LONDON

 

London is a very old city. It began life two thousand years ago as a Roman fortification at a place where it was possible to cross the River Thames. Around the town the Romans built a wall for defence. After the Norman Conquest there was a long period of peace, during which people began building outside the walls. This building continued for a very long time, especially to the west of the city, so that in a few centuries Lon­don covered a very large territory. In 1665, during the terrible plague in London, many people left the city and escaped to the villages in the surrounding countryside. In 1666 the Great Fire of London ended the plague, but it also destroyed much of the city. After the plague and the Great Fire London was rebuilt and people returned to it, but never again were there so many Londoners living in the city centre.

Today, also, not many people live in the city cen­tre, but London has spread further outwards into the country, including surrounding villages. Greater Lon­don now covers about 1600 square kilometres and the suburbs of London continue even beyond this area. Some people travel over 150 km every day to work in London, while living far away from the city in the country or in other towns.

It is difficult to speak about the centre of London as of one definite place. As a matter of fact, it has a number of centres, each with a distinct character: the financial and business centre called the City (spelt with a capital C), the shopping and entertainment centre in the West End, the government centre in Westminster. Some places on the outskirts of Lon­don have kept their village-like character.

 

The City

Tradition. The City is not the whole of central London: it is just a small area east of the centre, the site of the original Roman town, so it is the oldest part of the capital. The City has a long and exciting history, and it is proud of its independence and tra­ditional role as a centre of trade and commerce. The City's administration is headed by the annually elected Lord Mayor, whose official residence is the Mansion House. Once a year, in November, the Lord Mayor's Show takes place. It is a colourful street parade in which the newly elected Lord Mayor travels along the streets of the City in a golden coach, which is over 200 years old. In the evening a splendid meal is served in the Guildhall, to which the Prime Minister and members of the government are invited.

Commerce and finance. The City of London is one of the biggest banking centres of the world, and you can find the banks of many nations in the famous Threadneedle Street1 and the surrounding area. Here, too, you will find the Bank of England. Nearby is the Stock Exchange, which is like a busy market, except that here not food but shares^ in commercial com­panies are bought and sold. A little further along, in Leadenhall Street, is Lloyds*, the most famous in­surance company in the world.

The Old Bailey. The Central Criminal Court of the country is also to be found in the City, in the western part of it. It is called the Old Bailey1, after the street in which it is situated. Some of Britain's most famous murder trials have taken place here. Nearby is the area known as the Temple — a group of buildings where many lawyers have their offices.

The press. Fleet Street9 is famous as the home of the nation's newspapers but, in fact, only two of them — The Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph — are still in Fleet Street. However, people still say Fleet Street when they mean the press. The British are a nation of newspaper readers. Many of them even have a daily paper delivered to their homes in time for breakfast. British newspapers can be divided into two groups: quality and popular. Quali­ty newspapers are more se­rious and cover home and foreign news thoughtfully, while the popular newspa­pers like shocking, person­al stories. These two groups of papers can be distin­guished easily because the quality newspapers are twice the size' of the popular newspapers.

 

The East End

The East End is the industrial part of London. It grew with the spread of industry to the east of the City and the growth of the port of London. It covers a wide area, and there are many wharfs and ware­houses along the river banks.

The East End is one of those areas of London where people from abroad have come to find work. For cen­turies foreigners have made London their home. Some have had to leave their country for religious or polit­ical reasons. Others have wanted to find a better life. Some have brought new skills and started new indus­tries. The immigrants have also brought their cus­toms, traditions and religion into the East End, so you can see a mosque1, a church and a synagogue not very far apart.

The East End markets are famous throughout the world. Petticoat Lane market takes place every Sun­day morning and has become one of the sights of London. The street-salesmen here will offer you all kinds of goods and promise that they are of the high­est quality and much cheaper than those you can buy in the West End.

