A Brief Overview of LONDON:

London is the largest urban area and capital city of England and UK. London has been the centre of many movements and become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.  London proudly owns four world heritage sites: Kew Gardens, Tower of London, Westminster Palace and Greenwich. London is one of the leading financial, business and cultural city in the world. London has its own elected mayor and assembly. 

London is the most populous city in the European Union with a population of approximately 7.6 million within the boundaries of Greater London. Including the urban area London has a population of approximately 8.2 million. London has a very diverse population a wide range of peoples from all over the world, culture and religions. London also a international transport hub with five international airports: Heathrow airport, Gatwick Airport, Stansted airport, Luton airport and London city airport and a large port.

City of London commonly known as the City or Square Mile and Greater London area administrated by the Greater London Authority. London city split into: North, South, East and West (known as Central London).

The first major settlement in London was founded by the Romans in AD 43. The first London lasted only seventy years. Queen Boudica stormed London around AD 61 and burning it to the ground.  Westminster Abbey is one of the London's oldest and most important buildings in London. London became capital of the Roman province of Britain in AD 100 and in the 2nd century AD Roman London had a population of around 60,000. By the 3rd century AD the Roman London was largely abandoned. 

Around AD 600 the Anglo-Saxons had created a new settlement about 1km upstream from the old Roman city now known as Covent Garden. At AD851 the viking raid the city and was razed to ground. After twenty years the king of England Alfred the Great established peace. Subsequently, London established as an international trading centre and policatal arena under the control of various kings. London was raid by viking again at 1013 but king Ethelred army re-established control by depeating viking.

Canute took control of the English throne in 1017 and ruled the country until 1042. After his death Edward the Confessorre-founded the Westminster Abbey and Palace of Westminster. By this time London had become the largest and most prosperous city in England .

William the Conqueror, the then Duke of Normandy, was crowned king of England in 1066 after his great victory at the Battle of Hastings. He was granted the citizens of London special privilige. In 1097 William 11 began the building of Westminister Hall

 

Following a victory at the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror, the then Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England in the newly-finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William granted the citizens of London special privileges, while building a castle in the south-east corner of the city to keep them under control. This castle was expanded by later kings and is now known as the Tower of London, serving first as a royal residence and later as a prison.

In 1097, William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. The hall proved the basis of a new Palace of Westminster, the prime royal residence throughout the Middle Ages. Westminster became the seat of the royal court and government (persisting until the present day), while its distinct neighbour, the City of London, was a centre of trade and commerce and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. Eventually, the adjacent cities grew together and formed the basis of modern central London, superseding Winchester as capital of England in the 12th century.

London grew in wealth and population during the Middle Ages. In 1100 its population was around 18,000, by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000.^[56] However disaster struck during the Black Death in the mid-14th century, when London lost nearly a third of its population.^[56] Apart from the invasion of London during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, London remained relatively untouched by the various civil wars during the Middle Ages, such as the first and second Barons' Wars and the Wars of the Roses.

After the successful defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, political stability in England allowed London to grow further. In 1603, James VI of Scotland came to the throne of England, essentially uniting the two countries. His enactment of harsh anti-Catholic laws made him unpopular, and an assassination attempt was made on 5 November 1605—the famous Gunpowder Plot.^[57]

Plague caused extensive problems for London in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague in 1665–1666. This was the last major outbreak in Europe, possibly thanks to the disastrous fire of 1666. The Great Fire of London broke out in the original City and quickly swept through London's wooden buildings, destroying large swathes of the city. Rebuilding took over ten years.^[57]

Rise of modern London

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Following London's growth in the 18th century, it became the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925.^[58] This growth was aided from 1836 by London's first railways, which put countryside towns within easy reach of the city. The rail network expanded very rapidly, and caused these places to grow while London itself expanded into surrounding fields, merging with neighbouring settlements such as Kensington. Rising traffic congestion on city centre roads led to the creation of the world's first metro system—the London Underground—in 1863, driving further expansion and urbanisation.^[59] Because of this rapid growth, London became one of the first cities in human history to reach a population of one million, and was the first ever to surpass five million.

London's local government system struggled to cope with the rapid growth, especially in providing the city with adequate infrastructure. Between 1855 and 1889, the Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion. It was then replaced by the County of London, overseen by the London County Council, London's first elected city-wide administration.

The Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe during World War II killed over 30,000 Londoners^[60] and flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The rebuilding during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was characterised by a wide range of architectural styles and has resulted in a lack of architectural unity that has become part of London's character. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded to take into account the growth of the urban area outside the County of London's borders. The expanded area was called Greater London and was administered by the Greater London Council.

In the decades following World War II, large-scale immigration from Commonwealth countries and beyond transformed London into one of the most racially and culturally diverse cities in Europe. Integration of the new immigrants was not always smooth, with major race riots in Notting Hill and Brixton, but was certainly smoother than in other English regions and largely lacking in widespread support for far right organisations, unlike its European or American contemporaries.

An economic revival from the 1980s onwards re-established London's position as a pre-eminent international centre. However, as the seat of government and the most important city in the UK, it has been subjected to bouts of terrorism. Provisional Irish Republican Army bombers sought to pressure the government into negotiations over Northern Ireland, frequently disrupting city activities with bomb threats—some of which were carried out—until their 1997 cease-fire. More recently, a series of coordinated bomb attacks were carried out by Islamic extremist suicide bombers on the public transport network on 7 July 2005—just 24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics.

 

Status

Within London, both the City of London and the City of Westminster have City status and both the City of London and the remainder of Greater London are ceremonial counties.^[25] The current area of Greater London was historically part of the counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.^[26] Unlike most capital cities, London's status as the capital of the UK has never been granted or confirmed officially—by statute or in written form.^[27] Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the UK's unwritten constitution. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court, and thus the political capital of the nation.^[28]

According to the dictionary definition ^[29]of 'the seat of government', London is not the capital of England, as England does not have its own government, however according to the wider dictionary definition ^[30] of, 'the most important town...' and many other authorities^{[31] [32] [33]}London is properly considered the capital of England.

Topography

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

Greater London covers an area of 609 square miles (1,579 km²), making it the 37th largest urban area in the world.^[34] Its primary geographical feature is the Thames, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills such as Parliament Hill, Addington Hills, and Primrose Hill. These hills presented no significant obstacle to the growth of London from its origins as a port on the north side of the river, and therefore London is roughly circular. Many of the highest points in London are located in the suburbs or on the boundaries with adjacent counties.

The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands; at high tide, its shores reached five times their current width.^[35] Since the Victorian era It has been extensively embanked, and many of its London tributaries now flow underground. The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding.^[36] The threat has increased over time due to a slow but continuous rise in high water level by the slow 'tilting' of Britain (up in the north and down in the south) caused by post-glacial rebound.^[37] In 1974, a decade of work began on the construction of the Thames Barrier across the Thames at Woolwich to deal with this threat. While the barrier is expected to function as designed until roughly 2030, concepts for its future enlargement or redesign are already being discussed.^[3

Districts

See also: List of places in London, Central London, Inner London, and Outer London

London's vast urban area is often described using a set of district names (e.g. Bloomsbury, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Whitechapel, Fitzrovia). These are either informal designations, or reflect the names of superseded parishes and city wards. Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a neighbourhood with its own distinctive character, but often with no modern official boundaries. Since 1965 Greater London has been divided into 32 London boroughs in addition to the ancient City of London.

London is one of the world's three largest financial centres (alongside New York and Tokyo) with a dominant role in several international financial markets, including cross-border bank lending, international bond issuance and trading, foreign-exchange trading, over-the-counter derivatives, fund management and foreign equities trading.^[44] It also has the world's largest insurance market, the leading exchange for dealing in non-precious metals, the largest spot gold and gold lending markets, the largest ship broking market, and more foreign banks and investment houses than any other centre.^[44] The City has its own governance and boundaries, giving it a status as the only completely autonomous local authority in London.^[45] London's new financial and commercial hub is the Docklands area to the east of the City, dominated by the Canary Wharf complex. Other businesses locate in the City of Westminster, the home of the UK's national government and the famous Westminster Abbey.

