London

     London, with the River Thames flowing through it, has seen a long history and has grown into one vast urban area during the past centuries. It is the political, cultural, and financial centre of Great Britain. And there are world-famous museums and art galleries. Read the following text and you will know more about London.

    When we think of Paris, Rome, Madrid, Athens and other European capitals, we think of them as "cities". When we think of the whole of modern London, that great area covering several hundred square miles, we do not think of it as "a city", not even as a city and its suburbs. Modern London is not one city that has steadily grown larger through the centuries; it is a number of cities, towns and villages that have, during the past centuries, grown together to make one vast urban area.

    London today stretches for nearly thirty miles from north to south and for nearly thirty miles from east to west. This is the area known as "Greater London", with a population of nine million. The "City of London" is a very small part of the whole; it is only one square mile in area, and the number of people who live and sleep in "the City" is only about ten thousand.

    If you could fly low over London in an aeroplane, for example, you would see below you the River Thames, flowing from west to east and dividing London into the two parts known as the north bank and the south bank. The division between "the City" and the "West End" would be less obvious from this bird's-eye view.

    If, from the air, we pick out a few landmarks, we will find it easier to understand how London has grown. Two landmarks stand out clearly: St. Paul's Cathedral in the City, and, about two miles westwards, the group of buildings near Westminster Bridge, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. Linking them we may see a main street called the Strand.

    These two landmarks are a guide to the growth of London. Round St. Paul's is the original London, the oldest part, with a history of almost two thousand years. Westminster, with its Palace and Abbey, is six hundred years younger.
    When the Romans came to Britain in the First century AD, London was a small village. Many of the roads built by the Romans met at the place where London Bridge now stands. Parts of the Roman wall, built in the second century, can still be seen.
    The first Norman King, William the Conqueror, was crowned in 1067 in Westminster Abbey. William built the Tower, still one of the most famous sights of London. For hundreds of years the Tower was used as a prison, and visitors today may see the exact spot where many great nobles were executed. The most popular sight, however, is probably the strongly guarded room in which the Crown jewels are kept and displayed.
    As, during the Middle Ages, London increased in size and wealth, the old City and the area round the Royal Palace at Westminster became the two chief centres. The nobles, priests, judges, and others who were connected with the Court, lived in or near Westminster. This explains how the part of London that we now call the West End came into being. Because Henry VIII was fond of hunting, we have, today, three parks that form a large area of green: St. James's Park, the Green Park, and Hyde Park.
    The Court moved to St James's in the eighteenth century, and to Buckingham Palace in the nineteenth century. Both of these are in the City of Westminster. Here, and farther west, are the finest theatres, cinemas and concert halls, the large museums, the most comfortable hotels, the largest department stores, and the most famous shops. The name "West End" came to be associated with wealth, comfort, and goods of high quality. Here most of the streets are narrow, and traffic is often very slow. Many of these narrow streets run down to the Thames, and at the end of many of them warehouses can be seen. The city is concerned with finance, but it is also a market for goods of almost every kind, from all parts of the world.
    The Port of London is to the east of the "City". Here, today, are miles and miles of docks . This is the East End of London, not beautiful in appearance, but very important to the country's trade.
    If you walk westwards from St. Paul's you reach Fleet Street , a name familiar to people in many parts of the world. Here, and in the side streets running from it, the most important newspapers and news agencies have their offices. If you are told that someone works in Fleet Street, you know that he is probably a journalist, or in some way or other connected with journalism. At most hours of the day and night there are hundreds of motor vans leaving the newspaper offices with their heavy loads, some for the railway stations and others off to news-agents throughout London.

    The ancient City of London has always governed itself and has not shared in the government of the rest of London. The city has its own Lord Mayor and its own Corporation. The Lord Mayor's Show celebrates the election of a new Lord Mayor of London. It is held every year on the second Saturday in November, when the new Lord Mayor rides through the streets in his splendid coach, drawn by six horses.

    In the thirteenth century, after the citizens of London had chosen a new Mayor, they had to go with him to the King's palace in Westminster and ask the King to approve their choice. During the centuries since then, the new Lord Mayor has gone to Westminster by boat, on horseback, or by coach.

    Today, they start in the City and go past St. Paul's Cathedral as far as the boundary of the City of Westminster. They cross the boundary and stop at the Law Courts, where the Lord Mayor is presented to the Lord Chief Justice. The Mayor makes a solemn promise to carry out his duties faithfully, and the Lord Chief Justice hands the Mayor his sword of office. The procession continues to Westminster, and then returns to the Mansion House, which is the Lord Mayor's official house.

    The London County Council, established in 1889, was replaced in 1965 by a new system of local government called the Greater London Council. Within its boundaries there are thirty-two London boroughs, each with its own mayor and council. It is the Greater London Council, however, that is responsible for many of the public services. It is responsible for roads, housing, fire services, parks and open spaces, and town planning.

    Some of the London boroughs are not very well known to people outside Great Britain. Some names are widely known. Chelsea, which is now united with Kensington, is known to many because of the great writers and artists who have lived there. Kensington is well known, partly because of the royal palace and Kensington Gardens, and partly because of the large museums within its boundaries. Greenwich is known because Greenwich time, the time for the meridian of Greenwich, was, until 1968, standard time in Britain.

    Greater London, with its population of nine million, includes not only the area of the City, but the outer suburbs. It has no definite boundaries, but covers an area of about twenty miles radius from Oxford Circus. Because London has grown so large, the Government has decided that it must spread no farther. It is now surrounded by a "green belt", on which new buildings may be put up only with the permission of the planning authorities.

    London is famous for its museums and art galleries and they are well worth seeing; admission to most is free. The Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum are all situated in a small area in South Kensington. The British Museum, one of the world's largest museums, is in Great Russell Street. And the Museum of London illustrates the history of London from prehistoric times to the present day. The Shakespeare Globe Museum at Bankside, Southwark, a museum of Elizabethan theatre history, includes a reconstruction of Shakespeare's first Globe theatre.

    On the north side of Trafalgar Square, famous for its fountains and its large number of pigeons, there stands a long, low building in classic style. This is the National Gallery, which contains Britain's best-known collection of pictures. The collection was begun in 1824, with the purchase of thirty-eight pictures.

    Admission to the Gallery is free, as is the case with other British national galleries and museums, which are maintained by money voted by Parliament. Private individuals leave their pictures to the galleries after their death, at times on a generous scale.

    Just behind the National Gallery stands the National Portrait Gallery, in which the visitor can see portraits of British kings and queens since the reign of Richard II, and of historical people such as Chaucer and Shakespeare. Many of the pictures are by well-known artists.

    The National Gallery of British Art, better known as the Tate Gallery, was given to the nation by a rich sugar merchant, Sir Henry Tate, who had a taste for the fine arts. It overlooks the Thames, not far from the Houses of Parliament. English artists are naturally well represented here, and the Tate also has a range of modern works, including some sculptures by foreign artists. This, of all the London galleries, is the young people's gallery. It has been stated that three-quarters of its visitors are under twenty-five.

    The Wallace Collection at Hertford House was formed by Lord Hertford and his half-brother, Sir Richard Wallace. Sir Richard Wallace inherited the collection and, in 1897, his widow gave the collection to the nation. There is here a very fine display of weapons and armour, pottery, miniatures and sculptures. The first floor of the building contains many excellent pictures of famous artists.

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