106-497: Faber and Faber Limited , commonly known as Faber & Faber or simply Faber , is an independent publishing house in London . Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden , C. S. Lewis , Margaret Storey , William Golding , Samuel Beckett , Philip Larkin , Sylvia Plath , Ted Hughes , Seamus Heaney , Paul Muldoon , Milan Kundera and Kazuo Ishiguro . Founded in 1929, in 2006
212-468: A Bronze Age bridge were found on the south River Thames foreshore, upstream from Vauxhall Bridge . Two of the timbers were radiocarbon dated to 1750–1285 BC. In 2010, foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4800–4500 BC, were found on the Thames' south foreshore downstream from Vauxhall Bridge. Both structures are on the south bank of the Thames, where the now-underground River Effra flows into
318-467: A troubled relationship with alcohol ; Judy Carver notes that her father was "always very open, if rueful, about problems with drink". Golding suggested that his self-described "crisis", of which alcoholism played a major part, had plagued him his entire life. John Carey mentions several instances of binge drinking in his biography, including Golding's experiences in 1963; whilst on holiday in Greece (when he
424-635: A Fox-Hunting Man . The book was at first published anonymously; the author's name, Siegfried Sassoon , was added to the title page for the second impression. Over the next six months, it was reprinted eight times. Poetry was originally the most renowned part of the Faber list, with W. H. Auden , Stephen Spender , and Louis MacNeice joining Ezra Pound , Marianne Moore , Wyndham Lewis , John Gould Fletcher , Roy Campbell , James Joyce , David Jones (artist-poet) and Walter de la Mare being published under T. S. Eliot's aegis. Under Geoffrey Faber's chairmanship,
530-726: A few months after his unexpected death, the First International William Golding Conference was held in France. His first novel, Lord of the Flies (1954; film, 1963 and 1990; play, adapted by Nigel Williams , 1995), describes a group of boys stranded on a tropical island descending into a lawless and increasingly wild existence before being rescued. The Inheritors (1955) depicts a tribe of gentle Neanderthals encountering modern humans, who by comparison are deceitful and violent. His 1956 novel Pincher Martin records
636-425: A journal in which he recorded and interpreted his dreams; the last entry is from the day before he died, in 1993, and the volumes-long work came to be thousands of pages long by this time. The crisis did inevitably affect Golding's output, and his next novel, Darkness Visible , would be published twelve years after The Pyramid ; a far cry from the prolific author who had produced six novels in thirteen years since
742-529: A larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are excluded and some just outside included. The Greater London boundary has been aligned to the M25 motorway in places. Further urban expansion is now prevented by the Metropolitan Green Belt , although the built-up area extends beyond the boundary in places, producing a separately defined Greater London Urban Area . Beyond this
848-406: A literary adviser; in the first season, the firm issued his Poems 1909–1925 . In addition, the catalogues from the early years included books by Ezra Pound , Jean Cocteau , Herbert Read , Max Eastman , George Rylands , John Dover Wilson , Geoffrey Keynes , Forrest Reid , Charles Williams , and Vita Sackville-West . In 1928, Faber and Faber published its first commercial success, Memoirs of
954-543: A mysterious figure who survives a fire in the Blitz and appears to have supernatural powers. In 1980, Golding published Rites of Passage , the first of his novels about a voyage to Australia in the early nineteenth century. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1980 and Golding followed this success with Close Quarters (1987) and Fire Down Below (1989) to complete his 'sea trilogy', later published as one volume entitled To
1060-504: A new editor at the firm. Monteith asked for some changes to the text and the novel was published in September 1954 as Lord of the Flies . After moving in 1958 from Salisbury to nearby Bowerchalke , he met his fellow villager and walking companion James Lovelock . The two discussed Lovelock's hypothesis , that the living matter of the planet Earth functions like a single organism, and Golding suggested naming this hypothesis after Gaia ,
1166-403: A population density of 802 per acre (325 per hectare). In addition to the growing number of stores selling goods, such as Harding, Howell & Co. —one of the first department stores —located on Pall Mall , the streets had scores of street sellers . London's overcrowded conditions led to cholera epidemics, claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866. Rising traffic congestion led to
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#17328549512231272-549: A population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 11,760 inhabitants per square mile (4,542/km ). The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 3,236 square miles (8,382 km ) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 3,900 inhabitants per square mile (1,510/km ). Modern London stands on
1378-564: A post- Brexit exodus of stock listings from the London Stock Exchange , London remains a European economic powerhouse, and one of the world's major financial centres . It hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions , some of which are the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world: Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences , the London School of Economics in social sciences , and
