In the world there are famous cities and there are great cities.
London is both famous and great, not because of its handsome buildings and wealth of culture,
nor even the spectacular pageantry and romance of kings and queens, but because it is a living
monument to human endeavour spanning thousands of years.
This is a city where the past and present can never and should never be separated.
International Video Network welcomes you on this video visits tour of London, part of
a nation.
London is the capital and the heart of Britain, which, seen from space, can appear to be an
insignificant island off the coast of France.
Yet over the last few centuries Britain has perhaps had more influence over the shape
of the modern world than any other single country.
When the Romans invaded Britain in AD 43, the River Thames was an important territorial
boundary.
To secure this border the Romans had to build a bridge across the river at Londinium.
This first Roman London survived for only ten years before being sacked by the Saxon
Queen Bordesia.
London was quickly rebuilt by the Romans and became an important regional capital.
For over 400 years the city thrived, but by AD 450 the Romans had deserted Londinium to
defend their crumbling empire.
Today the old Roman walls form the boundary of the city of London, at the centre of what
is now Greater London.
This massive and complex capital is home to seven million people.
The River Thames is its lifeblood, flowing through the city's veins from Windsor Castle
in the west to the Thames Barrier in the east.
The dominance of the river has brought with it the constant threat of floods.
This massive flood barrier at Woolwich was finished in 1984 and can isolate London from
the North Sea in just 30 minutes, using a series of underwater gates, each five storeys
high.
The barrier represents the last chapter in a 2000 year old battle between London and
the River Thames.
Upriver from the barrier a land battle has been won against a period of decay in London's
east end.
Dotlands is Europe's largest urban development project, with its own railway network and
redeveloped riverside buildings, providing the foundation for a new city within Greater
London.
Under the Thames flood barrier, Tower Bridge was the strongest statement by Londoners that
the Thames was conquered.
In many ways the bridge is not what it seems, it is only a hundred years old.
The Gothic appearance was stipulated by an act of parliament, and the sculpted stonework
hides a steel skeleton which supports both the bridge structure and the opening road
spans.
Tower Bridge and the Tower of London are neighbours at the edge of the old Roman city, but Tower
Bridge is as new and fanciful as the Tower of London is ancient and historically significant.
This is a place of dreams and nightmares, of victory and defeat.
A palace and a prison, and today the most perfect medieval fortress in Britain.
William the Conqueror built the tower after the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Virtually every other monarch since has made their own additions and alterations.
Henry VII founded the Yeoman of the Guard in the 15th century.
They are now known as beef eaters because of a recorded fondness for roast beef, and
they are the world's oldest military corps.
Henry VIII wasn't the first king to detain prisoners in the tower, but he was responsible
for harsh treatment, torture and execution, becoming virtually normal policy.
Two of Henry's six wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, were beheaded here.
Anne Boleyn could have lived if she'd allowed Henry to deny their daughter the chance to
become queen.
Before she died she said, pray for the king, for he is a good man and has treated me as
good could be.
Her death was not in vain.
22 years later Anne's daughter arrived at the tower to choose her ministers before being
crowned as Queen Elizabeth I.
Traitor's Gate was the entrance to the tower used to deliver prisoners from the River Thames.
Guy Fawkes arrived here in 1605 after his failed attempt to destroy Parliament in the
gunpowder plot.
He was mercilessly tortured until he revealed the names of his fellow conspirators and then
was executed.
In recent history 11 First World War spies were shot at the tower and Rudolf Hess was
imprisoned here for four days during the Second World War.
Against that background the old wall will still stand in the 1990s, perhaps more permanent
than any other part of London.
Like most of London's historic buildings the tower is not an abandoned monument but instead
a small self-contained community with its own rules and its own residents.
It's time to get up.
Yeoman such as John Wilmington are all trained soldiers from the regular armed services.
22 years of unbroken and unblemished service in the army is just one of the formidable
list of qualifications these men have to fulfil.
They are not tourist attractions in fancy dress.
John Wilmington is the raven master responsible for the fierce birds.
Their clipped wings guarantee that they, like many a prisoner before them, will never escape
these walls.
Legend has it that if the ravens ever leave this place the tower and the country will
fall.
There are memories and ghosts trapped here but no modern prisoners now apart from the
ravens and the heavily guarded crown jewels.
The royal crown and scepter are allowed out of the jewel tower only once a year for the
state opening of parliament.
The tower sits a short distance from a more modern bastion, a fortress dedicated to the
pound sterling.
