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| John Walter |
John WalterJohn Walter (1738/9 - November 16, 1812), founder of The Times newspaper, London, was born in London and educated at Merchant Taylors' School.
From the death of his father Richard Walter (about 1755/6), until 1781 he was engaged in a prosperous business as a coal merchant. He played a leading part in establishing a Coal Exchange in London; but shortly after 1781, when he began to occupy himself solely as an underwriter and became a member of Lloyds, he over-speculated and failed.
In 1782 he bought from one Henry Johnson a patent for a new method of printing from logotypes (i.e. founts of words or portions of words, instead of letters), and made some improvements to it. In 1784 he acquired an old printing office in Blackfriars, which formed the nucleus of the Printing-house Square of a later date, and established there his Logographic Office.
At first he only undertook the printing of books, but on January 1, 1785 he started a small newspaper called The Daily Universal Register, which on reaching its 940th number on January 1 1788 was renamed The Times.
The printing business developed and prospered, but the newspaper at first had a somewhat chequered career. In 1789 Mr Walter was tried for a libel in it on the duke of York, and was sentenced to a fine of £50, a year's imprisonment in Newgate, to stand in the pillory for an hour and to give surety for good behaviour for seven years; and for further libels the fine was increased by 100, and the imprisonment by a second year. On March 9 1791, however, he was liberated and pardoned.
In 1799 he was again convicted for a technical libel, this time on Lord Cowper. He had then given up the management of the business to his eldest son, William, and had (1795) retired to Teddington, where he lived till his death. In 1759 he had married Frances Landen (died 1798), by whom he had six children. William Walter very soon gave up the duties he undertook in 1795, and in 1803 transferred the sole management of the business to his younger brother, John.
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Walter, John
Walter, John
1738
Events
- February 4 - Court Jew Joseph Suss Oppenheimer is executed in Württenberg
- April 15 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
- May 24 - John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.
- November 13 - Ratification of the Treaty of Vienna
- The excavation of Herculaneum, a Roman city buried by Vesuvius in AD 79, begins.
- Stanislas receives Lorraine in exchange for renouncing the Polish throne.
- Pierre Louis Maupertuis publishes Sur la figure de la terre, which 'confirms Newton's view that the earth is a spheroid slightly flattened at the poles'.
- Franz Ketterer invents the cuckoo clock.
- Jacques de Vaucanson presents the world's first automaton, The Flute Player, to the French Academy of Sciences
Births
- January 21 - Ethan Allen, American patriot (d. 1789)
- April 12 - Padre Francisco Garcés, Spanish missionary (d. 1781)
- May 27 - Nathaniel Gorham, American politician (d. 1796)
- June 4 - King George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1820)
- July 3 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
- October 11 - Arthur Phillip, British admiral and Governor of New South Wales (d. 1814)
- November 15 - William Herschel, German-born astronomer (d. 1822)
- December 31 - Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (d. 1805)
Deaths
- February 15 - Matthias Braun, Czech sculptor (b. 1684)
- March 16 - George Bähr, German architect (b. 1666)
- March 25 - Turlough O'Carolan, Irish harper and composer (b. 1670)
- May 1 - Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman
- June 5 - Isaac de Beausobre, French protestant pastor (b. 1659)
- June 21 - Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, English politician (b. 1674)
- September 23 - Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (b. 1668)
- December 22 - Constantia Jones, English prostitute (executed)
Category:1738
ko:1738년
November 16
November 16 is the 320th day of the year (321st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 45 days remaining.
Events
- 534 - A second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus is published.
- 1384 - Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, although she is a woman.
- 1532 - Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Emperor Atahualpa.
- 1632 - The Battle of Lützen, where king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden is killed.
- 1776 - American Revolutionary War: Hessian mercenaries capture Fort Washington from the Patriots.
- 1776 - American Revolution: The United Provinces (Low Countries) recognize the independence of the United States, the first country in the world to do so.
- 1821 - American Old West: Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.
- 1849 - A Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his execution is canceled at the last minute.
- 1857 - Second relief of Lucknow. The most Victoria Crosses won in a single day (24).
- 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Campbell's Station near Knoxville, Tennessee. Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces.
- 1885 - Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father of Manitoba", Louis Riel is executed for high treason.
- 1893 - Athletic Club Královské Vinohrady is founded. Later the team was renamed to Sparta Prague.
- 1896 - First transmission of electrical power between two cities was sent from Niagara Falls to industries in Buffalo, New York. (See War of Currents.)
- 1904 - John Ambrose Fleming invents the vacuum tube.
- 1906 - Opera star Enrico Caruso is charged with an indecent act after allegedly pinching a woman's bottom in the monkey house of New York's Central Park Zoo.
- 1907 - Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory become Oklahoma and are admitted as the 46th U.S. state.
- 1914 - The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens for business.
- 1920 - Qantas, the national airline of Australia is registered as an aerial carrier under the name of “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited”. Only KLM (now part of Air France-KLM) is older.
- 1933 - The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.
- 1940 - World War II: In response to Germany leveling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.
- 1940 - Holocaust: In Poland, Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.
- 1940 - New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison.
- 1943 - World War II: American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vermork, Norway.
- 1945 - Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.
- 1957 - Serial killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden.
- 1959 - The Broadway musical, The Sound of Music, starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater.
- 1965 - Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.
- 1969 - The first episode of The Clangers is broadcast by the BBC.
- 1973 - Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.
- 1973 - US President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
- 1977 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind opens in theaters.
- 1979 - The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea in Bucharest, Romania.
- 1980 - Louis Althusser murders his wife and immediately confesses.
- 1981 - Luke and Laura marry on General Hospital; it is the highest-rated hour in daytime television history.
- 1988 - The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR declares that the Estonia was "sovereign" but stopped short of declaring independence.
- 1988 - In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan choose populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister.
- 1989 - A death squad composed of El Salvadoran army troops kill six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
- 1990 - Rocky V is the 4th Rocky sequel to open in theaters, starring Sylvester Stallone.