Traditionally, someone born in the East End is known as a cockney, although this name is now giv­en to anyone who speaks like a Londoner. Cockneys change certain vowel sounds so that the vowel sound in "late" becomes more like that in "light": that is they say [lait] instead of [leit]. They pronounce "day" as [dai] instead of [dei], "may" as [mar] instead of [mei], and "rain" as [ram] instead of [rein]. Another peculiarity of cockney pronunciation is dropping H's ['eitjiz] at the beginning of words, so that "he" sounds like [i:], "head" like [ed] and "how" like [au]. These, and other peculiarities of cockney pronunciation are very well described by the great British playwright Bernard Shaw1 in his Pygmalion.

 

The West End

The West End is the name given to the area of central London between the МаН and Oxford Street. It includes Trafalgar Square, the main shopping areas of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, and the entertainment centres of Soho6, Pic­cadilly Circus7, Leicester Square and Shaftesbury Avenue9. The name West End is associated with glam­our and bright lights. Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square was built at the beginning of the 19th century to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar. Admiral Lord Nelson's stat­ue stands on top of a column in the middle of Tra­falgar Square. The large square is a traditional place for people to meet: all sorts of protest meetings are held in Trafalgar Square. At Christmas time carol singers gather round a huge Christmas tree which is sent to Britain from Norway every year. Behind Nelson's Column is the building of the National Gal­lery, a rich art gallery in which you can find many old masters. Shopping. Most of London's big department stores are situated in Oxford Street and Regent Street. They are always crowded, but especially at sale times, in January and July, when there are so many people here that it is difficult to move.

Entertainment. Piccadilly Circus is the centre of night life in the West End. The square is quite small, and many people are disappointed when they see it for the first time because they imagined that it would be much bigger. To the north of Piccadilly Circus is Soho, which has been the foreign quarter of London since the 17th century. Now it is famous for its res­taurants, which offer food from different countries. Especially popular are Chinese2 and Italian foods. London is famous for its theatres. In the West End there are over thirty theatres within a square mile. They offer a great variety of shows to choose from: opera, musicals, drama, comedies, whodunnits1, and so on.

 

Westminster

Every day, when people in the UK and overseas switch on their radio to listen to BBC radio news, they can hear one of the most famous' sounds in Lon­don: the chimes of Big Ben on the tower of the Hous­es of Parliament.

The Houses of Parliament occupy a magnificent building on the left bank of the Thames in a part of London called Westminster2, that has long been con­nected with royalty and government. King Edward the Confessor1 built a palace beside the River Thames in the 11th century. His successors made the palace their main residence. Gradually Westminster became the centre of government. At first Parliament was organized to help the monarch rule the country. The monarch called representatives of different groups of people together; so the House of Lords represented the Church and aristocracy, and the House of Commons represented the rich land­owners who expressed the views and interests of their own town or village. In the course of centuries, pow­er gradually passed from the monarch to Parliament.

According to the long-standing tradition, the Queen still opens the new session of Parliament each au­tumn by reading the Queen's Speech in the House of Lords. Another tradition is that the Queen is not allowed to enter the house of Commons. This tradition goes back to the time of Charles I, more than three hundred years ago, and reminds everybody that the monarch must not try to govern the country. Westminster Abbey. Opposite the Houses of Parliament stands Westminster Abbey1. A church has stood here since Saxon times, when it was known as West Monastery (West­minster), because of its position to the west of London's cen­tre. Since William the Conqueror's times British monarchs have been crowned there, and since the 13th century they have been buried there. Many other famous people are also buried in West­minster Abbey.

Whitehall. The street called Whitehall stretches from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square. Whitehall is often associated with the government of Britain.

Downing Street, which is a small side street off Whitehall, is the home of the Prime Minister who lives at number ten. Next door, at number eleven, lives the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is responsible for financial planning and the British economy. Just around the corner, in Whitehall itself, are all the im­portant ministries: the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and the Treasury. In the middle of Whitehall is the Cenotaph, a monument to the fallen in the two world wars of the 20th century. According to tradition, on Remembrance Day, the Sunday nearest to November 11, the Queen lays a wreath of poppies at the Cenotaph. People of Britain remember their dead from the two world wars by wearing a red paper poppy.

 

Royal London

When you are in London, you are always reminded of the city's close connection with the Crown. There are royal palaces, royal parks and colourful ceremonies. The most important building in London, though not the most beautiful, is Buckingham Palace, which is the official residence of the Queen. It stands in St. James's Park. Running through the park from the front of Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square is the Mall, a wide tree-lined avenue.

