London is home to one of the best theater districts outside of Broadway. Most can be found throughout the city’s West End in Westminster and Camden. Naturally, being the center of the drama world means that the West End is also home to London’s oldest still-standing theaters, grand palaces built to house everything from Shakespeare […]
Voice & Vote – Women’s Place in Parliament Exhibition at the Palace of Westminster
I hope you saw The London Annual 2018 as I had a feature in the magazine about Vote 100 marking the centenary of the Representation of the People Act 1918 which gave most men and some women the vote for the first time. There have been events all year to celebrate this 100 year anniversary […]
How London Changed During the Victorian Period
The 19th Century was a time of great change for Britain, and especially its capital of London. Some of London’s most iconic landmarks were constructed during this time or altered to a look that we recognize today. In the midst of the effects of the Industrial Revolution, the population exploded, and the city grew to […]
London Annual: Ten of the Oldest Businesses in London
People have been exchanging money for goods for centuries, and London has seen some kind of commerce since the Romans first built the city as we know it. Most companies that we know of today, however, are fairly recent inventions in the grand scheme of things. It wouldn’t be until the 17th or 18th Centuries […]
Exhibition Alert: My Visit to the New James Cook Exhibition at the British Library – Review
On my final day in England for my trip over to cover the Royal Wedding, I decided to pop into London and visit an exhibition I really didn’t want to miss. The British Library just launched a new exhibition about the voyages of James Cook, putting them into context and showcasing the discoveries he and […]
The London Fiver – Five Major Scientific Discoveries Made in London
Progress in science is one way by which we may judge a society, and London is a city that certainly has made a lot of progress over the centuries. Some of the greatest discoveries in biology, physics, chemistry, and medicine have been made on the streets and in the laboratories of London. Some of them […]
Laura’s London: Exploring Clapham South Subterranean Shelter – Hidden London – From the Blitz to the Windrush
We all know there are tube train tunnels under London’s streets, and we could guess there are some service tunnels for pipes, but it’s still always a surprise to head down underground and find enough space for a village to live safely below. And that’s what there is at the Clapham South Subterranean Shelter. This […]
The Tube: A History of the London Underground
The world’s first underground railway, the London Underground was constructed as a response to the city’s rapid growth during the 19th Century. Today, it is the 11th-busiest subway system on the planet with 1.379 billion passengers using it from 2016-2017. Its tunnels stretch for 249 miles throughout London, often overlapping and giving passengers plenty of […]
Fit for a Queen: A Traveler’s Guide to Royal London
London has been a seat of power since the Romans made it their capital in 50 A.D. After they abandoned the settlement in the 5th Century, it would not become a seat of leadership again until Alfred the Great retook control in 886, rebuilding the fortifications, adding new defenses, and transforming the old Roman city […]
The London Fiver – Five Ancient Ruins in London to Visit That Haven’t Been Swept Away By Time
London is an ancient city. Even before the Romans established their settlement of Londonium, people had lived in the area. However, the Romans were the first to erect permanent structures here, some of which have survived today as ruins, hiding amongst the buildings that succeeded them and today’s skyscrapers. Of course, not all of these […]
Great Londoners: Joseph Bazalgette – The Man Who Ended The Great Stink
Joseph Bazalgette may not be a name that immediately comes to mind when you think of the city’s greatest citizens, but people use his biggest contribution every day–the sewer system. During the 19th Century, he was London’s chief engineer for the Metropolitan Board of Works and used his position to ease the city’s sanitation […]
Ten Interesting Facts about the Great Fire of London
On September 2, 1666, furnaces that weren’t quite out in the home of baker Thomas Farriner managed to start a fire that raged for four days and destroyed much of the City of London. The Great Fire was one of the most seminal events in London’s history. It has been recounted in dozens of works […]
Power Hungry: The History of Supplying London with Power
Generating power has been a necessity in Britain for longer than most people would think. Firewood was replaced with charcoal as early as the Roman Occupation and coal mining was a major source of fuel by the 13th Century. Coal provided the primary energy source for hundreds of years after that, powering the first steam […]
We Don’t Need No Water – The 1834 Palace of Westminster Fire
The Palace of Westminster, otherwise known as the meeting place of Parliament, is one of the grandest buildings in the United Kingdom. However, the building that stands here now is less than 200 years old, replacing another grand palace that had stood since medieval times. The first Palace of Westminster was a royal residence for […]
The London Fiver – Five Important Places in London’s Music History
Cities are full of music, from buskers in the streets to famous artists in their recording studios. London certainly has its own pedigree when it comes to be the best musical acts of the last few centuries, and with performance venues from the Royal Albert Hall to the Marquee Club, you can believe it has […]
London Fog: London and the Great Smog of 1952 – The True Story
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Issue #6 of the Anglotopia Magazine in 2017. Support great long from writing about UK Travel, Culture, and History by subscribing to the Anglotopia Print Magazine. As Christmas drew near in London in 1952, a strange phenomenon like something out of a Quatermass story became all too real […]
Westminster Abbey To Get New Dedicated Museum
Westminster Abbey, the place where Britain’s kings and queens have been crowned for almost a thousand years will be home to London’s newest museum later this year. From Travel GBI: Known as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries, the space will display more than 300 historic and artistic treasures from the abbey’s collection to tell the 1,000-year […]
Laura’s London: New Exhibition Report – Charles II: Art and Power at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
After over a decade of austere Cromwellian rule, the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 led to a resurgence of the arts in England. The court of Charles II became the centre for the patronage of leading artists and the collecting of great works of art. This served not only as decoration for the royal […]
Ten Interesting Facts and Figures about Maritime Greenwich
Greenwich, London is an area of London just south-east of the City of London. It’s first mentioned in a Saxon charter in 918 as “Grenowic” or “green settlement.” As London grew and prospered, Greenwich eventually became an area dedicated to maritime pursuits, eventually becoming the home of the Royal Navy College and the Royal Observatory. […]
London Alert: Hidden London Tours Bookings Open Next Week! Exploring Tunnels, Bomb Shelters and More!
We’ve been on several Hidden London Tours and they’re a great way to experience London in a unique way. We’ve done tours of two abandoned Tube Stations and I considered them highlights amongst all my travel to London. The thing is, they’re hard to get tickets for because they’re so popular. You can read about our […]
Black and White and Red All Over – How London’s Newspapers Covered Jack the Ripper
In 1888, a terror gripped London as a mysterious series of grisly murders took place in Whitechapel. Dubbed “Jack the Ripper”, the mysterious killer murdered five prostitutes in the area and his identity was never discovered, even with Scotland Yard developing several new crimefighting techniques. London found itself in a near-panic over the killings, though […]
Londontopia is simply the website for people who love London. It was founded by Jonathan & Jackie Thomas from Anglotopia.net as a place to post articles solely focused on London and its environs. Keep up with all the latest London news at Londontopia! This site is geared towards people who love to visit London and our primary audience is North American but everyone is welcome!
