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Panorama of modern London, taken from the Golden Gallery of St Paul's Cathedral. See Panorama of London for more panoramic images.

St Paul's Cathedral

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. The 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) 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 Europe's most economically powerful city 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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Exterior of venue during a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drury Lane. The present building, opened in 1812, is the most recent of four theatres that stood at the location since 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could "reasonably have claimed to be London's leading theatre". For most of that time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres, granted monopoly rights to the production of "legitimate" drama in London (meaning spoken plays, rather than opera, dance, concerts, or plays with music).

The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. Initially known as "Theatre Royal in Bridges Street", the theatre's proprietors hired prominent actors who performed at the theatre on a regular basis, including Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart. In 1672, the theatre caught fire and Killigrew built a larger theatre on the same plot, renamed the "Theatre Royal in Drury Lane"; it opened in 1674. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under the leaderships of Colley Cibber, David Garrick and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the last of whom employed Joseph Grimaldi as the theatre's resident Clown. (Full article...)

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Photo credit: Andrew Dunn

The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court of the British Museum is a covered square designed by the architects Foster and Partners. It opened in December 2000 and is the largest covered square in Europe. The roof is a glass and steel construction with 1,656 pairs of uniquely shaped glass panes. At the centre of the Great Court is the British Museum Reading Room.

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Articles about London can be found under these categories:

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Stanley Augustus Holloway OBE (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady. He was also renowned for his comic monologues and songs, which he performed and recorded throughout most of his 70-year career.

Born in London, Holloway pursued a career as a clerk in his teen years. He made early stage appearances before infantry service in the First World War, after which he had his first major theatre success starring in Kissing Time when the musical transferred to the West End from Broadway. In 1921, he joined a concert party, The Co-Optimists, and his career began to flourish. At first, he was employed chiefly as a singer, but his skills as an actor and reciter of comic monologues were soon recognised. Characters from his monologues such as Sam Small, invented by Holloway, and Albert Ramsbottom, created for him by Marriott Edgar, were absorbed into popular British culture, and Holloway developed a following for the recordings of his many monologues. By the 1930s, he was in demand to star in variety, pantomime and musical comedy, including several revues. (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 Laurence Olivier George Lansbury Marie Lloyd Robert of Jumièges

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Selected quotation

“

London goes beyond any boundary or convention. It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.

”

Peter Ackroyd, London: The Biography (2000)

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