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.

Nelson's Column

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. Its 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) tidal 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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London Wildlife Trust's Camley Street

London Wildlife Trust (LWT) is an English wildlife charity based in London.

Founded in 1981, London Wildlife Trust is one of 46 members of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (known as The Wildlife Trusts), each of which is a local nature charity for its area. The Trust manages 36 nature reserves in Greater London and provides education services for schools, events for nature enthusiasts, and information on how to help London's wildlife. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: Chalmers Butterfield

Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End, c. 1949. The Circus, a famous traffic intersection and public space in the City of Westminster was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly. Its status as a major traffic intersection has made it a busy meeting point and a tourist attraction in its own right.

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Subcategories

Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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Mellitus (/məˈlaɪtəs/; died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Christianity. He arrived in 601 AD with a group of clergy sent to augment the mission, and was consecrated as Bishop of London in 604. Mellitus was the recipient of a famous letter from Pope Gregory I known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, preserved in a later work by the medieval chronicler Bede, which suggested the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually, integrating pagan rituals and customs. In 610, Mellitus returned to Italy to attend a council of bishops, and returned to England bearing papal letters to some of the missionaries.

Mellitus was exiled from London by the pagan successors to his patron, King Sæberht of Essex, following the latter's death around 616. King Æthelberht of Kent, Mellitus' other patron, died at about the same time, forcing him to take refuge in Gaul. Mellitus returned to England the following year, after Æthelberht's successor had been converted to Christianity, but he was unable to return to London, whose inhabitants remained pagan. Mellitus was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered as a saint. (Full article...)

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William Shakespeare Henry Wood Jack the Ripper Samuel Johnson Jack Sheppard Mary Wollstonecraft Noël Coward 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 splendid place to live in for those who can get out of it.

”

George Bruce, 7th Lord Balfour of Burleigh, quoted, Sayings of the Week, The Observer, 1 October 1944.

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

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.