The Bank of England, the city's queen of finance, holds court to hundreds of smaller institutions
that surround her.
The area is referred to simply as the city or the square mile.
By day it is buzzing with the fear and excitement of billion pound deals, paper fortunes made
or lost.
By night it is all but deserting.
Only 5,000 people are officially residents of the city of London but the area still has
its own police, the last surviving city force in the country.
At one time the city's financial wizards enjoyed a gentlemanly lifestyle but those days were
brought to an abrupt end by deregulation in October 1986.
London was known as the big bang.
Small outposts from the good old days still linger on.
Each lunchtime the city bowling club in Finsbury Circus welcomes a polite band of keen sportsmen
and enthusiastic spectators.
The old school tie still has some practical applications.
The Hayden Hall Market in the heart of the city dates back to the 14th century.
The fishmongers here now work in the shadow of a 20th century city landmark.
The startling new headquarters for Lloyds in London was designed by architect Richard
Rogers and replaced the famous insurance company's earlier more traditional offices.
Each day, each good day that is, £25 million comes in as premiums and £8 million goes
out in claims.
On a bad day the mathematics go the other way.
$100 million was paid out on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The old loutine bell is no longer rung every time a ship goes down but it is used to signal
important marine news.
Two rings for bad and one for good.
The city has tried to persuade more people to live here permanently and in 1956 the government
proposed the development of a new residential neighbourhood.
It became the Barbican, named after an old watchtower in the city walls.
The aim of attracting new residents to the city was only partially successful but the
Barbican centre has become an artistic success as the headquarters for the London Symphony
Orchestra, the Barbican Art Gallery and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Barbican also houses the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as cinemas, a concert
hall and the city's public library.
In effect the Barbican became the city's gift to the nation.
The London Symphony Orchestra is London's longest established and most recorded orchestra
with film credits including Superman, Star Wars and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
These musicians have won the support of artistic directors and music lovers from all over the
world.
People such as TV producer and presenter Humphrey Burton.
I like this orchestra, most people do I think because of their enlightened attitude towards
programming.
They've got first class conductors, they're themselves a tip top world class orchestra
and they also have these very good festivals dedicated to special themes such as childhood
and then everything they do they make sure that the whole public can come to it, there's
no snobbery about the LSO.
On average two million people each year visit the Barbican.
Many come to see the art galleries constantly changing exhibitions of international and
British art in a setting reminiscent of the Guggenheim in New York.
Each year the city stages a remarkable pageant, the Lord Mayor's Show, a celebration of one
of the earliest examples of democracy.
In the year 1215 King John granted a charter allowing the citizens of London to elect their
own mayor.
The mayor would then parade before the King and swear allegiance.
There have been over 600 mayors since 1215 making the city the oldest municipality in
the world.
At the edge of the city stands a tall monument built in 1677 to mark the great fire of London.
The inferno destroyed over 13,000 homes but at the same time wiped out the squalor that
had led to the great plague.
The invisible killer had stalked the city causing widespread terror and huge loss of
life.
During 1665 at least 68,000 people died of bubonic plague which was spread by rats.
The true death toll is probably closer to 100,000.
Within eight months of the plague passing the great fire of London broke out on September
2nd 1666.
A small blaze in a baker shop was spread by a fierce wind to engulf the city.
The old St Paul's Cathedral was badly gutted along with 87 other churches.
Almost 500 acres of London were reduced to ash.
Miraculously only eight people perished and out of the heat and flames emerged a new London.
St Paul's Cathedral had to be completely rebuilt but that was nothing new.
It was the fourth cathedral to stand on the same site.
The first was built in the year 604.
The fifth St Paul's Cathedral is the work of Christopher Wren a young genius who was
only 31 years old when he produced the design for St Paul's.
Since the first service in 1697 Wren's handiwork has survived many dramas and disasters including
two world wars.
St Paul's light tower bridge has become a symbol of strength and survival and a stage
for both mourning and celebration.
In modern times the cathedral's finest hour was as host to the wedding of Charles Prince
of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
To the north of St Paul's is a cathedral to British justice, the Central Criminal Court.
Ever since the building was completed in 1907 it has taken on the name of the street it
stands on.
In the old Bailey it's where some of the world's most famous trials have taken place.
Dr. Crippen, Christie and Oscar Wilde and where earlier the principles of trial by jury
were established.
At the time the old Bailey was being built London streets had virtually come to a standstill.
