Some Facts About London

London has been home of many famous Englishmen. Some were born there. Some lived there all their lives. Others lived in London only for a short time but all gave something to this great city

One of the first names of importance is that of Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet. He lived most of his life in London. He knew the courts of King Richard II d King Henry IV. His most famous work, 'The Canterbury Tales", opens at the Tabard Inn, in Southwark. Chaucer held official posts in London and is buried in Westminster Abbey.

William Shakespeare also lived in London. He lived there for more than twenty years. He acted at the Globe Theatre and wrote his plays in London. But London's famous men are not only writers. Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, spent most of his life in London. He designed many beautiful churches, including St. Paul's Cathedral. He also designed palaces and fine houses.

Music is represented by a very interesting figure. This is George Frederick Handel. He came to London from Hanover in 1710. He lived for a time at Burlington House, Piccadilly, now the Royal Academy. After some success and some failure he at last became famous. This happened when he composed "The Messiah". "Judas Maccabeus". and 'The Music for the Royal Fireworks". Like Chaucer and many other great artists. Handel is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Another famous London figure is one of England's greatest seamen. Admiral Lord Nelson. He has a very special memorial in Trafalgar Square. The monument consists of a very tall column. On top of it stands a figure of Nelson. It is called the Nelson Column. Equally famous is the general who led the army at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. This was the Duke of Wellington. His house stands at Hyde Park Comer. It is sometimes known as Number One, London. Like Admiral Nelson, the Duke of Wellington is buried in St. Paul's Cathedral

London

London draws people from all over the world. Some come on business, some come to study, to work or on holiday. London is naturally a very English city and it is very cosmopolitan, containing goods, food and entertainment, as well as people, from many countries of the world. London spreads its influence over much of the southern areas of England; it gives work to millions of people who live not only in the inner city areas but in surrounding districts. There is much in London which fascinates visitors and inspires the affection of Londoners: the splendor of the royal palaces and the Houses of Parliament, the dignity of St. Paul’s Cathedral and many monuments and beautiful parks. London shows examples of buildings that express all the different areas of its history. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the Sovereign. The daily ceremony of the Changing of the Guards takes place in its courtyard. The palace was built in 1703 by the Duke of Buckingham. Piccadily Circus Has become an important meeting point – for as well as sightseers. At its heart is a bronze fountain topped by a figure of a winded archer, known as Eros, the pagan god of love. This area is now famous for its theatres, clubs and shops. Whitehall is a street in central London running from Trafalgar Square to the Houses of Parliament and containing many important buildings and government offices, such as the Treasury, Admiralty and others, In the centre of the roadway stands the Cenotaph, the memorial to the fallen of both world wars. The Prime Minister’s residence at No. 10 Downing Street is directly connected to Whitehall. London is always full of life. The streets are crowded with traffic. High ‘double-decker’ buses rise above the smaller cars and vans. The city of London today is the financial powerhouse of the country and one of the chief commercial centers of the western world. The city has its own Lord Major, its own Government and its own police force. Here the medieval buildings stand side by side with modern glass high-rise offices. The parks of London provide a welcome contrast to the great built-up areas. St.James’s Park, Green Park, Hyde Park, and Kensington Gardens are linked together. They form 313 hectares of open parkland in the heart of London.

London

London is the British capital and one of the biggest cities in the world. The oldest part of London is called the City. It is small, but it is very important. Two thousand years ago a town was built here. For hundreds of years people lived and worked there, but now many of the old houses are gone. Thousands of the people come here every morning to work in large offices. To the east the large area called the East End. This is London’s poorest part, where people of all colours live. The very large riverside dorks in the East End make London one of the three largest parts in the world. To the west are the fine shops and theatres of the area known as the West End. This is part is best known to rich tourists. Oxford Street with its great department stores is the favorite street for shopping. In the West End there are beautiful parks too. The largest of all London’s parks is the Hyde Park. The Houses of Parliament are along the bank of the Thames and Parliament Square is one of many London squares. Some of them are small, others are large and busy, like Trafalgar Square.