- 1996 - Mother Teresa receives honorary US citizenship.
- 1997 - After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.
- 2000 - Bill Clinton becomes the first sitting US President to visit Vietnam.
- 2001 - The first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, is released, becoming the second highest grossing film around the world of all time.
- 2004 - X-43A scramjet becomes the fastest air-breathing jet flying at nearly Mach 10 at approx. 11,200 km/h or 3.11 km/s.
- 2005 - Australia qualify for the FIFA World Cup in June, 2006, for the first time in 32 years.
Births
- 42 BC - Tiberius, Roman emperor (d. 37)
- 1603 - Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior (d. 1673)
- 1717 - Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician and encyclopædist (d. 1793)
- 1720 - Carlo Antonio Campioni, Italian composer (d. 1788)
- 1766 - Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist (d. 1831)
- 1836 - David Kalakaua of Hawaii, last king of Hawaii (d. 1891)
- 1862 - Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (d. 1944)
- 1873 - W. C. Handy, American composer (d. 1958)
- 1889 - George Kaufman, American playwright (d. 1961)
- 1892 - Guo Moruo, Chinese writer (d. 1978)
- 1894 - Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi, Austrian politician (d. 1972)
- 1895 - Paul Hindemith, German composer (d. 1963)
- 1896 - Oswald Mosley, British fascist (d. 1980)
- 1896 - Lawrence Tibbett, American actor and singer (d. 1960)
- 1905 - Eddie Condon, American musician (d. 1973)
- 1907 - Burgess Meredith, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1916 - Daws Butler, voice actor (d. 1988)
- 1922 - Gene Amdahl, American computer scientist
- 1922 - José Saramago, Portuguese writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1924 - Mel Patton, American athlete
- 1928 - Clu Gulager, American actor
- 1930 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian author
- 1938 - Robert Nozick, American philosopher (d. 2002)
- 1943 - Michael Cimino, American film director
- 1952 - Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese video game designer
- 1954 - Bruce Edwards, golf caddy (d. 2004)
- 1958 - Marg Helgenberger, American actress
- 1961 - Frank Bruno, British boxer
- 1962 - Josh Silver, American keyboardist and record producer (Type O Negative)
- 1964 - Dwight Gooden, American athlete
- 1964 - Diana Krall, Canadian singer
- 1964 - Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Italian actress
- 1967 - Lisa Bonet, American actress
- 1967 - Craig Arnold, American poet
- 1970 - Martha Plimpton, American actress
- 1971 - Alexander Popov, Russian swimmer
- 1971 - Waqar Younis, Pakistani cricketer
- 1974 - Paul Scholes, English footballer
- 1977 - Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian figure skater
- 1977 - Maggie Gyllenhaal, American actress
- 1978 - Gary Naysmith, Scottish footballer
- 1980 - Kayte Christensen, American Basketball Player
- 1981 - Allison Crowe, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1984 - Kimberly J. Brown, American actress
Deaths
- 1093 - Saint Margaret of Scotland, wife of King Malcolm Canmore
- 1240 - Edmund Rich, St. Edmund of Canterbury
- 1272 - King Henry III of England (b. 1207)
- 1328 - Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (b. 1276)
- 1613 - Trajano Boccalini, Italian satirist (b. 1556)
- 1628 - Paolo Quagliati, Italian composer
- 1632 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (killed in battle) (b. 1594)
- 1695 - Pierre Nicole, French philosopher (b. 1625)
- 1724 - Jack Sheppard, English burglar (hanged) (b. 1702)
- 1745 - James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (b. 1665)
- 1773 - John Hawkesworth, English writer
- 1779 - Pehr Kalm, Finnish explorer and naturalist (b. 1716)
- 1790 - Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
- 1797 - Frederick William II of Prussia (b. 1744)
- 1802 - André Michaux, French botanist (b. 1746)
- 1806 - Moses Cleaveland, founder of Cleveland, Ohio (b. 1754)
- 1836 - Christian Hendrik Persoon, Dutch mycologist (b. 1761)
- 1885 - Louis Riel, Canadian activist and politician (b. 1844)
- 1907 - Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma (b. 1848)
- 1911 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (b. 1842)
- 1922 - Max Abraham, German physicist (b. 1875)
- 1939 - Pierce Butler, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1866)
- 1960 - Clark Gable, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1961 - Sam Rayburn, U.S. Speaker of the House (b. 1882)
- 1973 - Alan Watts, English writer (b. 1915)
- 1982 - Arthur Askey, British comedian (b. 1900)
- 1994 - Doris Speed, British actress (b. 1899)
- 1994 - Dino Valente, American musician (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (b. 1943)
- 1999 - Daniel Nathans, American microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1928)
- 2000 - DJ Screw, American hiphop DJ (b. 1971)
- 2003 - Bettina Goislard, French relief worker (b. 1974)
- 2005 - Henry Taube, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- 2005 - Robert Tisch, American football team owner (b. 1926)
- 2005 - Donald Watson, founder of the Vegan Society (b. 1910)
Holidays and observances
- R.C. Saints - Saint Margaret of Scotland ; Gertrude the Great
- Also see November 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- International Day for Tolerance
- Iceland - Dagur íslenskrar tungu (Icelandic Language Day)
- Thailand - Loy Krathong festival (2005)
- USA - admission of Oklahoma, 46th state, 1907
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/16 BBC: On This Day]
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November 15 - November 17 - October 16 - December 16 -- listing of all days
ko:11월 16일
ms:16 November
ja:11月16日
simple:November 16
th:16 พฤศจิกายน
The Times
The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. Although it was printed in broadsheet format for 200 years, it switched to compact (tabloid) size in 2004. Its cover price in the United Kingdom is 60p on weekdays, and £1.10 on Saturday. The Times Sunday sister paper is The Sunday Times, a broadsheet. Its cover price is £1.60.