St. James's Park is one of ten so-called royal parks situated in or near London. These parks officially belong to the Crown, but are open to the public free of charge. These large parks are very good places for people to escape from traffic jams, crowded shops and the city noise. Each park has its own character. Hyde Park was originally a hunting forest and is still popular with horse-riders. Regent's Park, which was also originally a hunting park, is now the home of London Zoo, and an open-air theatre which stages Shakespeare's plays.

 

Oxford

The first written record of the town of Oxford1 dates back to the year 912. Oxford University, the oldest and most famous university in Britain, was founded in the middle of the 12th century, and by 1300 there were already 1,500 students. At that time Oxford was a wealthy town, but by the middle of the 14th century it was poorer, because of a decline in trade and because of the terrible plague, which killed many people in England. The relations between the students and the townspeople were very unfriendly, and there was often fighting in the streets.

Nowadays there are about 12,000 students in Ox­ford and over 1000 teachers. Outstanding scientists work in the numerous colleges of the University, teaching and doing research work in physics, chem­istry, mathematics, cybernetics, literature, modern and ancient languages, art and music, philosophy, psychology.

Oxford University has a reputation of a privileged school. Many prominent political figures of the past and present times got their education at Oxford. The Oxford English Dictionary is well-known to students of English everywhere. It contains approxi­mately 5,000,000 entries, and there are thirteen vol­umes, including a supplement.

Oxford University Press, the publishing house which produces the Oxford English Dictionary has a special department called the Oxford Word and Language Service (OWLS for short). If you have a question about the meaning of a word or its origin, you can write or telephone, and the people there will help you.

 

Cambridge

Cambridge is one of the best-known towns in the world, and the principal reason for its fame is its University, the second oldest uni­versity of Britain, which was founded in the 13th century. Today there are more than twenty colleges in Cam­bridge University.

The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284, and the most recent is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King's College, because of its magnifi­cent chapel. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also well known.

The University was only for men until 1871. In 1871 the first women's college was opened. Another was opened two years later and a third in 1954. In the 1970s, most colleges opened their doors to both men and women. Nowadays almost all colleges are mixed. The Cambridge Folk Festival. Every year, in sum­mer, one of the biggest festivals of folk music in England is held in Cambridge. Thousands of people arrive in Cambridge for the Festival. Many of the fans put up their tents to stay overnight. The Cam­bridge Folk Festival is always very well organized, and there is always good order. How­ever, some people who live nearby do not like the Festi­val. They say that there is too much noise, that too much rubbish is left on the ground, and that many of the fans take drugs. On the oth­er hand, local shop­keepers are glad, because for them the Festival means a big increase in the number of customers.

 

Liverpool and the Beatles

Liverpool is situated in Lancashire, at the mouth of the River Mersey, where it empties into the Irish Sea.

The settlement of Liverpool was first mentioned in 1191, and in 1207 it got the status of a town. Since the 13th century it has been a port. In the sec­ond half of the 17th century it began playing an im­portant part in the trade with the English colonies in America. At present it is the second largest (after London) sea-port in Britain.

For a lot of people, not just in Britain but every­where, Liverpool is first of all associated with the Beatles1, probably the most famous and successful pop-group the world has ever known.

On October 24, 1962, the song Love Me Do was sung by a then unknown group of four working-class lads from Liverpool, John Lennon, Paul McCart­ney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who called themselves the Beatles. It was the first of a number of big hits that brought them world fame.

The road to success was not easy. John and Paul had spent many afternoons listening to American stars like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley before they were able to write the famous Lennon and McCartney songs.

During the 1960s the Beatles were at the height of their glory: newspaper headlines, films, and world-tours. Their new style of singing and their unusual haircuts — Beatles mops! — immediately became the latest fashion.

After a decade of successful music and films, the Beatles had some disagreements, and finally decided to break up in the early seventies. Many people hoped that there would be a reunion, but it became impossi­ble after the tragic murder of John Lennon in New York in 1980.