London

London is one of the largest and most interesting cities in the world. Greater London covers an area of about 600 square miles and has the population of nearly 9 million people. In London today, there still stand numerous landmarks reminding us of the town, as it was five or six centuries ago. The old town that stood until the Great Fire of 1666 was surrounded by a wall. Inside the wall there were streets lined with wooden one-story houses. Almost the whole of the town was contained in what is still known as the City. Nowadays the City is London's commercial and business centre. The City is only one square mild in area and only a few thousand people live there. During the day it's full of energy and life, but towards the end of the day it grows almost desolate. It contains the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange and the head offices of numerous companies and corporations. Thanks to them, the City is often referred to as "the money" of London. But the City is also a Mecca for a museum - goes. Here is situated the Tower of London that comes first among the historic buildings of the British capital. Founded by Julius Caesar and rebuilt by William the Conqueror, it was used as a fortress, a royal residence and prison. Now it is a museum of armour and the place where the Crown Jewels are kept. A twenty minutes' walk from the Tower will take you to St. Paul's Cathedral, the greatest of English churches. In one of its towers hangs one of the largest bells of the world, Great Paul. Another important part of' London, where most of the government buildings are located, is Westminster. Tourists are invariably taken to see Westminster abbey, where many English sovereigns, outstanding statesmen, poets and artists are buried; Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament, with its famous Big Ben that strikes every quarter of an hour. Visitors with plenty of money to spend come chiefly to the West End of London, its shopping and entertainment centre. The theatre land is stretched around Piccadilly Circus. Not far from it one can see the British Museum and the Covent Garden Opera House. Expensive shopping promenades-Regent Street, Oxford Street and Bond Street - would lead you to Regent Park and Hyde Park. The last - but not the last - of London's functional zones is the East End. It is the district inhabited by workers and the poor. Industry is chiefly found in that part of the capital, grey with soot and smoke. London is the main centre of Britain's printing and the manufacture of clothing, food and drink, precision instruments and aircrafts, cars and ships. London's port is the third biggest port in the world.

London

London is a royal city. The British queen has a palace there – Buckingham Palace, which is the official London home of the Royal family. It is a vast 600 roomed palace but it has no style and is quite uninteresting. The 1st sovereign to live in the Palace was Queen Victoria. There is the Queen Victoria memorial in front of the building. The British people like the Queen and the royal family. They like important occasions too, such as: the Changing of the Guard, the State Opening of the Parliament and some others. The Houses of Parliament (The Palace of Westminster) stand on the bank of the river Thames. The Palace of Westminster is the seat of the Parliament. It is built in the Gothic style. The Clock Tower, which contains the hour-bell called “Big Ben”, is known all over the world. The Tower is old and it has a long and a cruel history. The Tower was a royal residence, but now it’s a museum. One can see ravens on the territory of the Tower. There is a legend which dates from just over a century ago: that as long as there are ravens at the Tower, Britain will continue to exist. St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey are famous London churches. St. Paul’s Cathedral was built by Christopher Wren in Renaissance Style (all other English churches are Gothic). It took Wren about 35 years to build the Cathedral. It is an operating church, because it is the largest Protestant Church in England. It is high dome, containing the remarkable Whispering Gallery. Westminster Abbey is situated in Parliament’s Square. This is the place where all the kings and queens of England were crowned. Darwin, I. Newton, Kipling, Dickens, W. Scott and many other well-known people are buried there. Five important streets meet at Picadilly Circus in London’s “West End”. The cars, the red London buses, and the taxis go round a statue there. People don’t remember the statue’s real name. They say: “It’s Eros, the Greek god of love”. Picadilly Circus is a very busy place. It’s busy day and night. People come here to shop at the day time, and at night they come for a night out. Trafalgar Square is the center of London. It is famous for the tall Nelson’s Column – the monument to Admiral Lord Nelson. The square was named Trafalgar to commemorate the victory at Trafalgar in 1805 where Nelson was killed. The pedestal of the Column is decorated with bas-reliefs representing Nelson’s most familiar victories. At the base of Nelson’s Column are four lions. On the north side of the square are the National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery has a collection of paintings from British, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch and other famous schools. It is an international, rather than, as it is named, a National Gallery.