The Times is published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of News International, itself wholly owned by the News Corporation group, headed by Rupert Murdoch. For much of its history, the newspaper was regarded as without rival, Britain's newspaper of record. It has played an influential role in politics and shaping public opinion about foreign events. Some claim that, more recently, it has reflected the conservative views of Mr. Murdoch, despite showing support for the Labour Party in the two last elections.
The Times is sometimes referred to by people outside the UK as the London Times or The Times of London in order to distinguish it from the many other Times papers such as The New York Times. However, it is the original "Times" newspaper. It is also the originator of the ubiquitous Times New Roman typeface, originally developed by Stanley Morison of The Times in collaboration with the Monotype Corporation.
History
The Times was founded by John Walter in 1785 as The Daily Universal Register. Unhappy with Universal being universally omitted by the public, Walter changed the title after 940 editions on 1 January, 1788 to The Times. John Walter was also the first editor of the paper. He resigned in 1803, handing ownership and editorship to the second John Walter. The first John Walter had already spent sixteen months in Newgate prison for libel printed in The Times, but his pioneering efforts to obtain European news, especially from France, helped build the paper's reputation among policy makers and financiers.
The Times used contributions from significant figures in the fields of politics, science, literature, and the arts to build its reputation. For much of its early life, the profits of The Times were very large and the competition minimal, so it could pay far better than its rivals for information or writers.
In 1809, John Stoddart was appointed general editor, replaced in 1817 with Thomas Barnes. Under Barnes and his successor in 1841, John Thadeus Delane, the influence of The Times rose to great heights, especially in politics and amongst the City. Peter Fraser and Edward Sterling were two noted hacks and gained for The Times the pompous/satirical nickname 'The Thunderer' (from "We thundered out the other day an article on social and political reform.").
The Times was the first newspaper to send special correspondents abroad, and it was the first to send war correspondents to cover particular conflicts. W. H. Russell, the paper's correspondent with the army in the Crimean War, was immensely influential with his dispatches back to England.
In other events of the 19th Century, The Times opposed the repeal of the Corn Laws until the number of demonstrations convinced the editorial board otherwise. During the American Civil War, The Times represented the view of the wealthy classes, favouring the secessionists, but it was not a supporter of slavery. Its support of individual politicians was internally driven and did not pander to public opinion.
The third John Walter had succeeded his father in 1847. Though the Walters were becoming more conservative, the paper continued as more or less independent. From the 1850s, however, The Times was beginning to suffer from the rise in competition from the penny press -- notably The Daily Telegraph and The Morning Post.
In 1922, John Jacob Astor, a son of the 1st Viscount Astor, bought The Times from the Northcliffe family estate. The paper gained a measure of notoriety in the 1930s with its advocacy of German appeasement; then-editor Geoffrey Dawson was closely allied with those in the government who practised appeasement, most notably Neville Chamberlain.
In 1967, members of the Astor family sold the paper to Canadian publishing magnate Roy Thomson, and in the same year it started printing news on the front page for the first time. (Previously, the paper's front page featured small advertisements, usually of interest to the moneyed classes in British society.) The Thomson Corporation merged it with the Sunday Times to form Times Newspapers Limited.
An industrial dispute left the paper shut down for nearly a year (December 1, 1978, to November 12, 1979).
Rupert Murdoch
In 1981 The Times and Sunday Times were purchased from Thomson by Rupert Murdoch's News International.
Murdoch soon began making his mark on the paper, replacing its editor, William Rees-Mogg, with Harold Evans in 1981. His most important change, however, was in the introduction of new technology and efficiency measures. In March-May 1982, following agreement with print unions, the hot-metal Linotype printing process used to print The Times since the nineteenth century was phased out and replaced by computer input and photo-composition. This allowed the staff of the print rooms of The Times and The Sunday Times to be reduced from 375 to 186. However, direct input of text by journalists ('single stroke' input) was still not achieved, and this was to remain an interim measure until the Wapping dispute of 1986, which saw the Times move from its home at New Printing House Square in Gray's Inn Road (near Fleet Street) to new offices in Wapping.
In June 1990, The Times abandoned its policy of using courtesy titles on first reference ("Mr", "Mrs", or "Miss" prefixes for living persons) but continue to use them on subsequent references. The more formal style is now confined to the "Court and Social" page, though "Ms" is now acceptable in that section.
In November 2003, News International began producing the newspaper in both broadsheet and tabloid sizes. On 13 September 2004, the weekday broadsheet was withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland. Since 1 November 2004, the paper has been printed solely in tabloid format.
Whilst the newspaper published dual editions, some claimed that more sensationalist stories appear in the tabloid than appeared in the broadsheet, such as celebrity features on the front page. This was denied by management at News International.
The Conservative Party announced plans to launch litigation against The Times over an incident in which the newspaper claimed that Conservative election strategist Lynton Crosby had admitted that his party would not win the 2005 General Election. The Times later published a clarification, and the litigation was dropped.
On 6 June 2005 The Times redesigned its Letters page, dropping the practice of printing correspondents' full postal addresses. According to its leading article, "From Our Own Correspondents", this was in order to fit more letters onto the page.
Future competition may come from The World, an upmarket newspaper to be launched by Stephen Glover. In September 2005 the cover price of the Times was raised to 60p, the same as the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian, and 5p less than the Independent. It is the first time in 12 years that the cover price of the Times has matched that of its rivals, a clear indication that News International is no longer prepared to fund the price war launched in September 1993, when they shocked the industry by cutting the price of the Times from 45p to 30p.
The Times Today
Circulation
The certified average circulation figures for November 2005 show that The Times sold 692,581 copies per day. This was the highest achieved under the current Editor, Robert Thomson, and ensured that the newspaper remained ahead of The Daily Telegraph in terms of full rate sales, although The Telegraph remains the market leader for broadsheets, with a circulation of 905,955 copies, allegedly owing to over 300,000 discount subscribers each day. The circulation of both papers is dwarfed by that of The Sun (3,274,855) and other tabloids.
