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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.

London Eye

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.

As one of the world's major global cities, London exerts a strong influence on its arts, entertainment, fashion, commerce and finance, education, health care, media, science and technology, tourism, and transport and communications. Its GDP (€801.66 billion in 2017) makes it the largest urban economy in Europe, and it is one of the major financial centres in the world. With Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions, it is home to some of 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. London is the most visited city in Europe and has the busiest city airport system in the world. The London Underground is the oldest rapid transit system in the world. London is home to the most 5-star hotels of any city.

London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The mid-2018 population of Greater London of about 9 million made it Europe's third-most populous city, accounting for 13.4% of the population of the United Kingdom and over 16% of the population of England. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe with about 9.8 million inhabitants at the 2011 census. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe with about 14 million inhabitants in 2016, granting London the status of a megacity. (Full article...)

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Jamiroquai performing at the Coachella Music Festival in 2018

Jamiroquai (/dʒəˈmɪrəkwaɪ/ (listen)) are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in their early releases and later drew from rock, disco, electronic and Latin music genres. Lyrically, the group has addressed social and environmental justice. Kay has remained as the only original member through several line-up changes.

The band made their debut under Acid Jazz Records but subsequently found mainstream success under Sony. While under this label, three of their albums have charted at number one in the UK, including Emergency on Planet Earth (1993), Synkronized (1999) and A Funk Odyssey (2001). The band's 1998 single, "Deeper Underground", was also number one in their native country. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: David Iliff

Built in 1859 and at 4,880 square metres (52,500 sq ft) in area, the Temperate House in Kew Gardens is the largest surviving Victorian glass structure in the world, and houses an extensive collection of temperate plants, including the world's largest indoor plant, the Chilean wine-palm.

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Subcategories

Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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Olivier in 1972

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (/ˈlɒrəns ˈkɜːr əˈlɪvieɪ/; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the mid-20th century. He also worked in films throughout his career, playing more than fifty cinema roles. Late in his career, he had considerable success in television roles.

His family had no theatrical connections, but Olivier's father, a clergyman, decided that his son should become an actor. After attending a drama school in London, Olivier learned his craft in a succession of acting jobs during the late 1920s. In 1930 he had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives, and he appeared in his first film. In 1935 he played in a celebrated production of Romeo and Juliet alongside Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft, and by the end of the decade he was an established star. In the 1940s, together with Richardson and John Burrell, Olivier was the co-director of the Old Vic, building it into a highly respected company. There his most celebrated roles included Shakespeare's Richard III and Sophocles's Oedipus. In the 1950s Olivier was an independent actor-manager, but his stage career was in the doldrums until he joined the avant-garde English Stage Company in 1957 to play the title role in The Entertainer, a part he later played on film. From 1963 to 1973 he was the founding director of Britain's National Theatre, running a resident company that fostered many future stars. His own parts there included the title role in Othello (1965) and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1970). (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 Elizabeth Canning Henry Moore William Sterndale Bennett Gilbert Foliot Lilias Armstrong George Lansbury Marie Lloyd Stanley Holloway Robert of Jumièges

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Selected quotation

“

Ah! my poor dear child, the truth is, that in London it is always a sickly season. Nobody is healthy in London, nobody can be.

”

Jane Austen, Emma (1816)

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Did you know...

...that the Dulwich Picture Gallery opened in 1817 with a collection assembled for a never-realised Polish national gallery, and that it was first purpose-built public art gallery in England?

...that the Petrie Museum ranks behind only the collections of the Cairo Museum, the British Museum and the Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin, by quantity of ancient Egyptian artefacts?

...that the remains of London's Roman amphitheatre can be found in the basement of the Guildhall Art Gallery?

...that the Bethnal Green Museum, now the V&A Museum of Childhood (pictured), is housed in a pre-fabricated building moved from South Kensington in 1872?

...that the Secretum was the name given to a cupboard in the British Museum containing a collection of supposed ancient erotica, which in fact largely consisted of Victorian fakes?

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General images

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

Image 1Richard Blome's map of London (1673). The development of the West End had recently begun to accelerate. (from History of London)
Image 2The Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge in the early 1890s (from History of London)
Image 3Section 1 (from History of London)
Image 4The "Woodcut" map of London, formally titled Civitas Londinum (c. 1561) (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 6London 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 7A signpost on Parliament Square with directions for nearby attractions (from Tourism in London)
Image 8The Clock Tower of Wren's St Paul's Cathedral (from History of London)
Image 9Tourists at Buckingham Palace. (from Tourism in London)
Image 10A Carausius coin from Londinium mint. (from History of London)
Image 11Outline of the London region (from Geography of London)
Image 12Ogilby & 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 13In spite of heavy traffic, several companies operate tour buses in London. (from Tourism in London)
Image 14A medal of Constantius I capturing London (inscribed as lon) in 296 after defeating Allectus. Beaurains hoard. (from History of London)
Image 15People gathered in Whitehall to hear Winston Churchill's victory speech, 8 May 1945 (from History of London)
Image 16The Shard, an icon of 21st century London (from History of London)
Image 17Maughan Library, King's College London (from Culture of London)
Image 18Amy Winehouse was a singer-songwriter from Southgate, north London. (from Culture of London)
Image 19Three cultural icons of London: a K2 red telephone box, Big Ben and a red double-decker bus (from Culture of London)
Image 20Samuel Pepys, chronicler of Stuart London (from History of London)
Image 21Tourism in London 2013 (from Tourism in London)
Image 22A plaque in the City of London noting the re-establishment of the Roman walled city (from History of London)
Image 23A depiction of the imprisonment of Charles, Duke of Orléans, in the Tower of London from a 15th-century manuscript. (from History of London)
Image 24Section 2 (from History of London)
Image 25Firefighters putting out flames after an air raid during The Blitz, 1941. (from History of London)
Image 26London c. 1300 (from History of London)
Image 27A detailed copy of John Rocque's Map of London, 1741–5. (from History of London)
Image 28Satellite image by Sentinel-2 satellite (from Geography of London)
Image 29A view of London from the east in 1751 (from History of London)
Image 30Cheapside pictured in 1909, with the church of St Mary-le-Bow in the background. (from History of London)
Image 31Buckingham Palace as it appeared in the 17th century (from History of London)
Image 32John Evelyn's plan for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire (from History of London)
Image 33Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre (from Culture of London)
Image 34Tourists consulting a map near St Paul's Cathedral. (from Tourism in London)
Image 35Young people in Carnaby Street in the 1960s (from History of London)
Image 36The statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester, erected 1899 (from History of London)
Image 37Section 3 (from History of London)
Image 38Shaftesbury Avenue, c. 1949 (from History of London)
Image 39Buckingham Palace in 1837, enlarged by John Nash (from History of London)
Image 40A tourist stall selling various London and United Kingdom related souvenirs on the edge of Trafalgar Square on the Strand. (from Tourism in London)
Image 41A silver coin of Alfred, with the legend ÆLFRED REX (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

