London has been a capital for close to a thousand years, and it wears its history in layers: Roman walls under office blocks, a Norman fortress by the river and a Gothic parliament that is younger than it looks. Westminster, the seat of the monarchy and of Parliament, is the best place to start. Here are the facts and stories that make the city special.
10 fun facts about London
- Big Ben is a bell: the name belongs to the great bell inside the clock tower, not the tower itself. The bell, cast in 1858, weighs about 13.7 tonnes. The tower was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.
- Kept on time with pennies: the Great Clock is fine-tuned by placing old penny coins on its pendulum. Adding one makes the clock gain about 0.4 seconds a day.
- The world's first underground railway: the Metropolitan Railway opened in 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon, with steam trains running in shallow tunnels.
- A hall older than the palace around it: Westminster Hall was built in 1097 under King William II and survived the fire of 1834 that destroyed most of the old Palace of Westminster.
- A coronation church since 1066: every crowned English and British monarch since William the Conqueror, crowned on Christmas Day 1066, has been crowned in Westminster Abbey.
- A woman among the statesmen: Parliament Square is lined with statues of figures such as Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The first statue of a woman there, the suffragist Millicent Fawcett, was unveiled in 2018.
- A column that measures a fire: the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666 is 202 feet tall, exactly the distance from its base to the site of the bakery in Pudding Lane where the fire started.
- Ravens on guard: legend says that if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the kingdom will fall.
- The hardest map test in the world: to drive a black cab, drivers must pass The Knowledge, learning around 25,000 streets within six miles of Charing Cross.
- Two Londons: the City of London, the old Square Mile, has its own Lord Mayor, an office that goes back to the Middle Ages, quite separate from the Mayor of London, created in 2000.
Remember, remember: the Gunpowder Plot
In 1605 a group of Catholic conspirators, angry at the persecution of their faith, plotted to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5 November and kill King James I. They rented a cellar beneath the chamber and filled it with 36 barrels of gunpowder. An anonymous letter warned a Catholic lord to stay away, and in the night before the opening Guy Fawkes was found guarding the explosives. He and his fellow plotters were executed. Londoners lit bonfires to celebrate the king's escape, and 5 November is still Bonfire Night, with fireworks across Britain. To this day, before every State Opening, the Yeomen of the Guard search the cellars of the Palace of Westminster.
Westminster, explained
Westminster grew up around an abbey west of the old city, and in the 11th century Edward the Confessor built a palace beside it. Kings lived here until the 16th century, and Parliament has met here ever since. After the fire of 1834, the architect Charles Barry and the designer Augustus Pugin rebuilt the palace in Gothic Revival style, down to the inkwells and wallpaper. Together with Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
What to eat in London
- Fish and chips: battered cod or haddock with thick chips, salt and malt vinegar, best eaten straight from the paper.
- Sunday roast: roast beef, lamb or chicken with roast potatoes, vegetables, gravy and Yorkshire pudding, served in pubs every Sunday.
- Pie and mash: the old East End working lunch, a minced beef pie with mashed potato and a green parsley sauce called liquor.
- Afternoon tea: sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, and small cakes, served with a pot of tea.
- Borough Market: one of London's oldest food markets, next to London Bridge, is the place to graze on cheese, bread and street food.
Good to know before you go
- Pay for the Tube and buses with a contactless card or phone: daily fares are capped automatically.
- Many of the big national museums, including the British Museum and the National Gallery, don't charge for entry to their permanent collections.
- The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace does not happen every day, so check the schedule before you go.
- Guided tours of the Houses of Parliament run on many Saturdays and during recesses. Book ahead.
Explore London with World City Trail
Our London scavenger hunt turns these sights into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around three hours, with about 58 minutes of walking, past landmarks including Big Ben and Westminster and Parliament Square.
At each stop you solve a puzzle and hear a short story, at your own pace. You can start whenever you like and play in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish or Dutch.
Play the London scavenger hunt →
Facts checked in October 2026.