Image
Long considered the UK's newspaper of record, The Times is seen by some as a serious publication with high standards of journalism. Its increased coverage of and emphasis on celebrity- and sports-related news is rarely given prominence on the front page. It is not without trenchant critics, however: by way of example, Robert Fisk, seven times British International Journalist of the Year, resigned as foreign correspondant in 1988 over what he saw as political censorship of his article on the shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 in July of that year.
Readership profile and image
The British Business Survey 2005 named The Times as the UK's leading daily newspaper for business people. This independent survey is sponsored by the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Economist and The Times.
The latest figures from the national readership survey show The Times to have the highest number of ABC1 25-44 readers and the largest numbers of readers in London of any of the quality papers.
Supplements
Times 2 / T2
T2 is The Timess main supplement, featuring various lifestyle columns. On 5th September 2005 it relaunched as Times 2, and it is expected to move upmarket and aim to become more appealing to women.
Crème
Crème is the newspaper's supplement for "PAs, secretaries, executive assistants and anyone who works in administrative support."[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,8247,00.html] It is read by more secretaries than The Guardian and The Evening Standard.
The Times Magazine
The Times Magazine accompanies the newspaper on Saturday, and features columns touching on various subjects such as celebrities, fashion and beauty, food and drink, homes and gardens or simply writers' anecdotes. Notable contributors include Gordon Ramsay, one of Britain's highest profile chefs, and Giles Coren, Food And Drink Writer of the Year in 2005.
Events
London Film Festival
The Times, along with the British Film Institute, sponsors the London Film Festival (or more specifically, The Times bfi London Film Festival). It is as of 2005 Europe's largest public film event.
The Cheltenham Festival of Literature
The Times also sponsors the Cheltenham Festival of Literature.
Owners
- John Walter (1785-1803)
- John Walter, 2nd (1803-1847)
- John Walter, 3rd (1847-1894)
- Arthur Fraser Walter (1894-1908)
- Lord Northcliffe (1908-1922)
- Astor family (1922-1966)
- Roy Thomson (1966-1981)
- News International, run by Rupert Murdoch (1981- )
Editors
- John Walter (1785-1803)
- John Walter (1803-1809)
- John Stoddart (1809-1817)
- Thomas Barnes (1817-1841)
- John Delane (1841-1877)
- Thomas Chenery (1877-1884)
- George Earle Buckle (1884-1912)
- George Geoffrey Dawson (1912-1919)
- Henry Wickham Steed (1919-1922)
- George Geoffrey Dawson (1923-1941)
- Robert McGowan Barrington-Ward (1941-1948)
- William Casey (1948-1952)
- William Haley (1952-1966)
- William Rees-Mogg (1967-1981)
- Harold Evans (1981-1982)
- Charles Douglas-Home (1982-1985)
- Charles Wilson (1985-1990)
- Simon Jenkins (1990-1992)
- Peter Stothard (1992-2002)
- Robert Thomson (2002- )
Current columnists
- Simon Barnes
- Alan Coren
- Benjamin Cohen (Times Online)
- Giles Coren
- Robert Crampton
- Michael Gove
- Tim Hames
- Anthony Howard
- Philip Howard
- Mick Hume
- Anatole Kaletsky
- Magnus Linklater
- Anthony Loyd, war correspondent on retainer
- Ben Macintyre
- Caitlin Moran
- Richard Morrison
- Kate Muir
- Matthew Parris
- Libby Purves
- William Rees-Mogg
- Peter Riddell
- Nick Robinson
- Mary Ann Sieghart
- Janice Turner
- Patience Wheatcroft
- Aki Riihilahti
Miscellaneous
- During the time Ian Fleming was writing his Bond books, Fleming had established that James Bond often is a reader of The Times.
- In George Orwell's classic, Nineteen Eighty-Four (written in the 1940s), the main character, Winston Smith works in the Ministry of Truth. His job is to edit reportings in previous issues of The Times in order for the government's targets to appear upheld.
- A Punch cartoon once featured a butler ushering into his master's presence "Three reporters, m'lud, and a gentleman from The Times".
External links
- [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ The Times Online]
- [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,2941,00.html The Times Style Guide]
Footnotes
# [http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/trowler/ressite/cut.htm Material Which Never Made It To Publication]
# [http://news.ft.com/cms/s/417fa1a2-ab60-11d9-893c-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=fdb2b318-aa9e-11d9-98d7-00000e2511c8.html FT.com / News in depth / UK Election - Election 2005: What the papers said]
# 'The Times bids farewell to old technology', by Alan Hamilton. The Times, 1/5/82, pg. 2, col. C.
# The Great War for Civilisation - The Conquest of the Middle East; (October 2005) London. Fourth Estate, pp329-334. ISBN 184115007X
# NRS, April 04 – March 05
Times, The
Times, The
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ja:タイムズ
London
London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. As Europe's richest city, London produces 17% of the UK's GDP, and is one of the world's major business and financial centres. The capital of the former global empire, London is a leader in culture, communications, politics, finance, entertainment and the arts and has considerable influence worldwide.
arts]]
arts]
London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. London's population includes an extremely diverse range of peoples, cultures, and religions, making it one of the most cosmopolitan, vibrant and energetic cities on earth. A resident of London is referred to as a Londoner. Over 300 languages are spoken in London, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. Initially it was a Roman city and known as Londinium and then as Lunnainn, Llundain and Londain in the Scottish, Welsh and Irish languages respectively. London is known by these names in other languages.
London is the home of many global organisations, institutions and companies, and as such retains its leading role in global affairs. A city where cutting-edge meets tradition, London is a major tourist destination and transport hub. It has a great number of important buildings and iconic landmarks, including world-famous museums, theatres, concert halls, galleries, airports, sports stadia and palaces. London is one of the world's major global cities (along with New York City, Tokyo and Paris).
Defining London
Today, "London" usually refers to the conurbation known as Greater London, which is divided into thirty-two London Boroughs and the City of London and forms the London region of England. Historically, "London" referred to the square mile of the City of London at the conurbation's heart, from which the city grew. Between 1889 and 1965 it referred to the former County of London which covered the area now known as Inner London.