1484-464: A scholarship to two writers every year, with a focus on under-represented groups such as writers of colour, disabled writers and LGBTQ + writers. Faber Digital was launched in 2009. It has published a number of book-related apps for the iPhone and the iPad, including Malcolm Tucker: The Missing Phone (which was nominated for a BAFTA award), QI: Quite Interesting , Harry Hill's Joke Book , and The Waste Land for iPad app . The Waste Land for iPad app
1590-420: A teacher at Bishop Wordsworth's School , in 1951 Golding began writing a manuscript of the novel initially titled Strangers from Within . In September 1953, after rejections from seven other publishers, Golding sent a manuscript to Faber and Faber and was initially rejected by their reader, Jan Perkins, who labelled it as "Rubbish & dull. Pointless". His book, however, was championed by Charles Monteith,
1696-542: A temperate oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ). Rainfall records have been kept in the city since at least 1697, when records began at Kew . At Kew, the most rainfall in one month is 7.4 inches (189 mm) in November 1755 and the least is 0 inches (0 mm) in both December 1788 and July 1800. Mile End also had 0 inches (0 mm) in April 1893. The wettest year on record is 1903, with a total fall of 38.1 inches (969 mm) and
1802-690: Is 1,049.8 millibars (31.00 inHg) on 20 January 2020. Summers are generally warm, sometimes hot. London's average July high is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F). On average each year, London experiences 31 days above 25 °C (77.0 °F) and 4.2 days above 30.0 °C (86.0 °F). During the 2003 European heat wave , prolonged heat led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. A previous spell of 15 consecutive days above 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) in England in 1976 also caused many heat related deaths. A previous temperature of 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) in August 1911 at
1908-554: Is agreed that the name came into these languages from Common Brythonic ; recent work tends to reconstruct the lost Celtic form of the name as * Londonjon or something similar. This was then adapted into Latin as Londinium and borrowed into Old English. Until 1889, the name "London" applied officially only to the City of London , but since then it has also referred to the County of London and to Greater London . In 1993, remains of
2014-528: Is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier. Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities. The GLA consists of two elected components: the mayor of London , who has executive powers , and the London Assembly , which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject
2120-738: Is headquartered in Thames House on the north bank of the River Thames and the foreign intelligence service ( MI6 ) is headquartered in the SIS Building on the south bank. Crime rates vary widely across different areas of London. Crime figures are made available nationally at Local Authority and Ward level. In 2015, there were 118 homicides, a 25.5% increase over 2014. Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There were 50 murders from
2226-572: Is held by an independent . The ministerial post of minister for London was created in 1994, however as of 2024, the post has been vacant. Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the City of London , is provided by the Metropolitan Police ("The Met"), overseen by the mayor through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). The Met is also referred to as Scotland Yard after
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#17328549512232332-553: Is known as London . It is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England by convention rather than statute. 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. Greater London encompasses a total area of 611 square miles (1,583 km ) an area which had
2438-669: Is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom , with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. The wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe , with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea , and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre ,
2544-523: Is the vast London commuter belt . Greater London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London , and by the River Thames into North and South , with an informal central London area. The coordinates of the nominal centre of London, traditionally the original Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall , are about 51°30′26″N 00°07′39″W / 51.50722°N 0.12750°W / 51.50722; -0.12750 . Within London, both
2650-512: The 2012 Summer Olympics . London is an ancient name, attested in the first century AD, usually in the Latinised form Londinium . Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources: Latin (usually Londinium ), Old English (usually Lunden ), and Welsh (usually Llundein ), with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It
2756-529: The Black Death in the mid-14th century, London lost nearly a third of its population. London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. London was a centre of England's Jewish population before their expulsion by Edward I in 1290. Violence against Jews occurred in 1190, when it was rumoured that the new king had ordered their massacre after they had presented themselves at his coronation. In 1264 during
2862-652: The Booker Prize for Rites of Passage in 1980. In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature , and was, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , "an unexpected and even contentious choice". Having been appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1966 New Year Honours , Golding was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1988 Birthday Honours . In September 1993, only