The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, with locations such as Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus acting as tourist magnets.^[46] The West London area is known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, Knightsbridge and Chelsea—where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds.^[47] The average price for all properties in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is £894,000 with similar average outlay in most of Central London.^[48]

The eastern side of London contains the East End and East London. The East End is the area closest to the original Port of London, known for its high immigrant population, as well as for being one of the poorest areas in London.^[49] The surrounding East London area saw much of London's early industrial development; now, brownfield sites throughout the area are being redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway including the London Riverside and Lower Lea Valley, which is being developed into the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics.^[49]

City of

Ethnic groups

According to 2005 estimates[5], 69.6% of these seven and a half million people are classed as white, including White British (58.2%), White Irish (2.6%) or "Other White" (8.8%) - including 180,000 Greeks,^[86] 100,000 Italians,^[87], around 300,000 Poles, almost 100,000 Spaniards and many other Europeans and Americans. 12.9% of people are of South Asian descent, including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and "Other Asian" (mostly Sri Lankan, Arab and other Southern Asian ethnicities). 10.8% of people are Black (around 5.5% are Black African, 4.4% as Black Caribbean, 0.8% as "Other Black"). 3.4% are of mixed race; 1.4% are Chinese; and 1.9% of people belong to another ethnic group (mostly Latin American - an estimated 60,000 Brazilians reside in London,^[88] Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and other East Asians). 21.8% of inhabitants were born outside the European Union. The Irish, from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, number approximately 250,000, as do the Scots and Welsh combined.

In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities which have a population of more than 10,000 in London.^[89] Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that, as of 2006, London's foreign-born population is 2,288,000 (31%), up from 1,630,000 in 1997.^[90] The 2001 census showed that 27.1% of Greater London's population were born outside the UK, and a slightly higher proportion were classed as non-white.^[91]

The table to the right shows the 'Country of Birth' of London residents in 2001, the date of the last UK Census. (Top 21).^[92] Note that a portion of the German-born population are likely to be British nationals born to parents serving in the British armed forces in Germany.^[9

The largest religious groupings in London are Christian (57.8%), No Religion (15.5%), Muslim (7.9%), Hindu (4.1%), Jewish (3.1%), and Sikh (1.5%). London has traditionally been dominated by Christianity, and has a large number of churches, particularly in the City. The famous St Paul's Cathedral in the City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres, while the head of the Church of England and worldwide Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury has his main residence at Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth. Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey. The Abbey is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral, a relatively recent edifice which is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England and Wales. Religious practice is lower than any other part of the UK or Western Europe and is around seven times lower than American averages.^[94] Despite the prevalence of Anglican churches, observance is very low within the Anglican denomination, although in recent years church attendance, particularly at evangelical Anglican churches in London, has started to increase.^[95]

London is also home to sizeable Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish communities. Many Muslims live in Tower Hamlets and Newham; the most important Muslim edifice is London Central Mosque on the edge of Regent's Park. London's large Hindu community is found in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter of which is home to one of Europe's largest Hindu temples, Neasden Temple.^[96] Sikh communities are located in East and West London, which is also home to the largest Sikh temple in the world, outside India. The majority of British Jews live in London, with significant Jewish communities in Stamford Hill, St. John's Wood, Golders Green, and Edgware in North London.^[97]

Transport is one of the four areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London. However the mayor's financial control is limited and he does not control the heavy rail network (although in November 2007 he will assume responsibility for the North London Railway as well as several other lines, to form London Overground). The public transport network, administered by Transport for London (TfL), is one of the most extensive in the world,^[98] but faces congestion and reliability issues, which a large investment programme is attempting to address, including £7 billion (€10 billion) of improvements planned for the Olympics.^[99] London was recently commended as the city with the best public transport.^[100] Cycling is an increasingly popular way to get around London. The London Cycling Campaign lobbies for better provision.

Railways

The centrepiece of the public transport network is the London Underground — commonly referred to as The Tube — which has eleven interconnecting lines. It is the oldest, longest, and most expensive metro system in the world, dating from 1863.^[59][101] The system was home to the world's first underground electric line, the City & South London Railway, which began service in 1890.^[102] Over three million journeys a day are made on the Underground network, around nearly 1 billion journeys are made each year.^[103] The Underground serves the central area and most suburbs to the north of the Thames, while those to the south are served by an extensive suburban rail surface network.