There are other definitions of "London" which cover varying areas, such as the London postal district; the area covered by the telephone area code 020; the area accessible by public transport using a Transport for London Travelcard; the area delimited by the M25 orbital motorway; the Metropolitan Police district; and the London commuter belt.
The coordinates of the centre of London (traditionally considered to be Charing Cross, near the junction of Trafalgar Square, the Strand, Whitehall and the Mall) are approximately . The Romans marked the centre of Londinium with the London Stone in the City.
Geography and climate
London Stone, with Green Park and St. James's Park to its right]]
Greater London covers an area of 609 square miles (1,579 km²). London is a port on the Thames, a navigable river. The river has had a major influence on the development of the city. London was founded on the north bank of the Thames and there was only a single bridge, London Bridge, for many centuries. As a result, the main focus of the city was on the north side of the Thames. When more bridges were built in the 18th century, the city expanded in all directions as the mostly flat or gently rolling countryside around the Thames floodplain presented no obstacle to growth. There are some hills in London, examples being Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill, but these provided fine prospects of the city centre without significantly affecting the directions of the spread of the city and London is therefore roughly circular.
The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river than it is today. It 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 due to a slow but continuous rise in high water level and the slow 'tilting' of Britain (up in the north and down in the south) caused by post-glacial rebound. The Thames Barrier was constructed across the Thames at Woolwich in the 1970s to deal with this threat, but in early-2005 it was suggested that a ten-mile-long barrier further downstream might be required to deal with the flood risk in the future [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4162905.stm].
London has a temperate climate, with warm but seldom hot summers, cool but rarely severe winters, and regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. Summer temperatures rarely rise much above 33°C (91°F), though higher temperatures have become more common recently. The highest temperature ever recorded in London was 38.1°C (100.6°F), measured at Kew Gardens during the European Heat Wave of 2003. Heavy snowfalls are almost unknown. In recent winters, snow has rarely settled to more than an inch (25 mm). London's average annual precipitation of less than 24 inches (600 mm) is lower than that of Rome or Sydney. London's large built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings: sometimes temperatures are 5°C (9°F) warmer in the city than in the surrounding areas.
History
microclimate bombings of London]]
The name London is commonly thought to have come from the Latin name Londinium, as London was founded by the Romans during their reign over the land, around 43AD – although there is some slight evidence of pre-Roman settlement. The [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/england/rom_roman_invasion.shtml BBC History website], however, claims that the name Londinium is actually "Celtic, not Latin, and may originally have referred to a previous farmstead on the site"; the root is 'Lond' meaning 'wild' (i.e. overgrown or forested) place. This fortified Roman settlement was the capital of the province of Britannia. According to findings displayed in London Museum, the initial language of London was Latin with much Greek spoken due to the presence of Greek speaking Roman soldiers and businessmen. Another suggestion for where the name of the city comes from could be that of the mythical leader, King Lud. It was said that Lud laid out the first set of roads in the city. His statue can be seen hidden at the church of St Dunstan's In The West, Fleet Street.
Around AD 61 the Iceni tribe of Celts lead by Queen Boudica stormed London and took the city from the Romans. The Celts burnt the relatively new Roman town to the ground, and archaeological digs have revealed a layer of red ash beneath the City of London, which is believed to be the burnt remains of the old Roman town.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, Londinium was abandoned and a Saxon town named Lundenwic was established approximately one mile to the west in what is now Aldwych, in the 7th century. The old Roman city was then reoccupied 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).
London has grown steadily over centuries, surrounding and making suburbs of neighbouring villages and towns, farmland, countryside, meadows and woodlands, spreading in every direction. From the 16th to the early-20th century, 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. Rebuilding 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's local government system struggled to cope with this rapid growth, especially in providing the city with adequate infrastructure. In 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works was created to provide London with infrastructure to cope with its growth. In 1889 the MBW was abolished, and the County of London was created which was administered by the London County Council, the first elected London-wide administrative body.
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 killed over 30,000 Londoners and flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The rebuilding during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was characterised by a wide range of architectural styles and has resulted in a lack of unity in architecture that has become part of London's character.
Until their 1997 ceasefire, London was regularly a target for IRA bombers seeking to pressurise the British government into negotiations with Sinn Féin on Northern Ireland.
On 7 July 2005, there was a series of coordinated bomb attacks by Islamic extremist suicide bombers on three underground stations and a bus. The explosions came less than 24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics and as the G-8 summit was underway in Gleneagles, Scotland. A series of explosions also took place on 21 July 2005; however, in the latter incident, there were no fatalities.
Modern London
2005
Today Greater London comprises the City of London and the 32 London boroughs (including the City of Westminster). 12 of these boroughs are defined as Inner London, the remaining 20 defined as Outer London. The dominant centre of activity in London is the City of Westminster (including the West End) which is the main cultural, entertainment and shopping district, the location of most of London's major corporate headquarters outside of the financial services sector, and the centre of the UK's national government. The City of London (also known as the "Square Mile") is at the centre of international finance, and is Europe’s main business centre. The headquarters of more than 100 of Europe’s 500 largest companies are all in London. The London foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with an average daily turnover of $504 billion, more than the New York and Tokyo exchanges combined. While very busy during the working week, most parts of the City tend to be quiet at weekends, since it is primarily a non-residential area.
London is one of the most visited cities on earth. Tourist attractions are located mainly in Central London, comprising the historic City of London; the West End with its many cinemas, bars, clubs, theatres, shops and restaurants; the City of Westminster with Westminster Abbey, the Royal palaces of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House etc., the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with its museums (the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum) and Hyde Park. Other important tourist attractions include St Paul's Cathedral, the National Gallery; the South Bank and Bankside areas of Southwark with the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern; London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and the Tate Britain on the Embankment; and the British Museum in Bloomsbury. There are many other places of interest across the city.