2968-520: The Canary Wharf development. This was born out of London's increasing role as an international financial centre in the 1980s. Located about 2 miles (3 km) east of central London, the Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against tidal surges from the North Sea . The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, leaving London with no central administration until 2000 and
3074-497: The City of London , was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster , to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament . London grew rapidly in the 19th century , becoming the world's largest city at the time . Since the 19th century, the name "London" has referred to
3180-648: The Corn Laws in 1846 was specifically aimed at weakening Dutch economic power. London then overtook Amsterdam as the leading international financial centre. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, an unprecedented growth in urbanisation took place, and the number of High Streets (the primary street for retail in Britain) rapidly grew. London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925 , with
3286-553: The Georgian era , new districts such as Mayfair were formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London . In the east, the Port of London expanded downstream. London's development as an international financial centre matured for much of the 18th century. In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House , which was enlarged over the next 75 years. During
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3392-609: The King's Road , Chelsea and Carnaby Street . The role of trendsetter revived in the punk era. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded in response to the growth of the urban area and a new Greater London Council was created. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland, London was hit from 1973 by bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army . These attacks lasted for two decades, starting with
3498-600: The London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust , the largest free-at-the-point-of-use emergency ambulance service in the world. The London Air Ambulance charity operates in conjunction with the LAS where required. Her Majesty's Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution operate on the River Thames , which is under the jurisdiction of the Port of London Authority from Teddington Lock to
3604-748: The Mediterranean was normally through Antwerp and over the Alps ; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan . The reopening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 spurred a burst of commercial activity. The Royal Exchange was founded. Mercantilism grew and monopoly traders such as the East India Company were founded as trade expanded to
3710-594: The New Model Army entered London in 1647, and they were levelled by Parliament the same year. London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population. The Great Fire of London broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept through the wooden buildings. Rebuilding took over ten years and
3816-554: The New World . London became the main North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from about 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605. In the 16th century, William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London during English Renaissance theatre . Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was constructed in 1599 in Southwark . Stage performances came to a halt in London when Puritan authorities shut down
3922-590: The Old Bailey bombing . Racial inequality was highlighted by the 1981 Brixton riot . Greater London's population declined in the decades after the Second World War, from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s. The principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury , with the London Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration, including
4028-637: The Second Barons' War , Simon de Montfort 's rebels killed 500 Jews while attempting to seize records of debts. During the Tudor period , the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism . Much of London property passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and business in the city. In 1475, the Hanseatic League set up a main trading base ( kontor ) of England in London, called
4134-568: The Stalhof or Steelyard . It remained until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck , Bremen and Hamburg sold the property to South Eastern Railway . Woollen cloth was shipped undyed and undressed from 14th/15th century London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries . Yet English maritime enterprise hardly reached beyond the seas of north-west Europe . The commercial route to Italy and
4240-543: The Thames , its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a flood plain surrounded by gently rolling hills including Parliament Hill , Addington Hills , and Primrose Hill . Historically London grew up at the lowest bridging point on the Thames. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands ; at high tide, its shores reached five times their present width. Since
4346-637: The Tower of London ; the site featuring the Palace of Westminster , Church of St. Margaret , and Westminster Abbey ; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory defines the prime meridian (0° longitude ) and Greenwich Mean Time . Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace , the London Eye , Piccadilly Circus , St Paul's Cathedral , Tower Bridge , and Trafalgar Square . The city has
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4452-521: The Victorian era the Thames 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. The threat has increased over time because of a slow but continuous rise in high water level caused by climate change and by the slow 'tilting' of the British Isles as a result of post-glacial rebound . London has
