History of the london 1600 to 2021.

 thisis londonevery year more than nine million

people come from countries all over the
world
to visit london
they go to the theaters and museums
they look at interesting old buildings

many of them hundreds of years old

they sit or walk in the beautiful parks

or have a drink in a pub

they go to oxford street to look at the

shops

or to harrods

two million visitors go to the tower of

london

a million more go to see saint paul's

cathedral

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yes london is a big

and beautiful city with lots to see

and do but how did it all begin

chapter 2 in the beginning

the name london comes from the romans

there were people living here before

they came

but we do not know very much about them

the romans came to england in ad-43

they built houses and other buildings

and made a town

next to the river thames they called the

town

londinium they

built a bridge over the river

and ships came up to londinium from the

sea

the town got bigger and bigger

important new buildings went up

and you can see some of the roman city

wall

today near the museum of london

it was a rich town with about fifty

thousand people living in it

but soon after ad400

the romans left londinium to go back to

rome

and nobody lived in the town for many

hundreds of years

the buildings began to fall down

danish soldiers destroyed more buildings

nearly 500 years later

king alfred was king of england then

he got the danes to leave london

and his men built the town again

in 1066 william the conqueror came to

england

from france to be king

soon after he began to build the tower

of london

when henry viii was king in 1509

50 000 people lived in london again

by the year 1600 there were

two hundred thousand but a lot of them

lived in old and dirty buildings

in 1665 a hundred thousand people

died from an illness called the plague

this was called the year of the great

plague

a year later in 1666

there was a big fire the fire of london

it began in a house in pudding lane

near london bridge

more than a quarter of a million

londoners lost their

homes in the fire

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it destroyed saint paul's cathedral and

88

other churches

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but the fire also destroyed most of the

worst

old buildings and the new houses that

went up

after this were better for people to

live in

a new saint paul's cathedral was built

between

sixteen seventy five and seventeen

eleven by eighteen

eighty one more than three million

people

lived in london today

more than six million people live here

there were eight million in the 1960s

but in the 1970s and 1980s

people moved out of the center of london

visiting the city

a quick and easy way to get to different

places

in the city is to use an underground

train the trains run

all day and most of the night

buy your ticket before you get on the

train

it's better not to make your journey

between

eight o'clock and ten o'clock in the

morning

or four o'clock and six o'clock

in the evening these are called

the rush hours thousands of people

are going to work or coming home again

then

and it is difficult to move or

to find a place to sit on the train

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you can see much more of london

from one of its famous red buses

some special visitors buses take you

to many of the interesting places in the

city

on one journey it takes

about one and a half hours

but you can break your journey and get

off

and on again at the different places

you want to visit

london taxis are called black

cabs most of them

are black but some are not you can stop

one

if it has a for higher sign on it

the drivers are usually friendly and

helpful

why not take a boat trip along the river

thames

boats leave westminster pier

and charing cross pier

and they go to tower pier and

greenwich between

april and october you can take a longer

boat trip

to hampton court about four hours

a beautiful palace in a big park

some places to go

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the queen has her london home at

buckingham palace

it is at the end of the mall a long road

that begins at trafalgar square

at half past 11 most mornings

the soldiers at buckingham palace change

the guard

it takes about 30 minutes and

hundreds of visitors come to watch

and in august and september

you can usually visit some of the rooms

in the palace

but there are always lots of people

coming to see them

so be ready to wait

you can also visit the royal muse at the

palace

this is the home of the queen's horses

and coaches

the queen's gallery is also at the

palace

and you can visit it at most times of

the year

here you can see pictures from all over

the world

the tower of london is now a museum

and one of london's most famous

buildings

more than 2 million people visit it

every year

yeoman waters also called beefeaters

tell them all about the tower

you can see the crown jewels and visit

the bloody tower and the white tower

or take a walk round the wall

and perhaps see one of the towers famous

black birds the ravens

tower bridge is near the tower of london

it is one of the most famous bridges in

the city

and first opened in 1894.

saint paul's cathedral is not far away

on ludgate hill it was built by sir

christopher wren

after the fire of london

wren built more than 50 london churches

visitors can go up to the golden gallery

to look across london westminster

westminster abbey is more than 900 years

old

and is a very famous london church

after william the conqueror every

king and queen of england was crowned

king

or queen here

the houses of parliament are near

westminster abbey

this is the home of the british

government

the clock high up on the building is

called

big ben the prime minister

the head of the british government lives

at

10 downing street

walk along parliament street to

whitehall

past the government buildings and you

can see the little street

on your left

parks and gardens

when you are tired of looking at

buildings

you can sit or walk in one of london's

beautiful parks

hyde park has a lake in the middle

called the serpentine and you can take a

boat out

on the water it is a good place to get

away from the crowds and the noise

of the city

you can listen to the speakers at

speaker's corner

near marble arch

people from all over the world come and

speak here

you can ask a speaker some difficult

questions

if you like or you can stand on a box

and speak to some of the listeners

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kensington gardens is next to hyde park