Even in 1850 three quarters of a million people travelled into central London to work each
day and surface railways were operating at maximum capacity.
Newly paved and cobbled roads were just as congested with horse drawn traffic as modern
London is now.
The solution was radical but effective.
The world's first underground railway.
The inaugural section was opened in 1863, the beginning of what is now the Metropolitan
Line.
Initially the engineers simply dug a trench, laid the railway and then rebuilt the roads
above.
But later deep cylindrical tunnels were built, the tube was born.
As the population of London continued to grow the underground became more crowded resulting
in new lines and extra trains being built.
Special films were made to educate the first commuters on how to get on and off underground
trains.
When you travel by the train don't push and shove with my term main let those who wish
to first to light then pass on quickly left and right.
In later years the underground system became so extensive that pioneering new methods of
signalling and train control had to be developed.
Those systems have now evolved into a computer controlled fail safe network that makes the
London underground one of the safest and most efficient in the world.
The underground now carries millions of people into and around London each day.
During peak hours things do get crowded but otherwise it's still the best way to avoid
traffic congestion.
The tube is also an open window on London society.
A classless journey from A to B where rock stars, members of parliament and millionaires
share seats with shoppers and commuters.
The underground now covers 630 square miles of greater London linking north to south and
east to west.
The public transport system changed the face of London creating the West End now the new
centre of London.
Moving over the West End like a sentinel is the Telecom Tower the main switching and transmission
point for telecommunications within the London area.
Before the Telecom Tower was completed in 1964 Nelson's Column dominated the West End
skyline celebrating Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar.
The Column was built from public donations in 1842.
Trafalgar Square is a favourite destination for protest marches utterly chaotic on New
Year's Eve and home all year round to thousands of pigeons.
On the north side of the square is one of the world's most important art collections.
The magnificent National Gallery was conceived by King George IV in 1824 and started with
only 38 pictures worth £57,000.
Now there are over 2,000 paintings of incalculable value.
London
would have a strong claim as the world capital of museums with a separate museum for virtually
every aspect of life.
The British Museum in Bloomsbury is certainly the grandest but the Natural History Museum
in South Kensington is an all-time favourite with its life-sized blue whale and fossilised
dinosaur skeletons.
The museum was built as a temple to the animal kingdom and has become a magnet for students
of both science and art.
The building is a triumph of Victorian Romanesque architecture designed by Alfred Waterhouse.
The London Transport Museum in Covent Garden has captured the spirit of the men and machines
which have shaped the modern capital and kept it moving.
The Museum of London near the Barbican Centre stands astride the old Roman wall and is the
definitive exhibition of the capital's past.
The museum was opened in 1976 and traces London's development from Roman times through to the
present day including recreations of Victorian shops and a turn-of-the-century Punch and
Judy show.
At the northern boundary of the west end is Regent's Park, one of a series of royal parks
scattered throughout the capital.
London has a staggering 1,700 parks comprising almost 11% of its total land area.
As the city became more crowded, Londoners showed growing ingenuity in using smaller
houses and gardens to their best advantage.
Anthony Noll has turned his garden into a subtle masterpiece, creating the illusion
of space.
I wanted to make a white garden because I think it looks good under the pale English
skies.
I just like the lightness that it gives, you know, you can have too many bright, bright
colours and I think it looks alright.
I think Londoners love gardens.
This garden is open to the public and even though it's tiny, only 40 feet long, it's
been overwhelmed with people.
Covent Garden used to be the main market in London for flowers as well as fruit and vegetables.
It has now been transformed into a piazza of shops and restaurants, peppered liberally
with street entertainment of bewildering variety and sometimes bewildering content.
Ladies and gentlemen, come out of the very expensive shops!
Hurry, hurry!
The show is about to begin.
You've got to make yourself look interesting.
She leaves, gets in the room and asks heraus guests...
It is worth it. Yes!
Woooo!
Applause
Get out! Get out now!
Applause
Relax
Laughter
Not only are the spectators strongly encouraged not to leave
Laughter
Relax, Chris
Relax, relax, relax. Sometimes they're invited to take part in the show
Laughter
My thumb! My thumb!
He's got my thumb!
Applause
No noise!
Chris, push me up, Chris
Behind all the clowning, there is some genuine skill
One, two, three, go!
Applause
Music
scenario
In recent years Covent Garden has become a springboard for people with genuine talent
to gain entry to London's thriving film and entertainment industry.