4558-500: The Wiltshire county border with Hampshire and Dorset . On his death he left the draft of a novel, The Double Tongue , set in ancient Delphi , which was published posthumously in 1995. In William Golding: A Critical Study (2008), George states that, “Golding experienced two things that he counts the greatest influences on his writing—first, the war and his service in the navy and second, his learning ancient Greek.” While still
4664-562: The metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex , Essex , Surrey , Kent , and Hertfordshire , which since 1965 has largely comprised the administrative area of Greater London , governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority . As one of the world's major global cities , London exerts a strong influence on world art , entertainment, fashion , commerce, finance, education , healthcare , media , science, technology, tourism , transport , and communications. Despite
4770-554: The 11th century, London was clearly the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey , rebuilt in Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor , was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England , but from this time London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton : "It had
4876-494: The 18th century, London was said to be dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force. Epidemics during the 1720s and 30s saw most children born in the city die before reaching their fifth birthday. Coffee-houses became a popular place to debate ideas, as growing literacy and development of the printing press made news widely available, with Fleet Street becoming
4982-878: The Arts Council in partnership with the BBC – Sixty Years in Sixty Poems took the poems from Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy 's anthology, Jubilee Lines , and interpreted them using actors' recordings, sound-based generative design, and archive film footage. In 2008, Faber launched Faber Academy, a creative writing business offering courses for aspiring writers. Courses include "Writing a Novel", "Advanced Poetry", and "Getting Started: Beginners' Fiction". At times, courses are tutored by famous writers, such as Mike Figgis , Jeanette Winterson , and Tobias Hill . Notable students have included S. J. Watson and Georgian/British singer-songwriter Katie Melua . In 2018, The Faber Academy started offering
5088-420: The City of London and the City of Westminster have city status . The City of London and the remainder of Greater London are both counties for the purposes of lieutenancies . The area of Greater London includes areas that are part of the historic counties of Middlesex , Kent , Surrey , Essex and Hertfordshire . More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context
5194-452: The Flies . John Carey , the emeritus professor of English literature at Oxford University, was eventually given 'unprecedented access to Golding's unpublished papers and journals by the Golding estate'. Though Golding had not written the journals specifically so that a biography could be written about him, Carey published William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies in 2009. Golding
5300-487: The Greenwich station was later disregarded as non-standard. Droughts can also, occasionally, be a problem, especially in summer, most recently in summer 2018, and with much drier than average conditions prevailing from May to December. However, the most consecutive days without rain was 73 days in the spring of 1893. William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding CBE FRSL (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993)
5406-588: The London area. This called for the Corporation of the city to extend its jurisdiction and administration over expanding areas around the city. Fearing an attempt by the Crown to diminish the Liberties of London , coupled with a lack of interest in administering these additional areas or concern by city guilds of having to share power, caused the Corporation's "The Great Refusal", a decision which largely continues to account for
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#17328549512235512-868: The Second World War, paper shortages resulted in high profits, but much of this profit went to taxation. Notable postwar Faber writers include William Golding (although the company almost rejected his Lord of the Flies ), Lawrence Durrell , Robert Lowell , Ted Hughes , Sylvia Plath , W. S. Graham , Philip Larkin , P. D. James , Tom Stoppard , and John Osborne . The firm increased its investment in contemporary drama, including plays by three Nobel Laureates: Harold Pinter , Samuel Beckett , and T. S. Eliot . Other playwrights subsequently joined Faber, including Alan Ayckbourn , Alan Bennett , Brian Friel , Tony Harrison , David Hare , Frank McGuinness , and Timberlake Wertenbaker . Modern writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro , Peter Carey , Orhan Pamuk , and Barbara Kingsolver also joined Faber. In addition, Faber has published
5618-431: The Services to Independent Publishers Award at the IPG Awards in 2013 and 2015. The firm's original location was its Georgian offices at 24 Russell Square , in Bloomsbury , London. Faber later moved to 3 Queen Square, London , and on 19 January 2009 the firm moved to Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street , London. The company relocated to The Bindery, Hatton Garden , London in 2023. London London
5724-409: The Thames. Despite the evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans around 47 AD, about four years after their invasion of 43 AD. This only lasted until about 61 AD, when the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it and burnt it to the ground. The next planned incarnation of Londinium prospered, superseding Colchester as
