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A touch Parisian chic came under the reign of Edward VII(1901-10). For example: the Ritz Hotel at Piccadillyan the Café Royal. Also the first American style store opened in Oxford Street in 1909. Entertainment for the little people was made at the music hall. Road transport was revolutionised. Motor cars were seen around the city, and the first motor bus was introduced in 1904, and five years later house-drawn buses had been abandoned.
London suffered its first air raids in World War I. The first bomb over the city was dropped in September 1915, to be followed by many nightly raids. All in all, about 650 people lost their lives because of Zeppelin raids.
Between the Wars
Political change happened quickly after WWI. After a government of the liberal party, the Labour Party had enough Members of Parliament to build a new government in 1924. It was the "roaring twenties", who flitted from parties in Mayfait to dance in Ritz. But the biggest class of the population was too poor for this and lived in the post-war slums.
Civil disturbances, caused by rising unemployment and an increased cost of living, resulted in an general strike in 1926. Prime Minister Baldwin encouraged volunteers to take over the public services and the streets teemed with army-escorted food convoys. After nine days the strike was called off by the Trade Union Congress.
The economic situation only worsened in the early 1930s following the New York Stock Exchange crash in 1929. During these years, the London County Council began to have a greater impact on the city´s life. London population increased dramatically between the wars, it was nearly 8,7 million in 1939.
World War II
On September, 3rd 1939 Britain declared War. Afraid of air raids, 600,000 children and pregnant women were evacuated from London. But London had to wait until September 7th 1940, when German bombers threw their bombs on London. On this day entire streets were destroyed, the dead and injured numbered over 2,000. From 1942 the German army had a new weapon, known as the V1 rocket or later the more explosive V2 rocket. Over the winter in 1944, 500 V2s dropped over London, mostly in East End. Victory in Europe(VE Day) was declared on May 8th 1945. Thousands of people went to the streets of London to celebrate. After the war a third of the city and the East End was in ruins.
Postwar London
The new Labour government established the National Health Service in 1948, and began a massive nationalisation programme. In London, the most immediate problem was a critical shortage of housing. The new big houses were often badly built and unpopular with residents. The Olympic Games happened 1948 in London.
In 1950s life and prosperty gradually returned to London. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 had been the biggest television broadcast in history. However, the population dropped by half a million in the late 1950s. Many West Indians came to London and the City welcomed these new emigrants very friendly. The most tolerant area was Soho. By the mid 1960s London had started to swing. The innovative fashions of Mary Quant and others broke the stranglehold of Paris, many boutiques opened along King´s Road. The year of student unrest throughout Europe, 1968, saw the first issue of Time Out. The decade ended with the last Beatles album and the free gig of the Rolling Stones in Hyde Patk on which around half a million people were.
Many Londoners remembered the 1970s as a decade of economic strife. The IRA began ist bombing campaign on mainland Britain. In 1979 a new political life began in Britain as the Conservatives won the general election. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman prime minister. A monetarist policy and cuts in public services divided the poor and the rich. In London riots errupted in Brixton and Tottenham in the early 1980s.
Margaret Thatcher, 1983
The Greater London Council mounted spirited opposition to the Thatcher government. Since then London has been without an elected governing body, 2000 the first mayor was elected.
1990s
In 1990 there was a hope for London. John Major replaced Thatcher as leader of the Conservative Party. A riot in Trafalgar Square had helped to see off both Maggie and her inequitable Poll Tax. The main problem of the city was homelessness. After the re-election of the Conservatives a bomb of the IRA detonated in the city.
In May 1997 the Labour Party won the general election. Though the Labour Government has not yet delivered all its promises, its popularity hasn´t waned and the general mood in London today remains one of optimism.
The Millennium
The Millennium Celebration in London was a very spectacular one. There is the Millennium Dome in Greenwich. It was "the most spectacular millennium event anywhere in the world".
The Richard Rogers Partnership designed the Dome. And there is no denying that the structure is something for itself. The largest roof in the world(8 hectares) is stretched over 12 masts. The Millennium Dome housed 15 exhibitions with the following themes: work, learning, money, body(take a journey through the human body), play, journey, shared ground(communities), living island (a look at the UK\'s environment), home planet(global travel), talk(communication and the future), faith (and beliefe), rest, mind, self portrait(UK people and places) and skysrape (2 x 2,500 seat cinemas, live events and concerts). Up to 6 live shows were performed every day.
The Millenium Dome
The Millennium Experience´s has the sense to "exploring the possibilitiesof the own personal future in the next millennium". The question was how the producers could realise this. The main problem was the huge queues for the more popular exhibits like the body zone. At the beginning most visitors said that extra attractions may be added. The Dome cost 758 million pounds. But the most people thought that this money was well spent.
Climate
Modern London has the equable climate of South East England, with mild winters and temperate summers. The average daytime air temperature is 52° F (11° C), with 42° F (5.5° C) in January and 65° F (18° C) in July. Statistics show that the sun shines, however briefly, on five days out of six. Londoners shed their winter overcoats in April or May and begin to dress warmly again in late October. The prevailing wind is west-southwest. Because of the sheltering effect of the Chiltern Hills and North Downs, the city has slightly less rainfall than the Home Counties. In an average year one can expect 200 dry days out of 365 and a precipitation total of about 23 inches (585 mm) quite evenly distributed across the 12 months.
The average difference in minimum temperatures between London and the surrounding country is 3.4° F (1.9° C), but on individual nights the difference can be as much as 16.2° F (9° C). The chemical, mechanical, and thermal effects of the city also affect wind speed and precipitation. Downpours of heavy rain are liable to be more intense within London because pollution particles act as condensation nuclei for water vapour.