Culture
:Main article: Culture of London.
London is an international centre of culture in all its forms - music, theatre, arts, museums, festivals and much more.
London Districts
See also: Inner London, Outer London.
Central London
City of London
Outer London]]
The City of London is the principal financial district of the United Kingdom, and is one of the most important in the world. It is governed by the Corporation of London, an ancient body headed by the Lord Mayor of London. The City also has its own police force, the City of London police. Once dominated by the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, it is now home to many skyscrapers, including Tower 42 (formerly, and popularly still, known as the NatWest Tower) and 30 St Mary Axe (popularly known as the "Gherkin", built in 2003).
The City has only a small (c. 7,000) resident population, but a daytime working population of more than 300,000. Its primacy as the chief financial district has been directly challenged in recent years by Canary Wharf in East London.
The West End
Canary Wharf.]]
The West End is the most popular shopping and entertainment district in London. Trafalgar Square is the most prominent landmark. Oxford Street is one of the best-known shopping streets in the world. Running from Charing Cross Road in the east to Marble Arch in the west, via Oxford Circus where it crosses Regent Street, it is home to many large department stores and shops (Selfridges, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer). Tottenham Court Road runs north from the eastern end of Oxford Street towards the north of the city centre, and is best known for its plethora of hi-fi, computer and electronics stores. West of the City, Covent Garden is home to the Avenue of Stars, London's version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
South of Oxford Street's eastern end is Soho, a network of small streets crowded with restaurants, pubs, clubs, smaller shops and boutiques, and theatres and cinemas, as well as media companies and film, advertising and post-production companies. Soho is also well known for its very lively club and bar scene, the notorious sex industry and as the major "gay quarter" of the city. Piccadilly is an elegant thoroughfare running from Piccadilly Circus in the east to Hyde Park Corner in the west. It is adjacent to Mayfair, and Green Park. Regent Street and Bond Street are important thoroughfares.
East London
East London saw much of London's early industrial development and much of it now is being extensively redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway. It was also key to London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics, and is now scheduled to undergo extensive regeneration in the run-up to the games. This is the second time in modern history that East London has seen large-scale rebuilding: it took the full force of the Blitz in World War Two, with post-war reconstruction leaving a legacy of bleak housing estates and tower blocks in several areas.
The East End
tower block
The East End of London is closest to the original Port of London, and tended for that reason to be the area of the city where immigrants arriving into the port would settle first. Successive waves of immigrants include the French, the Huguenots, Belgians, Jews, Gujaratis, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and many other groups.
The East End extends from the eastern side of the City of London and includes areas such as Whitechapel, Mile End, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Bow, Millwall and Poplar. The area has many places of interest including many of London's markets, (for example Columbia Road Flower Market, Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane Market, Petticoat Lane Market), and several museums, including the Geffrye Museum and the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green.
Docklands
Bethnal Green]]
The London Docklands, on the Isle of Dogs along the Thames in the East End, has developed enormously since the early-1980s. For a period in the early-1980s, many warehouse buildings in Wapping had been occupied and used as artists studios and low-cost loft living spaces. This inevitably drew the attention of property developers who gradually (and then not so gradually) moved in to take over. The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was set up in 1981 to accelerate the process, and the first phases of major development started to reshape the area, culminating in Canary Wharf, whose best-known feature is the 1 Canada Square office tower (which is often incorrectly called "Canary Wharf"), which has been the UK's tallest skyscraper since 1991.
A massive-scale development within the last three or four years has added a great many more skyscrapers, and many large businesses (investment banks, law firms, etc.) have moved in. A new headquarters for HSBC and Barclays as well as the European headquarters of Citigroup, have now been completed, and are in use.
Attracted by this growth, restaurants, bars and nightclubs have opened, there are three interconnected shopping malls beneath the Canary Wharf structure, and a cinema complex has opened in the area. The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) serves the area, connecting to the London Underground at Bank, Shadwell, Canning Town and Stratford stations.
There has also been a great deal of gentrification and residential development in the area: North of the Thames around Limehouse Basin and toward Wapping, as well as south of the Thames in Rotherhithe where former wharfs and the old docks have been converted into high-priced loft apartments for a community of bankers, software developers and others working in the financial service industries in and around Docklands.
Further east in the London Borough of Newham are London City Airport and the ExCeL Exhibition Centre.
West London
West London includes many of the traditionally fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, made better known in 1999 by a film of the same name starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts. Within the district is the famous antique market at Portobello Road. Kensington and Chelsea are the most expensive places to live in the country. The area is also famous for the Kings Road, a distinguished and attractive shopping street and thoroughfare.
Further to the west, at White City, near Shepherd's Bush, is the principal operating centre for the BBC, while in the extreme west, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, lies Heathrow Airport.
Considered more south-west than West London on account of its being the only London borough to straddle the River Thames, Richmond upon Thames includes the attractive riverside districts of Richmond and Twickenham. This corner of London is home to Richmond Park, London's largest, and Twickenham, the home of English rugby union.
North London
North London includes suburbs such as Hampstead and Highgate, which retain a village atmosphere. North London is more hilly than the south, and many of the hills give excellent views across the city. Large parks include Hampstead Heath, which includes Parliament Hill, noted for its fine views over the city, and the Hampstead bathing ponds; and Alexandra Park, site of Alexandra Palace. Many areas have significant minority populations including Stamford Hill, home to a significant community of Orthodox Jews, the Green Lanes area of Harringay and the Finsbury Park area have large Turkish and Greek communities. Islington is considered one of the more affluent areas in London, due to large scale gentrification, although it is in fact one of the most deprived boroughs in the country; it is also home to Arsenal football club. North London's other world-famous football team, Tottenham Hotspur, play in nearby Tottenham.
South London
South London contains such diverse districts as Wimbledon (famous as the home of the major tennis Wimbledon Championships), Bermondsey, and Dulwich. Redevelopment of the Elephant and Castle, a road intersection and district close to the centre, is due to start in 2006.