The Rock Garden allows unknown groups to play in front of audiences, which often include
record company scouts.
Many of Britain's famous names started here, and there's no shortage of young hopefuls
dreaming of starting.
It's not often that legends live up to expectations, but the London pub rarely fails to disappoint
anyone looking for atmosphere and decent food at a reasonable price.
There are over 8,000 pubs to choose from in London, and pub rules are quite simple.
You order and pay at the bar.
The main thing about London pubs is that they're friendly and a good way of meeting people.
Some have now started to develop their own restaurants, providing good hearty food in
convivial surroundings, making a short detour well worthwhile.
Wooden brewing can be traced as far back as 900 years, and today companies like Young's
still brew beer using traditional methods that haven't changed in centuries.
A national pressure group launched an assault on the big corporate brewers in the 1970s,
and since then the mass production approach to brewing has been on the decline.
Breweries still use wooden barrels from the Cooper shop of their Wandsworth brewery.
The demand for traditional real ale is growing each year, and even in the 11th century the
doomsday book recorded that the monks of St Paul's Cathedral annually brewed some 67,000
gallons of beer.
People still use shire horses to deliver their ale, and the blacksmith is part of the brewery.
The renewed interest in real ale means that companies like Young's will survive and prosper,
and that their famous shire horses will be seen on the streets of London for centuries
to come.
Modern London taxes are part of a tradition that dates back 350 years.
Paul Harris was one of the youngest drivers to pass the infamous Knowledge, a formidable
test of London streets, involving a combination of 93,000 questions on the shortest distance
between two London addresses.
15,000 black cabs ply the streets of London, carrying 3 million passengers each week.
No taxi fatalities have ever been recorded.
It is the world's most strictly regulated taxi system.
The police and the carriage office keep a very, very high standard of vehicle we use.
There's a very, very stringent test every year on the road worthiness of the vehicles.
And I think that if they keep those sort of things, the same sort of platform, the same
sort of working system, the London taxi drivers will stay far superior than anyone else.
And that's not being biased.
Well, it is, but I mean it's a fact of life.
Say Savoy to a London cabbie, and this will be the destination.
One of London's finest hotels, which stands at the end of the only road in Britain where
driving on the right is required by law.
Just around the corner is Simpson's, a uniquely London restaurant that looks remarkably like
a private club.
In spite of appearances, anybody can eat here and enjoy what's reputed to be the best roast
beef and Yorkshire pudding in the country.
I should like to have the oysters and I'd also like the beef as well.
Mr. Simpson opened the restaurant in 1828 and introduced the idea of serving the food
from silver trolleys, which could be willed directly to each table.
Now the restaurant is a London institution and the trolley idea has spread to the farthest
corners of the globe.
Oxford Street is perhaps the most famous shopping district in London, a mecca of world famous
department stores.
This area is also one of the best starting points for London bus journeys.
The double deck red buses are perhaps the most loved feature of London streets and give
the capital its unique visual hallmark.
They tout their destinations like tempting menus.
The red buses are not only a vital part of the public transport system, but also a sociable
and relaxed way of seeing the sights.
The official London transport sightseeing buses come in a topless version for lazy summer
days, complete with foreign language commentaries.
We should all be far more interested in loving than in being loved.
Freedom of expression, a bastion of British principles, is given full rein at Speaker's
Corner in the north eastern corner of Hyde Park.
I think life is worth living.
You obviously don't think...
What are the good things?
Tell me some of the good things about life.
You said that we're having a discussion, so discussing is good, is it?
Room of speech has been guaranteed here since 1872, when the law was amended to allow anyone
to declaim on any subject, as long as it was not blasphemous or an incitement to a breach
of the peace.
You are undemocratic!
Just off Piccadilly is the Royal Taylor, with one of the best addresses in London, number
one, Savile Row.
This and Hawkes have been in business over 200 years.
Maintaining traditional quality and customer relations is now the responsibility of Robert
Geeve, a fifth generation member of the founding family.
I think you have to balance and achieve a blend between the craftsmanship and diplomacy.
The cutter who has the closest contact with the customer is certainly a craftsman.
He also of necessity has to be diplomat.
Not in the sense that he's got to let the customer understand that that customer may
be looking at a cloth that doesn't suit his figure, too strong in check, inappropriate
to his height and stature.
The wife who may be along with him, who we welcome, may be alluding to a different cloth
to that which the gentleman requires, and so we have to sort of try and run with both.
And more particularly, we must not lose the very fact that the customers come to us for
our expertise.
