London

by Read Listen Learn

“The man who is tired of London is tired of life.” (Dr.Samuel Johnson, 1709-84)

‘London’. When you hear the name what does it mean to you? Sherlock Holmes in the fog? City gentlemen with Bowler hats and umbrellas? Bad food and pubs that close at 11p.m.? Or, waiting for a red double-decker bus in the pouring rain?

Well, that’s all in the past. Let’s think about modern-day London, which has changed more in the last fifty years than in all its previous history.

That history is much too long to describe in detail here, but let’s just look at its origins: London, a couple of thousand years ago, was probably just a small village on the banks of the River Thames. No-one knows what the name might mean but we do know it’s Celtic, like the people who lived there when the Romans invaded two millennia ago. And it was the Romans who turned London from a village into a city by putting a military camp there because there were two fords close by (now called Brentford and Deptford) where their army could cross the Thames to fight the warring tribes to the north.

They stayed about four hundred years and, by the time they left, London was already a political, commercial and military centre. It was also quite near the south coast and, so, near the rest of Europe; and, although it’s not by the sea, its wide river allowed ships to sail into the heart of the city. Through wars and invasions, London grew in importance until it was made the capital, first of England, then of the whole United Kingdom, as it still is today.

London lies in a ‘bowl’ or round, shallow valley and has a damp, maritime climate but, don’t pay too much attention to Hollywood movies that show London always in the rain – both the French capital Paris and Dallas, Texas, for example, have a higher annual rainfall.

The city is divided by the River Thames. The part of London north of the river, is on clay soil; and the area south of the river, is on sandy soil. We’ll see later how this eventually made North London much bigger than South London.

London’s architecture and housing are very varied with influences from Dutch to Indian. The central zone, in particular, has an amazing range of historical buildings from the queen’s home, Buckingham Palace, to the thousand-year-old castle, the Tower of London.

In the suburbs, you can find a mix of housing, but it’s mostly from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. London traditionally has few apartment buildings compared to New York, Madrid or Tokyo, for example. English people normally much prefer a house with a little garden because in Britain the vote was given first to people who owned land. Unfortunately, individual houses are not a good idea in a crowded city and, nowadays, apartments (or ‘flats’) are becoming much more common.

The financial district, or the ‘City’ as it is known, and the business district on the Isle of Dogs, are high-rise areas where corporate sky-scrapers group together like a mountain range. Back on the ground, one of London’s most charming features is its many parks with tall trees and flower beds in a state of perfection. The British are fanatical gardeners. Hyde Park, in the central zone, is the biggest in London but the second biggest, Greenwich Park, is probably the most beautiful with amazing views across all of London.

Of course, the car now dominates London as it does so many cities but the city does have one of the biggest and most complex transport systems anywhere in the world. It is a mix of bus lines, trains, light railways and, of course, the underground railway or ‘tube’, as it is called. This system was started in the mid-19th century with the digging of many tunnels. Remember, the south of London is sandy so tunneling is difficult but the clay soil north of the river makes it very easy. Tube lines were rolled out far to the north and west of the city and suburbs grew around the new little stations that were, at first, deep in the countryside.

The new tube lines meant that you could be at work in the city centre in half an hour even though your local station was fifteen kilometres away. Because of this phenomenon, North and West London expanded into mega-suburbs while South London, with just the usual buses and trains, remained smaller.

But what gives London its character, changing through time, are the Londoners themselves. From the original Celtic village two thousand and more years ago to the vast city we know today, there have been repeated waves of immigration: Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, Norman, French protestant, Dutch, Irish, Jewish, Caribbean, Pakistani, African and so on.

In the last twenty years London has seen very high levels of immigration from all over the world. Now at least 55% of adults are foreign immigrants and more still are the children of recent immigrants. No surprise then that mixed race children are the biggest single category in the schools. Racism exists in every city in the world but London has good race relations and no ghettoes, which makes it the ethnic melting pot that New York claimed to be but never really was.

In essence, London now has the biggest and most diverse fusion culture in Europe and is, these days, the most cosmopolitan city the world has ever known. Anyone can become a Londoner and you can hear more than two hundred languages being used every day – certainly a challenge for schools, the police and other local government agencies. But it seems a challenge worth taking on as London is now a powerful cultural force.

Once upon a time, London’s food and restaurant scene had a terrible reputation but now, with the fusion culture, you can try excellent food from around the world. Name a country and you’ll find a restaurant or café somewhere in London that serves their food. London has been voted the culinary capital of Europe a couple of times in recent years. And the advantages of fusion culture don’t stop there. Music and dance, fashion and hairstyles, writing and the visual arts are just a few of the things that have taken on a renewed and intense energy in a city that has always had a great reputation for art and culture.

However, before you pack your suitcases and come to London, we should warn you that it is one of the most expensive cities in the world; and, of course, the English capital city is no longer the best place to learn English – try one of the smaller English cities for that – but, if you want to see the world in a nutshell, then come and join the party!