in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union
by most measures. Located on the River Thames
, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history
going back to its founding by the Romans
, who called it Londinium. London's ancient core, the City of London
, largely retains its square-mile medieval boundaries.
1066 William the Conqueror is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
1305 William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.
1497 Cornish rebels Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank are executed at Tyburn, London.
1534 The Irish rebel Silken Thomas is executed by the order of Henry VIII in London, England.
1536 Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest. She is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
1559 Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey, London.
1571 The Royal Exchange opens in London.
1578 Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool's gold, used to pave streets in London.
1604 William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Othello'' is presented for the first time, at Whitehall Palace in London.
1609 Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
London goes beyond any boundary or convention. It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.
Ah! my poor dear child, the truth is, that in London it is always a sickly season. Nobody is healthy in London, nobody can be.
London is a bad habit one hates to lose.
As I came down the Highgate HillI met the sun's bravado,And saw below me, fold on fold,Grey to pearl and pearl to gold,This London like a land of old,The land of Eldorado.
I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I find something fresh in it every day.
London is a splendid place to live in for those who can get out of it.
I don’t know what London’s coming to—the higher the buildings the lower the morals.
London is a modern Babylon.
London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.
London, thou art the flour of cities all!