The Docklands Light Railway is a second metro system using smaller and lighter trains, which opened in 1987, serving East London and Greenwich on both sides of the Thames. Commuter and intercity railways generally do not cross the city, instead running into fourteen terminal stations scattered around its historic centre; the exception is the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect, with terminus stations at Bedford, Brighton and Moorgate. Since the early 1990s, increasing pressures on the commuter rail and Underground networks have led to increasing demands — particularly from businesses and the City of London Corporation — for Crossrail: a £10 billion east-west heavy rail connection under central London, which was given the green light in early October 2007.^[99]

High-speed Eurostar trains link St Pancras International with Lille and Paris in France, and Brussels in Belgium. Journey times to Paris and Brussels of 2h 15 and 1h 51 respectively make London closer to continental Europe than the rest of Britain by virtue of the newly-completed High Speed 1 rail link to the Channel Tunnel. From 2009 this line will also allow for high speed domestic travel from Kent into London. The redevelopment of St. Pancras was key to London's Olympic bid, as the station also serves two international airports through Thameslink, and will also provide direct rail links to the Olympic site at Stratford using British Rail Class 395 trains running under the Olympic Javelin name; these will be based on Japanese Shinkansen high-speed trains.

Buses

London's bus network is one of the biggest in the world, running 24 hours, with 8,000 buses, 700 bus routes, and over 6 million passenger journeys made every weekday. In 2003, the network's ridership was estimated at over 1.5 billion passenger trips per annum which is more than the Underground.^[104] Around £850m is taken in revenue each year and London has the largest wheelchair accessible network in the world and, from the 3rd quarter of 2007, became more accessible to hearing and visually impaired passengers as audio-visual announcements were introduced.^[105] The buses are internationally recognised, and are a trademark of London transport along with black cabs and the Tube.

Air

London is a major international air transport hub. No fewer than eight airports use the words London Airport in their name, but most traffic passes through one of five major airports. London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, and is the major hub of the nation's flag carrier, British Airways. On completion of the fifth terminal, due for 2008, Heathrow will once again be the world's busiest airport, and will handle a mixture of full-service domestic, European and inter-continental scheduled passenger flights. Plans are alreay being considered for a sixth terminal, to the disapproval of residents near to the airport and to its take-off and landing corridors^[106] Similar traffic, with the addition of some low-cost short-haul flights, is also handled at London Gatwick Airport. London Stansted Airport and London Luton Airport cater mostly for low-cost short-haul flights. London City Airport, the smallest and most central airport, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic.^[107]

Roads

Although the majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, travel in outer London is car-dominated. The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs), and the outer orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) encircle the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes—but very few motorways penetrate into inner London. A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly canceled in the early 1970s.^[108] In 2003, a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay £8 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of congested central London.^[108] Motorists who are residents of the defined zone can buy a vastly reduced season pass which is renewed monthly and is cheaper than a corresponding bus fare.^[108]

London also has 2 central park and ride sites for the convenience of shoppers on Oxford Street and Bond Street, Westminster City Council car parks run a courtesy bus service from its Park Lane and Marble Arch car parks.

Leisure and entertainment

Within the City of Westminster, the entertainment district of the West End has its focus around Leicester Square, where London and world film premieres are held, and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements.^[57] London's theatre district is here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district, and just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops. Shoreditch and Hoxton in the East End contain a plethora of bars, nightclubs, restaurants and galleries.^[57] Islington's one mile (2 km) long Upper Street, extending northwards from The Angel, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the UK.

Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street, a shopping street nearly one mile (2 km) long—which makes it the longest shopping street in the world—and home to many shops and department stores including Selfridges.^[57] The adjoining Bond Street in Mayfair is an extremely upmarket location, home to fashion, jewelery, and accessories design houses.^[57] Knightsbridge — home to the Harrods department store— lies just to the southwest. Together with these, the fashionable shopping areas of Sloane Street, and Kings Road represent London's prestigious role in the world of fashion. London is home to Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo among others; its renowned art and fashion schools make it an international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan and New York.^[57]. London also has a high number of street markets, including Camden Market for fashions and alternative products, Portobello Road for antiques, and vintage and one-off clothes, and Borough Market for organic and specialist foods.^[57]

London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Gastronomic centres include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese food restaurants of Chinatown. Soho's variety of restaurants includes Italian- and Greek-influenced establishments among others, as well as all manner of novelties and oddities. More upmarket restaurants are scattered around central London, with concentrations in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Notting Hill. Across the city, areas home to particular ethnic groups are often recognizable by restaurants, food shops and market stalls offering their local fare, and the large supermarket chains stock such items in areas with sizable ethnic groups.

