canning identified Mary Squires as another of her captors, prompting the arrest and detention of both Wells and Squires. London magistrate Henry Fielding became involved in the case, taking Canning's side. Further arrests were made and several witness statements were taken, and Wells and Squires were ultimately tried and found guilty—Squires of the more serious and potentially capital charge of theft. (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 Harold Pinter Edmund Evans 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, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.

”

Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (1887)

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

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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.