So we have to, if you like, sustain control over the situation.
So there is an input from us, but it's a balance.
Robert Geeve does warn that his suits can't create instant manners and success.
One of his favourite quotes is that a king can make a nobleman, but he cannot make a
gentleman.
Just beyond the West End are the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, and to the
north, a collection of wealthy suburbs and street markets.
There's been a market in Portobello Road since the early 1870s, when gypsies came here to
sell horses and herbs.
Now it's a good place to buy antiques and other bits and pieces on a Saturday afternoon.
There are some bargains here, and some tracks as well.
Portobello Road borders the suburb of Notting Hill, which until the 19th century was farmland.
The leafy avenues are a reminder that the West End very quickly becomes safe suburbia,
where milk is still delivered in bottles, and where house prices can run into seven
million dollars.
Each August, Notting Hill is transformed from a quiet slumber into a full-blooded Caribbean
convent.
The vibrant procession meanders through the streets for three days, and brings together
virtually every ethnic group into one heady mix of music, food and dance.
There's a carnival of sorts as well outside Buckingham Palace, most days, when the sovereign's
lifeguard is changed with a great deal of pomp and circumstance.
These soldiers are all members of the Queen's Household Division, and in spite of their
reputation for impeccable ceremonial duties, they are deployed worldwide in combat uniform
to operate alongside regular British forces.
Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey are all neighbours in
both geography and history.
Westminster Abbey dates back nearly a thousand years, and is the principal site for state
funerals, weddings and coronations.
The Houses of Parliament were built in 1837, but the institution, government by parliament,
dates back to the reign of Edward I, 700 years ago.
Big Ben was finished in 1859.
The famous bell cracked within a few months of being installed, but London has since become
used to the imperfect sound.
Each year, Parliament is officially opened by the Queen, wearing the crown jewels, in
a ceremony that has changed little since the 16th century.
The sovereign is prohibited from ever entering the House of Commons, so the elected government
members file into the House of Lords to hear the Queen's speech.
During the Second World War, both the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace were seriously
damaged by air raids.
The bombing attacks on London were so severe that 18,000 people died, and three and a half
million houses were either destroyed or damaged.
Londoners sheltered in the underground stations, while children were evacuated to the countryside.
A third of London was levelled by the blitz, which accounts for the city's lack of modern
skyscrapers.
The post-war developers had no need to build tall buildings.
Land was plentiful.
Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister who saw Britain through the Second World War.
His cabinet war rooms are preserved under Whitehall.
People spent much of the war down here, protected by reinforced concrete.
This was the centre of government, and direct lines linked the bunker with King George of
Buckingham Palace.
A small BBC studio made it possible for Churchill to broadcast his famous speeches, condemning
Hitler's aggression and urging the nation to stand fast.
What he has done is to kindle a fire in British hearts here and all over the world, which
will glow long after all traces of the conflagrations he has caused in London have been removed.
In 1940, the Royal Air Force played a key role in saving London during the Battle of
Britain, and on the 50th anniversary, veteran pilots and soldiers massed outside Buckingham
Palace for a special commemorative ceremony.
Only a few of the hurricane and Spitfire aircraft are left from the Battle of Britain, and on
this emotional occasion, they flew low over the palace, escorted by other Second World
War planes and modern RAF jet fighters.
For the Royal Family, it was an event of varying significance, more poignant for those who
lived through the war than for the young.
That evening air raid sirens were again heard over the Thames, this time just an echo from
another age, no longer the sounds of war, but a celebration of peace.
Harrods, the top people's department store in Knightsbridge, marks the beginning of
a series of thriving restaurants and theatres that stretches right across the West End as
far as Aldwych in the East.
Piccadilly Circus is one of the hubs of theatre land, standing with its gaudy neon lights
at the end of Sharpsbury Avenue.
From here, there is an almost unbroken string of theatres, with productions ranging from
revived and modern classics to farce as well as ballet and opera.
London has an advantage over Broadway in that the stars of television, film and stage are
not separated by the East and West Coasts.
British performers are constantly drawn by the history and atmosphere of the theatre,
even though there is often more financial reward in film and television.
One of the many who find the tradition irresistible is actress Patricia Hodge.
It's there, believe me, it's there, it's there from the stage dorm and to the front
of house to the rules and unspoken rules of playing in the West End and it's a very exciting
thing, it's very exciting for the actors and it's hopefully very exciting for the audiences.