There are a variety of regular annual events. The Caribbean-descended community in Notting Hill in West London organizes the colourful Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's biggest street carnival, every summer. The beginning of the year is celebrated with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade, while traditional parades include November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the City, and June's Trooping the Colour, a very formal military pageant to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday.^[57]

Music

London is one of the major classical and popular music capitals of the world and is home to major music corporations, such as EMI and Decca Records, as well as countless bands, musicians and industry professionals.

London is home to many orchestras and concert halls such as the Barbican Arts Centre (principal base of the London Symphony Orchestra), Cadogan Hall (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), the Royal Albert Hall (BBC Promenade Concerts), the Royal Festival Hall (Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta) and Wigmore Hall.^[114] London's two main opera houses are the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum Theatre.^[114] The United Kingdom's Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet are based in London and perform at the Royal Opera House, the Coliseum, Sadler's Wells Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall.^[114]

As a cultural centre for the United Kingdom, London has had a major role in many popular music movements. It has numerous famous venues for rock and pop concerts, including large arenas such as Earls Court and Wembley Arena, as well as more intimate venues, such as Brixton Academy and Hammersmith Apollo.^[114] The area around the northern part of Charing Cross Road in Westminster is famous for its shops that sell modern musical instruments and audio equipment. London was home of one of the legs for both the Live Aid and Live 8 concerts.

London and its surrounding Home Counties have spawned iconic and popular artists. London is home to the first and original Hard Rock Cafe and the famous Abbey Road Studios where The Beatles created many of their hits. Musicians such as Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury have lived in London.^[115] Famous musicians and groups associated with London include The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Iron Maiden, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Cliff Richard, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones. London was instrumental in the development of punk music, with figures such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, and Vivienne Westwood all based in the city.

As Britain's largest urban area, London has played a key role in the development of most British-born strains of "urban" and electronic music, such as drum and bass, UK garage, grime and dubstep, and is home to many UK hip hop artists.

The largest entertainment venture of all time, The Phantom of the Opera, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, premiered here at Her

Sport

Main article: Sport in London

London has hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1908 and 1948. In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Games in 2012, which will make it the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times.^[117] London was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934.

London's most popular sport (for both participants and spectators) is football.^[118] London has thirteen League football clubs, including five in the Premier League (Arsenal, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Chelsea), plus a further eight in the remaining three divisions (Barnet, Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Dagenham & Redbridge, Leyton Orient, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers), plus countless non-league and amateur football teams. The city has the largest number of professional teams in the world.

London has a special place in the history of Association Football. The playing of football in London has been well documented since it was first outlawed in 1314. In the sixteenth century the headmaster of St Paul's School Richard Mulcaster is credited with taking mob football and transforming it into organised and refereed team football. The modern game of football was first codified in 1863 in London and subsequently spread worldwide. Key to the establishment of the modern game was Londoner Ebenezer Cobb Morley who was a founding member of the Football Association, the oldest football organisation in the world. Morley wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for football which led directly to the first meeting at the Freemason's Tavern in central London of the FA. He wrote the first set of rules of true modern football at his house in Barnes. The modern passing game was invented in London in the early 1870s by the Royal Engineers A.F.C.^[119][120]

London also has four rugby union teams in the Guinness Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps and NEC Harlequins), although only the Harlequins play in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London). London also has many famous other rugby union clubs in lower leagues, including Richmond F.C., Blackheath R.C., Rosslyn Park F.C. and Barnes R.F.C. London also has its own rugby league Super League club in Harlequins RL.

Since 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final. The new Wembley Stadium will serve exactly the same purposes. Twickenham Stadium in west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of 82,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.^[121]

Basketball in London has seen many powerful teams succumb to financial difficulties and disappear without a trace. London Towers are the most recognisable name to experience the rise and fall, and are joined by Greater London Leopards and, in 2007, London United.

The capital's only representative in the top-tier British Basketball League is newly elected London Capital, who boast former Los Angeles Lakers star Steve Bucknall as their coach. They play their home games at Capital City Academy, although rumours abound suggest a future move to Wembley Arena, along with the return of the Towers to the planned Croydon Arena.

Cricket in London centres on its two Test cricket grounds at Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C) in St John's Wood, and The Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C) in Kennington.

One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon. Other key events are the annual mass-participation Lond