Greenwich is on the banks of the Thames where the river broadens into a wide meandering reach of muddy water. It is an historic neighbourhood and boasts a fine park and the Royal Greenwich Observatory. It is also has a popular market.
Brixton, Camberwell and Peckham are home to many families (and their descendants) who immigrated to London from the West Indies during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, sometimes known as Afro-Caribbeans.
Demographics
Afro-Caribbeans
London had about 860,000 people in 1801 (in comparison, Paris had about 670,000 in 1802), and the population of Edo (modern-day Tokyo, Japan), at the time the largest city in the world, has been estimated at 1 million to 1.25 million people. London was the most populous city in the world from 1825 until 1925, when it was overtaken by New York.
Residents of London are known as Londoners. The city and the 32 boroughs (some 1,579 km² or 610 square miles) had an estimated 7,421,228 inhabitants in 2004, making London the most populous city in Europe alongside Moscow. Subsequent reviews suggested that the returns were understated, and that the population on Census Day was closer to 7.29 million. The official estimate of London's population in mid-2003 is 7,387,900 [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Expodata/Spreadsheets/D8561.xls]
In the 2001 census, 76% of these seven million people classed their ethnic group as white (classified as British White, Irish White or "Other White" in the 2001 census), 10% as Indian, Bangladeshi or Pakistani, 5% as black African, 5% as black Caribbean, 3% as mixed race and 1% as Chinese. The largest religious groupings are Christian (58.2%) and No Religion (15.8%). 21.8% of inhabitants were born outside the European Union. The Irish are the largest foreign-born group in London (numbering approximately 200,000).
European Union]
Unlike many other countries, the UK does not provide national metropolitan area population figures based on commuter percentages and economic influence. This is left up to each individual city to define. This has created much confusion when comparing London's true metropolitan area region with others around the world. It is helped even less by confusion of the term "Greater London" with the political entity of the City of London, which is often confused with the metropolitan area.
Without a specific national reference to London's metropolitan area, many different sources provide alternate definitions. One widely regarded definition describes the London metropolitan area (6,267 square miles, 16,043 km²) with a population of 13,945,000 — larger than the combined populations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (External references: [http://www.demographia.com/dm-lonarea.htm], [http://www.lbwf.gov.uk/demography/census/london/london_boroughs_census2001.pdf]) If this definition is followed, then London is the largest metropolitan area of Europe, along with Moscow (whose metropolitan area has somewhere around 14 million people), and above Paris (11.5 million people in the metropolitan area in 2004).
In 2004, the Greater London Authority defined a metropolitan region centred on London with a population of 18 million. This region extends to cover the commuter belt, and much of South East England and East of England, for example including the cities of Brighton and Oxford. (External references:[http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/london_plan/lon_plan_all.pdf],[http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/london_plan/lon_plan_1.pdf],[http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/draft_london_plan/dlp_ch1.pdf])
Government
Greater London Authority meets here]]
Greater London is divided into the 32 London boroughs and the City of London. The boroughs are the most important unit of local government in London, and are responsible for running most local services in their respective areas. The City of London is run not by a conventional local authority, but by the historical Corporation of London.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) is the London-wide body responsible for co-ordinating the boroughs, strategic planning, and running some London-wide services such as policing, the fire service and transport. The GLA consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The mayor is elected by the Supplementary Vote system while the assembly is elected by the Additional Member System.
The incumbent Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was elected as an independent candidate in the 2000 election. Despite opposition from all the main political parties and the press, his popularity with Londoners has remained high. Livingstone was expelled from the Labour Party when he opposed the official Labour candidate Frank Dobson in the 2000 Mayoral election. Readmitted by that party in 2004, he was re-elected as Mayor as an official Labour candidate in the election later that year.
The GLA was created in 2000 as a replacement body for the former Greater London Council (GLC) which was created in 1965 and abolished in 1986 after political disputes between the GLC (then led by Ken Livingstone) and the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher.
Previous London wide administrative bodies were the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) from 1855 to 1889; the London County Council (LCC) from 1889 to 1965; and the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1965 to 1986. When the GLC was abolished, most of its functions were devolved to the London boroughs, while others were taken over by joint-boards or other unelected bodies. The boroughs thus enjoyed "unitary status" and a degree of autonomy when the GLC was abolished, and although losing some powers which have been repatriated to the GLA they still retain many areas they did not control under the GLC.
London is represented in Parliament by 74 MPs. For a list of London constituencies see List of Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London.
The territorial police force for the 32 London boroughs is the Metropolitan Police Service, more commonly referred to as the Metropolitan Police, or simply "the Met". The City of London has its own police force, the City of London Police.
Health services in London are managed by the national government via the National Health Service (NHS). Greater London is divided into five Strategic Health Authorities [http://www.nhs.uk/england/authoritiestrusts/sha/MapSearch.aspx?rg=Y21].
Transport and infrastructure
For main article see Transport and infrastructure in London
Transport and infrastructure in London
Transport is one of the four areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London, but the mayor's financial control is limited. The executive agency which runs London's transport system is Transport for London (TfL). The public transport network is one of the most extensive in the world, but faces congestion and reliability issues. The network is one of the most complex transit systems in the world with just over 1 billion journeys used every year on the underground alone. London is most famous for its AEC Routemaster buses which have been in service in the capital since 1956. Routemasters will be phased out of service from TfL's main bus routes, with the last routemaster service being operated on the 9 December 2005 on Route 159. Two 'heritage' routes are planned for service to maintain Routemasters on London's streets.
2005]]
The networks for transport in London include:
Underground (commonly known as the tube);
Bus;
River Services;
Docklands Light Railway (DLR);
Croydon Tramlink;
National Rail;
Thameslink.