here you can see the statue of peter pan

the famous boy in the children's story

peter pan by j.m barry

regent's park is the home of london

zoo the zoo has

thousands of birds and animals from all

over the world

there is also a theater in the park

on a summer's evening you can sit out

under the night sky

and watch a play by william shakespeare

england's most famous writer

saint james's park is next to the mall

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it is smaller but many people think it

is more beautiful

shops and eating

the most famous shop in london

some people say the most famous in the

world

is harrods in knightsbridge

it opened in 1849

oxford street has many big shops

selfridges marx and spencer

john lewis debenhams

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there are always lots of people looking

at the shops here

but at christmas thousands more people

come to see the wonderful christmas

lights

and to buy things for their friends and

family

for christmas

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charring cross is famous for its

bookshops

there are lots of them and they sell

old and new books

one of the oldest and most famous

is foils it has

thousands of books but it can

sometimes be very difficult to find the

book you want

covent garden was once a big food market

but now it has lots of small shops and

cafes

and there are street performers to watch

there are two very famous markets in

london

petticoat lane market open on sundays

is in middlesex street

and is a good place to buy cheap clothes

and things for the home

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at the market in portobello road

open on saturdays you can buy

old clocks old chairs and tables

and hundreds of other things

you can find food from nearly every

country in the world in london

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in soho in the west end of london

see map on pages 18 and

19 you can eat food from

italy india china

japan greece and lots more places

there are also thousands of pubs in the

city

in many pubs you can eat as well as

drink

or why not have some english fish and

chips

they are cheap and good to eat

or you can have tea at the ritz in

piccadilly

or at the savoy hotel in the strand

going out theaters

and music

london's west end has some of the best

theaters in the world

so tickets can be expensive

go in the afternoon it is often cheaper

there is something for everybody

from a play by the royal shakespeare

company

at the barbican theatre to agatha

christie's the mouse trap

this play began in 1952

and thousands of visitors see it every

year

there are lots of cinemas to visit

the most expensive are in the west end

but you can sometimes get cheap tickets

on mondays

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you can hear wonderful music and singing

from

all over the world at the royal opera

house

in covent garden the royal albert hall

in kensington gore the london coliseum

in saint martin's lane and the barbican

center

silk street for ballet

go to the sadler's wells theatre in

rosebury avenue

or to the royal opera house

to get cheap tickets buy them an hour or

two before it begins

do you like to listen to jazz musicians

you can hear some of the best at ronnie

scott's club

in 5th street or at the bull's head

barnes at barnes bridge

or at 100 club at 100

oxford street

sport some of the most

famous english football clubs are in

london

you can see arsenal play at arsenal

stadium

avenue road n5

chelsea play at stamford bridge

fulham road sw6

and tottenham hotspur play at white hart

lane

high road n17

to watch the very english game of

cricket

go to lord's cricket ground in saint

john's wood

nw8 this

is the home of cricket for most english

people

museums and galleries

the british museum in great russell

street

is the biggest museum in britain

tickets are free the museum of london

at 150 london wall is one of the most

interesting museums in the city it tells

the story of london

and its people

more museum that tells a story is the

museum

of the moving image momi

on the south bank under waterloo bridge

this tells the story of cinema and

television

and there are many things for visitors

to see and

do you can act with actors

on a film set or you can read the news

on tv

four million people visit the national

gallery in trafalgar square

every year they come to look at more

than

two thousand pictures tickets are free

at the national portrait gallery in

saint martin's place

you can see pictures of famous people

tickets are free here too

the london dungeon in thule street

is a museum of horror

half a million people visit it every

year

but they don't always stay to see it all

madam to swords in malibun road is

famous for its people made from wax

you can see famous people from the past

and famous people of today

abraham lincoln mahatma gandhi

nelson mandela pavarotti

marilyn monroe charlie chaplin

sylvester stallone and

in the chamber of horrors you can see

some

very bad people places

and parades the city

londoners often talk about the city

they are talking about the oldest part

of london

the home of the bank of england and many

other big

offices about

five thousand people live in the city

and at weekends it feels empty

but between monday and friday

nearly half a million people come here

to work in the banks and offices

look for the city men with their dark

suits and

umbrellas saint paul's cathedral

is in the middle of the city and the

bank of

england has an interesting museum that

you can visit

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also in the city is a very tall building

60.6 meters high

called the monument

christopher wren built this too

and it stands on the place where the

fire of london began

in 1662

some interesting and exciting days

every year on a saturday morning

in june foot guards and

horse guards have a parade for the queen

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this is called trooping the color

the color is the flag that the soldiers

carry

thousands of people stand in the mall

to see the queen and the soldiers go

past

the exciting notting hill carnival

is on the last sunday and monday in

august

there are two wonderful parades to watch

one on sunday and one on monday

and you can see them going through the

streets near portobello road

and ladbroke grove

on the second saturday in november

londoners can see their new lord mayor

in the lord mayor's show a parade

from mansion house the lord mayor's home

to the strand the lord mayor

is the most important person in the city

after the queen

the first mayor of london was henry

fitzallen

in 1189 they were not called

lord mayors until the time of king henry

viii

big red buses london policemen

buckingham palace speaker's corner

big ben notting hill carnival

these are some of the things you can

find in london.