Sights
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, West End
London church that is the site of coronations and other ceremonies of national significance. It stands just west of the Houses of Parliament in the Greater London borough of Westminster. Situated on the grounds of a former Benedictine monastery, it was refounded as the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster by Queen Elizabeth I in 1560. Legend relates that Saberht, the first Christian king of the East Saxons, founded a church on a small island in the River Thames, then known as Thorney but later called the west minster (or monastery), and that this church was miraculously consecrated by St. Peter. It is certain that about 785 there was a small community of monks on the island and that the monastery was enlarged and remodelked by St. Dunstan about 960.
Since William the Conqueror, every British sovereign has been crowned in the abbey except Edward V and Edward VIII, neither of whom was crowned. Many kings and queens are buried near the shrine of Edward the Confessor or in Henry VII\'s chapel. The last sovereign to be buried in the abbey was George II (1760); since then they have been buried at Windsor Castle.
The abbey is crowded with the tombs and memorials of famous British subjects, such as Sir Isaac Newton, David Livingstone, and Ernest Rutherford. Part of the south transept is well known as Poets\' Corner and includes the tombs of Geoffrey Chaucer, Ben Jonson (who was buried upright), John Dryden, Robert Browning, and many others. The north transept has many memorials to British statesmen. The grave of the "Unknown Warrior," whose remains were brought from Flanders (Belgium) in 1920, is in the centre of the nave near the west door.
Houses of Parliament
In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the seat of the bicameral Parliament included the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London.
The building was built for Edward the Confessor in the 11th century and enlarged by William I, the Conqueror. In 1512 the palace suffered greatly from fire and thereafter ceased to be used as a royal residence. St. Stephen\'s Chapel was used in 1550 for the meetings of the House of Commons, held previously in the chapter house of Westminster Abbey; the Lords used another apartment of the palace. A fire in 1834 destroyed the whole palace except the historic Westminster Hall, the Jewel Tower, the cloisters, and the crypt of St. Stephen\'s Chapel
Big Ben, tower clock famous for its accuracy and for its massive bell (weighing more than 13 tons). It is housed in St. Stephen\'s Tower, at the northern end of the Houses of Parliament.
The clock was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison and built by E.J. Dent. The name of the clock is said by some historians to stand for Sir Benjamin Hall, the commissioner of works. At the time of the clock and bell\'s installation in 1859, the name applied only to the bell, but it eventually came to indicate the clock itself.
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
The Residence of the British sovereign. It is situated within the borough of Westminster. The palace takes its name from the house built (1705) for John Sheffield, duke of Buckingham. It was bought in 1762 by George III for his wife, Queen Charlotte, and became known as the queen\'s house. By order of George IV, John Nash initiated the conversion of the house into a palace in the 1820s. Nash also reshaped the Buckingham Palace Gardens and designed the Marble Arch entryway, which was later removed (1851) to the northeast corner of Hyde Park. The Mall front, or Fore Court (east side), was expanded in 1847 by Edward Blore and redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb as a background for the Queen Victoria Memorial statue. Nash\'s garden front (west side) remains virtually unchanged. Victoria was the first sovereign to live there (1837).
Since the mid-18th century the Royal Mews (stables and coach houses with living quarters above) have been located on the palace grounds; the current buildings date from 1824-25. Within the mews are the luxurious motorcars, dozens of carriages, and horses that figure prominently in royal processions and ceremonies. Notable among the carriages are the Gold State Coach (1762), the Irish State Coach (1852), and the Glass State Coach (1910).
Main Gate of Buckingham Palace
Piccadilly Circus
Piccadilly Circus is situated between the neighbourhoods of St. James (south) and Soho (north) in the borough of Westminster. As a traffic hub and neon-lit gathering place, Piccadilly Circus attracts visitors from throughout the world, many of whom sprawl on the steps of its stone island, which is crowned by the 1893 aluminum statue of Eros (formally entitled the Angel of Christian Charity, it was built as a memorial to the 7th earl of Shaftesbury). The intersection\'s first electric advertisements appeared in 1910, and from 1923 giant electric billboards were set up on the facade of the London Pavilion (then a theatre). Many of the surrounding buildings were redeveloped to house retail shops in the 1980s. The 19th-century Criterion building was restored in the early 1990s.
Hyde Park
A park in the borough of Westminster, London. It covers more than 138 hectares and is bordered on the east by Mayfair and on the west by Kensington Gardens.
The park shares a large curved lake with its western neighbour; the portion of the lake in Kensington Gardens is known as the Long Water, whereas the Hyde Park portion is called the Serpentine. The lake is used for boating in the summer and skating in the winter. In the park\'s northeastern corner, near Marble Arch, is Speakers\' Corner, which has long been a centre of free speech for soapbox orators. Also in the park are the Hudson Bird Sanctuary, a bandstand, large fountains, a ranger\'s lodge, and, in the southeastern corner of the park, the statue of Achilles (1822), which recalls the duke of Wellington\'s victories. Not far from the statue, and nearly adjoining the park, is the Wellington Museum (1952), which is housed in a structure built in 1771-78. Nearby starts a celebrated riding track, Rotten Row, which traverses the park westward.
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Suare
A plaza in the City of Westminster, named for Lord Nelson\'s naval victory (1805) in the Battle of Trafalgar. Possibly the most famous of all London squares, Trafalgar Square has always been public and has had no garden. Seven major arteries pump automobiles around the great paved space, which is dominated by Nelson\'s Column (1839-43), a 56-metre-high monument to Lord Nelson that includes a 15-metre-high statue of him by E.H. Baily. At the corners of the column\'s plinth are four bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer and cast by Baron Marochetti.
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