5830-415: The United Kingdom's population and over 16% of England's population. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants as of 2011. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants as of 2016, making London a megacity . Four World Heritage Sites are located in London: Kew Gardens ;
5936-405: The Viking incursions formally agreed by the Danish warlord , Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological research shows this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls . London then grew slowly until a dramatic increase in about 950. By
6042-673: The band Pulp , would be joining as editor-at-large, an appointment similar to one held by Pete Townshend of The Who in the 1980s. In 2008, the imprint Faber Finds was set up to make copyrighted out-of-print books reavailable, using print-on-demand technology. Works republished in the imprint have included items from the Mass-Observation archives, and works by John Betjeman , Angus Wilson , A. J. P. Taylor , H. G. Wells , Joyce Cary , Nina Bawden , Jean Genet , P. H. Newby , Louis MacNeice , John Carey , F. R. Leavis , Jacob Bronowski , Jan Morris , and Brian Aldiss . In 2009, Faber Finds began to release e-books . Faber's American arm
6148-526: The board in 1929 included Eliot, Richard de la Mare, Charles Stewart, and Frank Vigor Morley . The firm's art director was Berthold Wolpe . Faber published biographies, memoirs , fiction, poetry, political and religious essays, art and architecture monographs, children's books , and an ecology list. It also published Eliot's literary review, The Criterion . Eliot rejected two books by George Orwell , A Scullion's Diary (the original version of Down and Out in Paris and London ) and Animal Farm . During
6254-437: The centre of the British press. The invasion of Amsterdam by Napoleonic armies led many financiers to relocate to London and the first London international issue was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the Royal Navy became the world's leading war fleet, acting as a major deterrent to potential economic adversaries. Following a fire in 1838, the Royal Exchange was redesigned by William Tite and rebuilt in 1844. The repeal of
6360-517: The character Wilf in The Paper Men ; "an ageing novelist whose alcohol-sodden journeys across Europe are bankrolled by the continuing success of his first book". By the late 1960s, Golding was relying on alcohol – which he referred to as "the old, old anodyne ". His first steps towards recovery came from his study of Carl Jung 's writings, and in what he called "an admission of discipleship". He travelled to Switzerland in 1971 to see Jung's landscapes for himself. That same year, he started keeping
6466-425: The city's metropolis. The City of London at its core once comprised the whole settlement, but as its urban area grew, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to amalgamate the city with its suburbs , causing "London" to be defined several ways. Forty per cent of Greater London is covered by the London post town , in which 'London' forms part of postal addresses. The London telephone area code (020) covers
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#17328549512236572-412: The city, to intimidate the inhabitants. In 1097, William II began building Westminster Hall , near the abbey. It became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster . In the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto followed the royal English court around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly fixed, for most purposes at Westminster , although
6678-443: The combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and £7.4 billion for the GLA). The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for Greater London, run by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority . It is the third largest fire service in the world. National Health Service ambulance services are provided by
6784-508: The company was named the KPMG Publisher of the Year. Faber and Faber Inc. , formerly the American branch of the London company, was sold in 1998 to the Holtzbrinck company Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG). Faber and Faber ended the partnership with FSG in 2015 and began distributing its books directly in the United States. Faber and Faber began as a firm in 1929, but originated in the Scientific Press, owned by Sir Maurice and Lady Gwyer . The Scientific Press derived much of its income from
6890-405: The comprehensive University College London . It is the most visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system . The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system. London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million made it Europe's third-most populous city , accounting for 13.4% of
6996-441: The construction (and near collapse) of an impossibly large spire on the top of a medieval cathedral (generally assumed to be Salisbury Cathedral ). Golding's 1967 novel, The Pyramid , consists of three linked stories with a shared setting in a small English town based partly on Marlborough where Golding grew up. The Scorpion God (1971) contains three novellas, the first set in an ancient Egyptian court ("The Scorpion God");
7102-500: The creation of the Greater London Authority . To mark the 21st century, the Millennium Dome , London Eye and Millennium Bridge were constructed. On 6 July 2005 London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics , as the first city to stage the Olympic Games three times. On 7 July 2005, three London Underground trains and a double-decker bus were bombed in a series of terrorist attacks . In 2008, Time named London alongside New York City and Hong Kong as Nylonkong , hailing them as