I think everybody feels they are being given an experience that they're not really going
to get anywhere else.
The popularity of West End shows means that booking in advance with a theatre box office
is advisable, but Leicester Square's half-price ticket booth does offer seats for same-day
performances.
Black market tickets are horrifically expensive and usually for very poor seats.
The South Bank of the Thames has become a virtual village of artistic institutions.
The National Film Theatre, the National Theatre and the Royal Festival Hall.
A reconstruction of Shakespeare's own theatre, The Globe, is being rebuilt on its original
site on the South Bank at Southwark and a Globe museum nearby already provides a showcase
for all things Shakespearean.
To the West of London is a patchwork of great green parks, stately homes and castles, all
within the Greater London area.
The River Thames manages somehow to hold these disparate parts of London together and a trip
westward along the river takes in Kew, Richmond Park, Hampton Court and Windsor Castle.
On Kew Green, cricket matches are played each summer weekend and reinforce the idea that
nothing much has changed here in the past century.
It is difficult to remember that this is not the middle of nowhere.
Kew is only six miles from the West End.
In winter, football becomes all important with 12 London clubs competing in various
national leagues.
The clubs went through a difficult period in the late 1980s when soccer crowds often
became involved in violent confrontations.
But now the situation is much improved with family groups returning to the stadium.
The winter months are ideal for exploring some of the vast parks on the outskirts of
London.
Richmond Park is accessible by underground but seems a thousand miles away from the teeming
West End.
The park was once used by the Royal Family to hunt deer but it is now mainly a good hunting
ground for spotting the great London eccentric.
John Barnet is 80 years old and has been walking his dog here for as many years as he can remember.
Sometimes I come in the park for an hour walking around and I don't see a soul all I see are
a few animals.
When I come in the park in the morning I wear this deer stalker hat and I was coming in
the park about this time of the year when the deer began to get a bit belligerent and
there's also a nice seed in the park pretty frequently.
He's got a dog you see and I'm just going out of the park and he's just coming in and
he said oh wasn't there any deer up there?
So I said well there are a few you know when you get about a couple hundred yards he says
you know they can be very nasty this time of the year.
So I said well you know what you should do you should wear one of these deer stalker
hats and then they think you're stalking them and they run away.
I didn't think anything more about it.
Next time I saw him he got, you wouldn't believe this, he got a brand new deer stalker hat
on and I thought God what have I done because they're quite expensive you know.
And he said I'll put one of them there actually told me it doesn't seem to make much difference.
To the west of Richmond is Heathrow Airport and to the south Gatwick Airport which has
in recent years become a major gateway into London.
Gatwick Airport has become a focal point for the deregulation of European air travel.
New cooperation agreements in Europe have opened up the airways allowing greater competition
and leaving the way clear for lower fares.
The River Thames continues its journey westward past Hampton Court Palace one of the finest
Tudor buildings in Britain.
Hampton Court was built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1514 and virtually all parts of
the palace are open to the public.
With 280 rooms for guests and a staff of 500 banquets for over a thousand people were not
unheard of and the vast kitchens and wine cellars remain much as they were five centuries
ago.
The Cardinal enjoyed his lavish palace for 10 years before falling out of favour with
Henry VIII.
Hampton Court was seized and all of Wolsey's goods and lands were declared forfeit to the
Crown.
From Hampton Court the Thames meanders to the small town of Windsor where boys from
Eton College practice rowing and where the Queen manages to find some peace and quiet
during the weekend.
The castle at Windsor is probably the best preserved in the world almost 900 years old
and in perfect repair.
This is a working castle full of homes and offices and accessible to the public.
When the Queen is in residence here a royal standard flies from the 12th century round
tower.
The town of Windsor is as rich in history as the castle itself.
Charles II's mistress Nell Gwyn lived here below the castle walls.
The royal guards marching through the tiny streets reinforce the impression that Windsor
will remain an isolated backwater.
This part of south eastern England from Windsor Castle to the Thames Barrier is called London
but in reality it is a collection of villages and loosely connected communities.
It is not a uniform city but a place of grand and confusing contrasts.
There are common threads links of history and culture but each small area is different.
The people are different, the accents change, the architecture changes.
It is easy to feel lost and in need of a familiar footing.
There is no answer.
London is a challenging city, a complex city.
If there is a common factor that binds London together it must be the Londoners themselves.
Because the parts of the city are different so are the people but they are all Londoners.
It is true, if you are tired of London you are tired of life.