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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Chelsea Football Club is a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. Named after neighbouring area Chelsea, they compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1905, the team play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club won their first major honour, the League championship, in 1955. They won the FA Cup for the first time in 1970, won their first European honour, the Cup Winners' Cup, in 1971, and became the third English club to win the Club World Cup in 2022.

Chelsea is one of five clubs and the first English club to have won all three pre-1999 main European club competitions, the "European Treble" of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, European/UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League. They are the only club to have won all three major European competitions twice. They are the only London club to have won the Champions League and the Club World Cup. Domestically, the club has won six league titles, eight FA Cups, five League Cups, and four FA Community Shields. Internationally, they have won the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Super Cup twice each, and the FIFA Club World Cup once. In terms of overall trophies won, Chelsea is the fifth-most successful club in English football. (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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Subcategories

Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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Moore in 1975

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore also produced many drawings, including a series depicting Londoners sheltering from the Blitz during the Second World War, along with other graphic works on paper.

His forms are usually abstractions of the human figure, typically depicting mother-and-child or reclining figures. Moore's works are usually suggestive of the female body, apart from a phase in the 1950s when he sculpted family groups. His forms are generally pierced or contain hollow spaces. Many interpreters liken the undulating form of his reclining figures to the landscape and hills of his Yorkshire birthplace. (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 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 1Brixton Academy (from Culture of London)
Image 2The "Woodcut" map of London, formally titled Civitas Londinum (c. 1561) (from History of London)
Image 3The Clock Tower of Wren's St Paul's Cathedral (from History of London)
Image 4Shaftesbury Avenue, c. 1949 (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 6London c. 1300 (from History of London)
Image 7Young people in Carnaby Street in 1966 (from History of London)
Image 8Les Misérables at the Palace Theatre (from Culture of London)
Image 9Tourists consulting a map near St Paul's Cathedral (from Tourism in London)
Image 10Ogilby & 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 11A tourist stall selling various London and United Kingdom related souvenirs on the edge of Trafalgar Square on the Strand (from Tourism in London)
Image 12Three cultural icons of London: a K2 red telephone box, Big Ben and a red double-decker bus (from Culture of London)
Image 13A Carausius coin from Londinium mint (from History of London)
Image 14Outline of the London region (from Geography of London)
Image 15Girl in costume at the Notting Hill Carnival (from Culture of London)
Image 16Maughan Library, King's College London (from Culture of London)
Image 17Section 1 (from History of London)
Image 18People gathered in Whitehall to hear Winston Churchill's victory speech, 8 May 1945. (from History of London)
Image 19Richard Blome's map of London (1673). The development of the West End had recently begun to accelerate. (from History of London)
Image 20A 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 21In spite of heavy traffic, several companies operate tour buses in London. (from Tourism in London)
Image 22Section 3 (from History of London)
Image 23Buckingham Palace as it appeared in the 17th century (from History of London)
Image 24Section 2 (from History of London)
Image 25A medal of Constantius I capturing London (inscribed as lon) in 296 after defeating Allectus. From Beaurains treasure. (from History of London)
Image 26The statue of Alfred the Great at Winchester, erected 1899 (from History of London)
Image 27The Shard (left), an icon of 21st-century London (from History of London)
Image 28Samuel Pepys, chronicler of Stuart London (from History of London)
Image 29The Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge in the early 1890s (from History of London)
Image 30John Evelyn's plan for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire (from History of London)
Image 31Satellite image by Sentinel-2 satellite (from Geography of London)
Image 32Tourism in London 2013 (from Tourism in London)
Image 33A view of London from the east in 1751 (from History of London)
Image 34Buckingham Palace in 1837, enlarged by John Nash (from History of London)
Image 35Floral Hall of the Royal Opera House (from Culture of London)
Image 36Tourists at Buckingham Palace (from Tourism in London)
Image 37John 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 38A silver coin of Alfred, with the legend ÆLFRED REX (from History of London)
Image 39A detailed copy of John Rocque's Map of London, 1741–5 (from History of London)
Image 40The National Gallery from Trafalgar Square (from Culture of London)
Image 41A signpost on Parliament Square with directions for nearby attractions (from Tourism in London)
Image 42Firefighters putting out flames after an air raid during The Blitz, 1941 (from History of London)
Image 43Cheapside pictured in 1909, with the church of St Mary-le-Bow in the background (from History of London)
Image 44A plaque in the City of London noting the re-establishment of the Roman walled city (from History of London)
Image 45Main entrance to the British Museum (from Culture of London)
Image 46Amy Winehouse was a singer-songwriter from Southgate, north London. (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.