London

If I had a chance to go to London I'd like to see not only the places of interest but many other interesting things there. Certainly everyone knows that the most famous sights of the capital of the Great Britain are Tower Bridge over the river Themes, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Saint Paul's Cathedral, The British museum, Art Gallery. It seems I know all these sights well because we have been getting acquainted with them since the 5-Th form up to now. I think it will be enough one-day excursion to see all these sights with my own eyes. I'd better visit the one of the numerous English pubs- the local beer halls where Englishmen like to spend their free time reading, talking, discussing traditional matters - political, sports and weather over the glass of beer. Or I'll try to feel myself as a real Englishman visiting a house of a common English family. I'd like to sit round the fire place which is traditional for every English house. If I were lucky I would visit one of the competition or a tournament where traditional English sport games are played - rugby or lawn tennis, horse racing or cricket. I'd like to walk among the students of Cambridge or Oxford university in their campus and to imagine that I am one of them. I believe my impression on London won't be full if I don't visit Madam Tussad's museum in Baker street. I'm looking forward to seeing their life - size wax portraits of kings and queens, well - known writers, singers and even criminals One of my evenings in London I'd like to spend in a disco club to watch the way English teenagers and young people spare their time, to listen to their popular groups, to make friends and what not.

London

In 1996, in winter I went to London. This city impressed me very much. When we left from Archangel the weather was terrible: it was awfully cold. But when we arrived to London there were green leaves on the trees and the air was much warmer then in our city. That was the first thing that impressed me in London. We lived not in the central part of the London City, but in the suburb, and the atmosphere in that part of the city was pleasant and quiet. The streets were clean and tidy; the houses in our neighborhood were very nice. These things aroused in me pleasant emotions. London offers its visitors the great variety of scenes. The places of interest are fascinating there. Such buildings like Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and Tower of London impressed me by their beautiful architecture. They reflect the past of English people and they affected me greatly. One more interesting thing to view is The London Bridge. It looks especially effective when you cross it. But I think that the most outstanding building to view in London is Big Ben. This beautiful tower rises among the multi-storeyed buildings and it looks very exciting. Especially beautiful it looks in the evening when the lighting is on. I was also impressed by English shops. The great variety of things to buy helps you to find anything you want. Especially I was impressed by multi-storeyed shops, which we can't find in Archangel. These shops have elevators and even shop guides. It takes hours to explore them. All these things are able to impress even the man who traveled a lot and saw many interesting places. English people impressed me very much too. They are friendly and easy to talk to. When you walk in the street you see smiling faces and it is very pleasant. They are not always criticizing everything and complaining on something. But the most impressive place to my mind is Madam Tussauds museum of wax figures where you can find perfectly made figures of the most famous people of the world from Lenin and Bill Clinton to Michel Jackson and The Beatles. In some halls figures are shown in interesting scenes in some they are just sitting or standing. There are also figures of great historic people who lived long time ago. I think that London is worth visiting because of its great places of interest and because exploring of them provides a lot of minutes of pleasure. I also think that it would be very exciting to make a journey to this city for citizens of Archangel in winter because such quick getting from the northern city to the city where even in winter there is green grass and no snow makes a great affect.

London — the capital of Great Britain is situated on the Thames River. It is the largest city in Europe with a population of eight and a quarter million. It is divided into four parts: the City, Westminster, the West End and the East End. The City is the business and commercial heart of London. Many banks, offices and firms are concentrated there. The Tower and St. Paul's Cathedral are in the centre. The Tower is about 900 years old. Many years ago it was a royal residence, then a prison. Now it is a museum. St. Paul's Cathedral is very large and fine. It was completed in 1710. The famous English architect Christopher Wren planned and built St. Paul's Cathedral. If the City is the business part of London, Westminster is the centre of administration. We can see the Houses of Parliament there. It is a beautiful building with two towers and a very big clock called Big Ben. The Houses of Parliament stand in Parliament Square. Westminster Abbey is opposite the Houses of Parliament. Many great Englishmen were buried in Westminster Abbey. To the west of Westminster Abbey you can see Buckingham Palace. It is a royal residence. The ceremony of the changing of the guards which takes place in front of Buckingham Palace is of great interest to the tourists. Rich people live in the West End. The best and most expensive clubs, restaurants and theatres, beautiful houses and parks are there. The East End —the district of plants, factories, slums and docks — is for the working people. London is unlike any other city in the world. It has rather wide streets but low houses. It looks very grey because there is so much rain and fog there. Only buses and pillar-boxes are red. This city has never been planned and it has many parts which are different from each other.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1954