England

London - the grand resonance of its very name suggests history and might. Its opportunities for entertainment by day and night go on and on and on. It's a city that exhilarates and intimidates, stimulates and irritates in equal measure, a grubby Monopoly board studded with stellar sights.

Before the 20th century

Although a Celtic community settled around a ford across the River Thames, it was the Romans who first developed the square mile now known as the City of London. They built a bridge and an impressive city wall, and made Londinium an important port and the hub of their road system. The Romans left, but trade went on. Few traces of London dating from the Dark Ages can now be found, but the city survived the incursions of both the Saxons and Vikings. Fifty years before the Normans arrived, Edward the Confessor built his abbey and palace at Westminster.

William the Conqueror found a city that was, without doubt, the richest and largest in the kingdom. He raised the White Tower (part of the Tower of London) and confirmed the city's independence and right to self-government. During the reign of Elizabeth I, the capital began to expand rapidly - in 40 years the population doubled to reach 200,000. Unfortunately, the medieval, Tudor and Jacobean parts of London were virtually destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. The fire gave Christopher Wren the opportunity to build his famous churches, and the city's growth continued apace.

By 1720 it contained 750,000 people, and as the seat of Parliament and focal point for a growing empire, it was becoming ever richer and more important. Georgian architects replaced the last of medieval London with their imposing symmetrical architecture and residential squares. The population exploded again in the 19th century, creating a vast expanse of Victorian suburbs. As a result of the Industrial Revolution and rapidly expanding commerce, it jumped from 2.7 million in 1851 to 6.6 million in 1901.

Modern history

War in the first half of the 20th century destroyed many of the gains achieved by the previous century. Georgian and Victorian London was devastated by the Luftwaffe (German airforce) in WWII - huge swathes of the centre and the East End were totally flattened. After the war, ugly housing and low-cost developments were thrown up on the bomb sites. The docks never recovered - shipping moved to Tilbury, and the Docklands declined to the point of dereliction. In the heady 1980s, that decade of Thatcherite confidence and deregulation, the Docklands were rediscovered by a new wave of property developers, who proved to be only marginally more discriminating than the Luftwaffe.

London regained its swinging reputation in the 1990s, buoyed by Tony Blair's New Labour, a rampaging pound and a swag of pop, style and media 'names'. Blair's bane, Ken Livingstone, donned the mayoral robes in May 2000, opposing plans to sell off the Tube and pushing for improved public transport and safety. The face of the city changed with the construction of the costly white elephant Millennium Dome, the London Eye and the Tate Modern. And it's set to change even more in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics. But some things never change: London's cost of living outdoes itself year after year, its chic quotient continues to soar and the gap between the haves and have-nots looms ever larger.

Recent history

In July 2005, with London awarded the 2012 Olympics, the city's resurgence seemed to be going from strength to strength. However, the buoyant mood was shattered the very next morning when terrorists detonated a series of bombs on the city's public transport network, killing 52.

Ken Livingstone's campaign to get a third term as London mayor in 2008 was fatally undermined when the Conservative Party fielded maverick MP and popular TV personality Boris Johnson as its candidate. Johnson, portrayed by the media as a gaffe-prone toff, proved himself to be a deft political operator and shocked everyone by sailing past the incumbent to become the first Conservative mayor of London.

London's successful bagging of the 2012 Olympic Games meant that a vast building program in East London was rolled into action. The Olympics will release money for new transport routes and produce much-needed affordable housing after the games. The global financial crisis has taken its toll, of course. Many of the more ambitious construction schemes in the city have been cancelled or postponed. Despite this, London remains buoyant, confident and as exciting a place as ever.

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  The Savoy

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  This timeless London icon has been welcoming prestigious guests since first opening its doors

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If beer and chips are adding excess to your waistline, London offers a number of ways to work it off. Take out a rowboat for a dreamy drift after a picnic or promenade with purpose in Hyde Park. Or hire a nag and go for a canter.

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Many who live in London would swear that global warming has added a twist to the city's unpredictable climatic conditions. While locals used to complain about the frequent, but still somehow always unforeseen, arrival of rain, now they find themselves faced with sudden outbreaks of sunshine and dry heat instead.

Recent summers have seen record temperatures, approaching 40°C and autumns have been positively toasty. As the tube turns into the Black Hole of Calcutta and traffic fumes become choking, London is particularly ill-equipped to cope with such heat.

However, meteorologists point out that recent statistics don't yet represent anything terribly out of the ordinary for such a naturally variable climate. The average maximum temperature for July, the hottest month, is still only about 23°C. In spring and autumn temperatures drop to between 13°C and 17°C. In winter, the average daily maximum is 8°C, the overnight minimum 2°C.

Despite the appearance of snow in the past few years, it still rarely freezes in London. What weather forecasters do predict in the long-term, as a result of climate change in London, is drier summers, wetter and stormier winters and more flash floods.

Average weather

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Transport

Getting there and away

London is one of the world's major transport hubs, and your choices of ways to get in and out of it are myriad. Its major airports - the monster Heathrow and the smaller Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City - are all efficiently linked to the metropolis.

You've always been able to hop to the European mainland (and Ireland) by ferry, but the Eurostar high-speed passenger rail services make train travel to and from the continent a breeze.

Getting around

The dirty, wrathful congestion of London streets makes both driving and cycling an extreme sport. Hop on a bus, a Thames ferry or into an elegant black cab - and let a native negotiate the chaos on your behalf. Or take the Tube: you're sure to come up against its notorious, infuriating inefficiencies, but in most cases it's still the quickest way to get about.

Transport for London www.tfl.gov.uk is the glue that binds the network together. Its website has a handy journey planner and information on all services, including cycling options and cab info.

Buy an electronic Oyster card (www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster) for the cheapest fares on all transport and greatest ease of use.

Health & Legal Requirements

Dangers and annoyances

Considering the city's size and its disparities in wealth, London is generally a safe place. That said, do keep your wits about you and don't flash your cash around unnecessarily. A contagion of youth-on-youth knife crime is cause for concern, so walk away if you sense trouble brewing and take care at night.

When travelling by Tube, choose a carriage with other people in it and avoid deserted suburban stations. Outside pubs and clubs, ignore unlicensed minicabs (basically a bloke with a car making a bit of money on the side). Once you're in the car, you're at risk of sexual attack or robbery. Take a licensed taxi instead.

The main annoyance to avoid is pickpockets, whose haunts include bustling areas like Oxford St and Leicester Square. Nearly every Londoner has a story about a wallet/phone being nicked from under their nose - or arse, in the case of bags on floors in bars.