7208-419: The creation of the London Underground , the world's first urban rail network . The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of county areas surrounding the capital. From the early years of the 20th century onwards, teashops were found on High Streets across London and
7314-713: The driest is 1921, with a total fall of 12.1 inches (308 mm). The average annual precipitation amounts to about 600mm, which is half the annual rainfall of New York City . Despite relatively low annual precipitation, London receives 109.6 rainy days on the 1.0mm threshold annually. London is vulnerable to climate change , and there is concern among hydrological experts that households may run out of water before 2050. Temperature extremes in London range from 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) at Heathrow on 19 July 2022 down to −17.4 °C (0.7 °F) at Northolt on 13 December 1981. Records for atmospheric pressure have been kept at London since 1692. The highest pressure ever reported
7420-550: The first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. The mayor's statutory planning strategy is published as the London Plan , which was most recently revised in 2011. The local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation . They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, libraries, leisure and recreation, social services , local roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management , are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010
7526-425: The location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The City of London has its own police force – the City of London Police . First worn by Met police officers in 1863, the custodian helmet has been called a "cultural icon" and a "symbol of British law enforcement". Introduced by the Met in 1929, the blue police telephone box (basis for the TARDIS in Doctor Who )
7632-455: The mayor's budget proposals each year. The GLA has responsibility for the majority of London's transport system through its functional arm Transport for London (TfL), it is responsible for overseeing the city's police and fire services, and also for setting a strategic vision for London on a range of issues. The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall , Newham. The mayor since 2016 has been Sadiq Khan ,
7738-718: The most museums , art galleries, libraries, and cultural venues in the UK, including the British Museum , National Gallery , Natural History Museum , Tate Modern , British Library , and numerous West End theatres. Important sporting events held in London include the FA Cup Final , the Wimbledon Tennis Championships , and the London Marathon . It became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games upon hosting
7844-650: The most diverse cities in the world. In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank . The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956 , which ended the " pea soup fogs " for which London had been notorious, and had earned it the nickname the "Big Smoke". Starting mainly in the mid-1960s, London became a centre for worldwide youth culture , exemplified by the Swinging London sub-culture associated with
7950-654: The navy on 18 December 1940, reporting for duty at HMS Raleigh . He returned in 1945 and taught the same subjects until 1961. Golding kept a personal journal for over 22 years from 1971 until the night before his death, it contained approximately 2.4 million words in total. The journal was initially used by Golding to record his dreams, but over time it began to function as a record of his life. The journals contained insights including retrospective thoughts about his novels and memories from his past. At one point Golding described setting his students up into two groups to fight each other – an experience he drew on when writing Lord of
8056-467: The old Roman city. By about 680 the city had become a major port again, but there is little evidence of large-scale production. From the 820s repeated Viking assaults brought decline. Three are recorded; those in 851 and 886 succeeded, while the last, in 994, was rebuffed. The Vikings applied Danelaw over much of eastern and northern England, its boundary running roughly from London to Chester as an area of political and geographical control imposed by
8162-544: The opposite effect, with the novel's scathingly negative reviews in a BBC radio broadcast affecting him severely. Following the publication of The Pyramid in 1967, Golding experienced a severe writer's block : the result of myriad crises (family anxieties, insomnia , and a general sense of dejection). Golding eventually became unable to deal with what he perceived to be the intense reality of his life without first drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Tim Kendall suggests that these experiences manifest in Golding's writing as
8268-713: The personification of the Earth in Greek mythology, and mother of the Titans. His publishing success made it possible for Golding to resign his teaching post at Bishop Wordsworth's School in 1961, and he spent that academic year in the United States as writer-in-residence at Hollins College (now Hollins University), near Roanoke, Virginia . Golding won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Darkness Visible in 1979, and
8374-486: The principal city of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of about 60,000. With the early 5th-century collapse of Roman rule, the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation continued around St Martin-in-the-Fields until about 450. From about 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly west of
