What's your town/city famous for?

**bigboab** · 04-13-2005, 07:27 AM

The town where I stay is the home of 'Johnny Walker' Whisky.

It is also the place where Robert Burns first published his poems.

**Mr. Mulder** · 04-13-2005, 08:47 AM

A big cathedral, terrible drivers and I think Lesley Garrett comes from here

there was also lots of medieval villages and so forth at some stage

**sArA** · 04-13-2005, 09:18 AM

My nearest town is home to the Hansom Cab......that is all

**Samurai** · 04-13-2005, 09:40 AM

London - United Kingdom

Continent: Europe
Country: United Kingdom
Region: England
City: London

Coordinates: 51:30:00N 0:07:00W
Altitude: 14m / 49ft
Time Zone: Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT)

Distance to other cities

City km miles

Antwerp, FL 316 196
Berlin, DE 929 577
Boston, MA 5279 3280
Budapest, HU 1470 913
Chicago, IL 6378 3963
Dallas, TX 7657 4758
Detroit, MI 6054 3762
Houston, TX 7821 4860
Los Angeles, CA 8781 5456
Montréal, PQ 5238 3255
Munich, DE 920 572
New York, NY 5585 3471
Paris, FR 343 213
Philadelphia, PA 5710 3548
San Francisco, CA 8645 5372
Toronto, ON 5728 3559
Vancouver, BC 7604 4725
Warsaw, PL 1454 904
Washington, DC 5913 3674

Union Flag

Country Flag - Great Britain

Region Flag - England

City Flag - London (I didn't even know we had a London Flag

so now I've just learnt something new today after research!)

From Wiki

Although there is no evidence of a large pre-Roman settlement, the name London is thought pre-date the Romans, who founded a settlement called Londinium on the north bank of the Thames circa 50AD. This fortified settlement was the capital of the Roman province of Britannia.

After the fall of Roman Empire, Londinium was abandoned and a Saxon town named Lundenwic was established a mile or so to the west in what is now Aldwych, in the 7th century AD. The old Roman city was then re-occupied during the late 9th or early 10th century.

Westminster was once a distinct town, and has been the seat of the English royal court and government since the mediæval era. Eventually Westminster and London grew together and formed the basis of London, becoming England's largest - though not capital - city (Winchester was the capital city of England until the 12th century).

From the 16th to the early 20th centuries London flourished as the capital of the British Empire.

In 1666, the Great Fire of London swept through and destroyed a large part of the City of London. Re-building took over 10 years, but London's growth accelerated in the 18th century and by the early 19th century it was the largest city in the world.

London has grown steadily over centuries, surrounding and making suburbs of neighbouring villages and towns, farmland, countryside, meadows and woodlands, spreading in every direction.

Probably the most significant changes to London in the last 100 years were as a result of the Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe that took place during World War II. The bombing flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The rebuilding during the 1950s and after characterised by a wide range of architectural styles has resulted in a lack of unity in architecture that has become part of London's character. The Blitz killed over 30,000 Londoners.

In the early part of the 20th Century Londoners used coal for heating their homes, which produced large amounts of smoke. In combination with climatic conditions this often caused a characteristic smog, and London became known for its typical "London Fog", also known as "Pea Soupers". London is also sometimes referred to as "The Smoke", probably because of this.

Other useful facts...

Jack The Ripper

In the 1880's, the East End of London became the staging place for a series of sickening murders that caused outrage through the entire nation. Although the killer's identity has been wildly speculated upon, to this day the murderer is known only as Jack the Ripper...

Further Information - Jack The Ripper

The Black Death: Bubonic Plague

In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. Plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly. Plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes, which is how it gets its name. The disease also causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black.

Since China was one of the busiest of the world's trading nations, it was only a matter of time before the outbreak of plague in China spread to western Asia and Europe. In October of 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China. When the ships docked in Sicily, many of those on board were already dying of plague. Within days the disease spread to the city and the surrounding countryside. An eyewitness tells what happened:

"Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, the people quickly drove the Italians from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."
The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. The Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims often

"ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise."
By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called it "The Black Death" because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and Medieval medicine had nothing to combat it.

In winter the disease seemed to disappear, but only because fleas--which were now helping to carry it from person to person--are dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims. After five years 25 million people were dead--one-third of Europe's people.

Even when the worst was over, smaller outbreaks continued, not just for years, but for centuries. The survivors lived in constant fear of the plague's return, and the disease did not disappear until the 1600s.

Medieval society never recovered from the results of the plague. So many people had died that there were serious labor shortages all over Europe. This led workers to demand higher wages, but landlords refused those demands. By the end of the 1300s peasant revolts broke out in England, France, Belgium and Italy.

The disease took its toll on the church as well. People throughout Christendom had prayed devoutly for deliverance from the plague. Why hadn't those prayers been answered? A new period of political turmoil and philosophical questioning lay ahead.

DISASTER STRIKES
Estimated population of Europe from 1000 to 1352.
1000 38 million
1100 48 million
1200 59 million
1300 70 million
1347 75 million
1352 50 million
25 million people died in just under five years between 1347 and 1352.

So, where does England, or London for that matter fit in? Well, during my school years I researched this project at the time, and found some startling evidence... Read on...

In the spring and summer of 1665 an outbreak of Bubonic Plague spread from parish to parish until thousands had died and the huge pits dug to receive the bodies were full.

Bubonic Plague was known as the Black Death and had been known in England for centuries. It was a ghastly disease. The victim's skin turned black in patches and inflamed glands or 'buboes' in the groin combined with compulsive vomiting, swollen tongue and splitting headaches made it a horrible, agonizing killer.

The plague started in the East, possibly China, and quickly spread through Europe. Whole communities were wiped out and corpses littered the streets as there was no one left to bury them.

It began in London in the poor, overcrowded parish of St. Giles-in-the-Field. It started slowly at first but by May of 1665, 43 had died. In June 6137 people died, in July 17036 and at its peak in August, 31159 people died. In all, 15% of the population perished during that terrible summer.

Incubation took a mere four to six days and when the plague appeared in a household, the house was sealed, thus condemning the whole family to death! These houses were distinguished by a painted red cross on the door and the words, 'Lord have mercy on us'. At night the corpses were brought out in answer to the cry,' Bring out your dead', put in a cart and taken away to the plague pits. One called the Great Pit was at Aldgate in London and another at Finsbury Fields.

The King, Charles II and his Court left London and fled to Oxford. Those people who could, sent their families away from London during these months, but the poor had no recourse but to stay.

Samuel Pepys in his Diary gives a vivid account of the empty streets in London, as all who could had left in an attempt to flee the pestilence.

It was believed that holding a posy of flowers to the noise kept away the plague and to this day judges are still given a nose-gay to carry on ceremonial occasions as a protection against the plague!

A song about the plague is still sung by children today.

Ring a Ring O' Roses,
A pocketful of posies,
Atishoo! Atishoo!
We all fall down!

"Ring a Ring O' Roses" is said to be a macabre parody on the horrors of the Great Plague. One of the first signs of the plague was a ring of rose-coloured spots, and the protection against this terrible disease was, in popular belief, a posy of herbs. Sneezing was taken as a sure sign that you were about to die of it, and the last line "We all fall down" omits the word, "dead"!

In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the centre of London but also killed off most of the black rats and fleas that carried the plague bacillus.

The plague lasted in London until the late Autumn when the colder weather helped kill off the fleas.

For some brief facts, try here http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/...k/geos/uk.html

Hope this was informative

Samurai

**Guillaume** · 04-13-2005, 09:47 AM

Strasbourg is the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights and it hosts the new seat of the European Parliament (with Brussels).
Wiki.