As of mid-2005, in preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games a total of £7 billion ($12 billion) will be spent on refurbishment and expansion of city links, mainly on the London Underground. Although the main reason for this is because of the increased traffic flow that will be caused by the 2012 Olympics, the work would still be completed if London had not won the games. By 2013 a new service called Crossrail is due to be opened. Also in planning is the Cross River Tram (CRT). It will depart in the south suburbs, cross the River Thames, through to the City of London (the financial district), and continue its journey to the northern suburbs. It is speculated that it will be the world's longest tram.
The main Olympic arenas will be sited close to Stratford International station, which is currently being constructed as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The new high-speed line, due to open in 2007, will be used by the regular 'Olympic Javelin' service with a journey time of 7 minutes between Stratford and St Pancras. This service was a key part of the Olympic bid and will provide access from northern areas of the UK via King's Cross and Euston.
Education
Main Article: Education in London
London is home to a diverse number of universities, colleges and schools, and is a leading centre of research and development.
This includes prominemnt universities such as Imperial College, London and the London School of Economics
Media
The British media is concentrated in London and is sometimes accused of having a "London bias". All the major television networks are headquartered in London including the BBC, which remains one of the world's most influential media organisations. Partly to counter complaints about London bias, the BBC announced in June 2004 that some departments (BBC Sport, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC Three and BBC Radio Five Live) are to be relocated to Manchester. Other major networks include ITV, Channel 4, Five and BSkyB - all based in London. Like the BBC, these produce some programmes elsewhere in the UK, but London is their main production centre.
There is a huge choice of radio stations available in London. Local city-wide stations include music-based stations such as Capital FM, Heart 106.2 and Kiss 100 and popular news/talk stations include BBC London, LBC 97.3 and LBC News 1152.
The London newspaper market is dominated by national newspapers, all of which are edited in London. Until the 1970s, most of the national newspapers were concentrated in Fleet Street, but in the 1980s they relocated to new premises with automated printing works. Most of these are in East London, most famously the News International plant at Wapping. The move was resisted strongly by the printing trade union SOGAT 82, and strike action at Wapping in 1986 led to violent skirmishes. The last major news agency in Fleet Street, Reuters, moved to Canary Wharf in 2005, but Fleet Street is still commonly used as a collective term for the national press. Regional Editions of most national newspapers are available, including editions for northern England, Scotland and Wales.
London has three daily newspaper titles - the popular Evening Standard, plus two free titles, Metro and Standard Lite (published by the Evening Standard) which are distributed every morning at London tube and railway stations. The independent weekly listings guide Time Out Magazine has been providing concert, film, theatre and arts information since 1968.
London is at the centre of British film and television production industries, with major studio facilities on the western fringes of the conurbation and a large post-production industry centred in Soho. London is one of the two leading centres of English-language publishing alongside New York. Globally important media companies based in London range from publishing group Pearson, to the information agency Reuters, to the world's number two advertising business WPP Group.
There are a vast number of local newspapers in the London area, often covering a small section of the vast city.
Religion
local newspapers
When Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to bring England into the Catholic fold in 597, it was intended that the envoy should become "Archbishop of London", as the city was remembered as the capital of Roman Britain. In the event, the saint received his most hospitable reception in the Kingdom of Kent, and the archiepiscopal see was founded at Canterbury. Nonetheless London has been at the centre of England's religious life for much of its history, and each Archbishop of Canterbury has traditionally spent much of his time in London, where he has an official residence at Lambeth Palace. London's two Anglican bishops are the Bishop of London, whose see is London north of the Thames, and whose throne is in London's grandest church, the baroque St Paul's Cathedral (designed by Sir Christopher Wren), and the Bishop of Southwark, who tends to Anglicans south of the river. Important national and royal ceremonies are divided between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey, a gothic church on the scale of a cathedral. As in the rest of the UK, religious attendance in London is low, and the Church of England has borne the brunt of this decline.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster is generally regarded as the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. Other traditional Protestant denominations whose headquarters are in London include the United Reformed Church and the Quakers. Many of London's immigrant groups have established denominations in the city, for example Greek Orthodoxy. In addition various evangelical churches exist.
London is the most important centre of Islam in the United Kingdom. Two London boroughs contain the highest proportion of Muslims in the UK: Tower Hamlets and Newham. The London Central Mosque is a well-known landmark on the edge of Regent's Park, and there are many other mosques in the city. London also has the largest Hindu population outside of India. Southall, in West London is home to many Hindus. The Hindu temple at Neasden, Neasden Temple is the largest Hindu temple outside of India and a remarkable example of a modern building in a traditional style. Much of the enormously elaborate and intricate marble sculpture used in the building was carved in India. Over two-thirds of British Jews live in London, which ranks thirteenth in the world as a Jewish population centre [http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/demography/demtables.html#10].
Sport
British Jews
London hosts one of the world's largest mass-participation marathons, the London Marathon, and has hosted the Olympic Games in 1908 and 1948. In July 2005 London was chosen to host the Games in 2012. London will be the first city in the world to host the Summer Olympics three times.
The most popular spectator sport in London is football, and London has several of England's leading football clubs. Historically the London clubs have not accumulated as many trophies as those from the North West of England, such as Liverpool and Manchester United, but at present Arsenal (founded at Woolwich Arsenal but moved to Highbury in 1913), and Chelsea (who play in Fulham) are regarded as two of the Premier League's "Big three" alongside Manchester United. In 2003-04 they became the first pair of London clubs to finish first and second in the top flight, with Arsenal winning. In 2004-05 they did so again, this time with Chelsea winning.
London clubs are able to charge higher ticket prices than clubs in other parts of the country (particularly for corporate facilities), and this has swung English football's balance of power towards London. Before Chelsea's recent rise in fortunes the two highest profile London clubs were Arsenal and their long-standing North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, both of whom were considered to be members of English football's "Big five" for most of the post-war period. In 2005-06 there are six London clubs in the Premier League: Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, plus Charlton Athletic, Fulham and West Ham United.
There are also five London clubs in the fully professional Football League (the level below the Premiership), namely Brentford, Crystal Palace (who play in South Norwood), Leyton Orient, Millwall and Queens Park Rangers (QPR)—a | | |