8480-507: The pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck . Golding participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day , commanding a landing craft that fired salvoes of rockets onto the beaches. He was also in action at Walcheren in October and November 1944, during which time 10 out of 27 assault craft that went into the attack were sunk. Golding rose to the rank of lieutenant. Golding had
8586-462: The resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital ." After winning the Battle of Hastings , William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England in newly completed Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William built the Tower of London , the first of many such in England rebuilt in stone in the south-eastern corner of
8692-624: The rest of Britain, with Lyons , who opened the first of their chain of teashops in Piccadilly in 1894, leading the way. The tearooms, such as the Criterion in Piccadilly, became a popular meeting place for women from the suffrage movement. The city was the target of many attacks during the suffragette bombing and arson campaign , between 1912 and 1914, which saw historic landmarks such as Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral bombed. London
8798-454: The royal treasury came to rest in the Tower . While the City of Westminster developed into a true governmental capital, its distinct neighbour, the City of London , remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London . In 1100, its population was some 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000. With
8904-534: The sea. London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom . Many government departments, as well as the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street , are based close to the Palace of Westminster , particularly along Whitehall . There are 75 members of Parliament (MPs) from London; As of June 2024 , 59 are from the Labour Party , 9 are Conservatives , 6 are Liberal Democrats and one constituency
9010-426: The second describing a prehistoric African hunter-gatherer group ("Clonk, Clonk"); and the third in the court of a Roman emperor ("Envoy Extraordinary"). The last of these, originally published in 1956, was reworked by Golding into a play, The Brass Butterfly , in 1958. From 1971 to 1979, Golding published no novels. After this period he published Darkness Visible (1979): a story involving terrorism, paedophilia, and
9116-424: The start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are involved. However, homicide figures fell in 2022 with 109 recorded for the year, and the murder rate in London is much lower than other major cities around the world. London, also known as Greater London , is one of nine regions of England and the top subdivision covering most of
9222-508: The start of his career. Despite this, the extent of Golding's recovery is evident from the fact that this was only the first of six further novels that Golding completed before his death. In 1985, Golding and his wife moved to a house called Tullimaar in Perranarworthal , near Truro , Cornwall. He died of heart failure eight years later on 19 June 1993. His body was buried in the parish churchyard of Bowerchalke near his former home and
9328-725: The theatres in the 1640s. The ban on theatre was lifted during the Restoration in 1660, and London's oldest operating theatre, Drury Lane , opened in 1663 in what is now the West End theatre district. By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605. In 1637, the government of Charles I attempted to reform administration in
9434-426: The thoughts of a drowning sailor. Free Fall (1959) explores the question of freedom of choice. The novel's narrator, a World War Two soldier in a German POW Camp, endures interrogation and solitary confinement. After these events and while recollecting the experiences, he looks back over the choices he has made, trying to trace precisely where he lost the freedom to make his own decisions. The Spire (1964) follows
9540-460: The translated work of prominent novelists and poets including Milan Kundera , Thomas Bernhard , Günter Grass , Nikos Kazantzakis , Wisława Szymborska , Mario Vargas Llosa , and Czesław Miłosz . Having published the theatrical works of Samuel Beckett for several years, the company acquired the rights to the remainder of his oeuvre from the publishing house of John Calder in 2007. Faber announced in October 2011 that Jarvis Cocker , lead singer of
9646-691: The unique governmental status of the City . In the English Civil War , the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After an initial advance by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles of Brentford and Turnham Green , London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall known as the Lines of Communication . The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months. The fortifications failed their only test when
9752-581: The weekly magazine The Nursing Mirror . The Gwyers' desire to expand into trade publishing led them to Geoffrey Faber , a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford ; they founded Faber and Gwyer in 1925. After four years, The Nursing Mirror was sold and Geoffrey Faber and the Gwyers agreed to go their separate ways. Faber selected the company name of Faber and Faber, although there was no other Faber involved. T. S. Eliot, who had been suggested to Faber by Charles Whibley , had left Lloyds Bank in London to join Faber as
9858-625: The world's three most influential global cities . In January 2015, Greater London's population was estimated to be 8.63 million, its highest since 1939. During the Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK as a whole decided to leave the European Union , but most London constituencies voted for remaining. However, Britain's exit from the EU in early 2020 only marginally weakened London's position as an international financial centre. The administration of London