London-related topics

History

Politics

London government	Mayor of London Greater London Authority London Assembly The 32 London Boroughs City of London Corporation Ken Livingstone London Development Agency City Hall London Plan Metropolitan Board of Works Greater London Council London County Council
UK government in London	Downing Street MI5 SIS (MI6) Middlesex Guildhall Palace of Westminster Palace of Whitehall Portcullis House Somerset House War Office Whitehall

Geography

Attractions

Historic	Barbican Estate Covent Garden Leicester Square Mayfair Palace of Westminster Piccadilly Circus St Paul's Cathedral Tower Bridge Tower of London Trafalgar Square Westminster Abbey
Royal	Buckingham Palace Clarence House Hampton Court Palace Horse Guards Parade Kensington Palace The Mall St James's Palace
Modern	8 Canada Square 22 Bishopsgate 30 St Mary Axe Canary Wharf Citigroup Centre London Eye Millennium Bridge The O2 Arena Millennium Dome One Canada Square The Shard Tower 42 Wembley Stadium
Retail	Bond Street Carnaby Street Harrods Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge Liberty Oxford Street Regent Street Selfridges Tottenham Court Road
Monuments	Albert Memorial Cenotaph Cleopatra's Needle Monument to the Great Fire Nelson's Column more ...

Civic

Culture

Economy

Education

Museums
and galleries

League teams
(tiers 1–4)

1	Arsenal Brentford Chelsea Crystal Palace Fulham Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United
2	Millwall Queens Park Rangers
3	Charlton Athletic
4	AFC Wimbledon Leyton Orient Sutton United

Non-league teams
(tiers 5–8)

5	Barnet Bromley Dagenham & Redbridge Wealdstone
6	Dulwich Hamlet Hampton & Richmond Borough Welling United
7	Carshalton Athletic Corinthian-Casuals Cray Wanderers Enfield Town Haringey Borough Harrow Borough Hayes & Yeading United Hendon Hornchurch Kingstonian Wingate & Finchley
8	Barking Bedfont Sports Cray Valley Paper Mills Hanwell Town Northwood Romford Sutton Common Rovers Tooting & Mitcham United Uxbridge VCD Athletic

Rivalries

London derbies

Cup competitions

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.

Westminster.tube.station.jubilee.arp.jpg

Transport in London

Companies and
organisations

Transport for
London (TFL)

London Underground	Night Tube Bakerloo Central Circle District Hammersmith & City Jubilee Metropolitan Northern Piccadilly Victoria Waterloo & City
London Rail	Docklands Light Railway Elizabeth line London Overground North London East London South London West London Gospel Oak to Barking Lea Valley Romford–Upminster Watford DC Tramlink Crossrail construction project, Crossrail 2, proposed
Other	London cable car Buses Night buses Coach station Cycle hire Dial-a-Ride London River Services London Streets Source London Taxi and Private Hire office

Bus operators

River operators

Train operators

Other

Airports

Within London	City Heathrow London Heliport Military: Northolt Private: Biggin Hill
Outside London	Gatwick Luton Southend Stansted

Major stations

Central area	Baker Street Bank/Monument Blackfriars Bond Street Cannon Street Charing Cross City Thameslink Earl's Court Elephant & Castle Euston Farringdon Fenchurch Street King's Cross Liverpool Street London Bridge Marylebone Moorgate Oxford Circus Paddington St Pancras International Tottenham Court Road Vauxhall Victoria Waterloo Waterloo East Westminster
Other	Barking Canary Wharf Clapham Junction Ealing Broadway East Croydon Finsbury Park Green Park Heathrow Stations Highbury & Islington Lewisham London City Airport Richmond Stratford Surbiton Sutton Upminster West Ham West Hampstead Willesden Junction Wimbledon

Roads

Motorways	M1 M4 M11 M25 London Orbital Former: M41 (West Cross Route) A40(M) (Westway) A102(M) (East Cross Route)
Ring roads	London Inner Ring Road North Circular Road South Circular Road
Charging	Congestion charge Low emission zone Ultra Low Emission Zone