9964-966: Was bombed by the Germans in the First World War , and during the Second World War , the Blitz and other bombings by the German Luftwaffe killed over 30,000 Londoners, destroying large tracts of housing and other buildings across the city. The tomb of the Unknown Warrior , an unidentified member of the British armed forces killed during the First World War, was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. The Cenotaph , located in Whitehall ,
10070-475: Was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature . In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Son of Alec Golding, a science master at Marlborough Grammar School (1905 to retirement), and Mildred, née Curnoe, William Golding was born at his maternal grandmother's house, 47 Mount Wise, Newquay , Cornwall . The house
10176-660: Was Faber's second collaboration with Touch Press, following the Solar System for iPad , which won the Futurebook Award for Digital innovation at the Book Industry Awards in 2011. In 2013, in partnership with Bloomsbury Publishing plc , Faber Digital launched Drama Online, a subscription-based digital content platform for libraries, educators, students, and researchers. Faber introduced Faber Factory in 2011, an eBook conversion and digitisation service. Faber Factory won
10282-530: Was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, he was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage , the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth . He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature . As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding
10388-464: Was engaged to Molly Evans, a woman from Marlborough, who was well liked by both of his parents. However, he broke off the engagement and married Ann Brookfield, an analytical chemist, on 30 September 1939. They had two children, David (born September 1940) and Judith (born July 1945). During World War II , Golding joined the Royal Navy in 1940. He served on a destroyer which was briefly involved in
10494-685: Was known as Karenza , the Cornish word for love , and he spent many childhood holidays there. The Golding family lived at 29, The Green, Marlborough, Wiltshire , Golding and his elder brother Joseph attending the school at which their father taught. Golding's mother was a campaigner for female suffrage; she was Cornish and was considered by her son "a superstitious Celt ", who used to tell him old Cornish ghost stories from her own childhood. In 1930, Golding went to Brasenose College, Oxford , where he read Natural Sciences for two years before transferring to English for his final two years. His original tutor
10600-436: Was meant to have been finishing his novel The Spire ), after working on his writing in the morning, he would go to his preferred " Kapheneion " to drink at midday. By the evening he would move onto ouzo and brandy ; he developed a reputation locally for "provoking explosions". Unfortunately, the eventual publication of The Spire the following year did not help Golding's developing struggle with alcohol; it had precisely
10706-437: Was once a common sight throughout London and regional cities in the UK. The British Transport Police are responsible for police services on National Rail , London Underground , Docklands Light Railway and Tramlink services. The Ministry of Defence Police is a special police force in London, which does not generally become involved with policing the general public. The UK's domestic counter-intelligence service ( MI5 )
10812-667: Was published by Macmillan & Co , with the help of his Oxford friend, the anthroposophist Adam Bittleston. In 1935, he took a job teaching English at Michael Hall School , a Steiner-Waldorf school then in Streatham, South London, staying there for two years. After a year in Oxford studying for a Diploma of Education, he was a schoolmaster teaching English and music at Maidstone Grammar School 1938 – 1940, before moving to Bishop Wordsworth's School , Salisbury , in April 1940. There he taught English, Philosophy, Greek, and drama until joining
10918-460: Was sold in 1998 to Farrar, Straus and Giroux ("FSG"), where it remained as an imprint focused on arts, entertainment, media, and popular culture. In February 2015, Faber announced the end of its partnership with FSG. In June 2012, to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Faber launched a website – Sixty Years in Sixty Poems . Commissioned for The Space – the new digital arts platform developed by
11024-459: Was supervised by polymath Robert Hooke . In 1710, Christopher Wren 's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral , was completed, replacing its medieval predecessor that burned in the Great Fire of 1666. The dome of St Paul's dominated the London skyline for centuries, inspiring the artworks and writing of William Blake , with his 1789 poem " Holy Thursday " referring to 'the high dome of Pauls'. During
11130-413: Was the chemist Thomas Taylor . In a private journal and in a memoir for his wife he admitted having tried to rape a teenage girl (with whom he had previously taken piano lessons) during a vacation, having apparently misinterpreted what he had perceived as her having "wanted heavy sex". Golding took his B.A. degree with Second Class Honours in the summer of 1934, and later that year a book of his Poems
11236-516: Was unveiled on the same day, and is the focal point for the National Service of Remembrance held annually on Remembrance Sunday , the closest Sunday to 11 November. The 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium , while London was still recovering from the war. From the 1940s, London became home to many immigrants, primarily from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, making London one of
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