Here is to keep you updated on what's happening in London in the UK and see the city through a Londoner's eyes.
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London’s Most Notorious Prisons
London’s Most Notorious Prisons
London has had many prisons, the most famous of which is the Tower of London.
Victorian London was renowned for its prisons and places of correction – Dickens vividly portrayed the harsh conditions and inhuman treatment of prisoners.
While there are no more Victorian buildings, it is possible to visit the sites where they once stood, which will also take you to London's fascinating areas.
Tower of London
Tower of London
The Tower of London is the most popular tourist attraction in London and one of the greatest examples of Norman architecture anywhere in the world.
William I started it around 1066. It was deliberately built just outside the City boundary as a warning to potential troublemakers. It was then extended by various monarchs till Edward I, and has been a palace, prison, menagerie, place of execution and fortress for the crown jewels.
Famous occupants have included Sir Francis Drake, Anne Boleyn (executed by the sword), Sir Walter Raleigh and Rudolph Hess during the second world war.
Nearest underground station: Tower Hill
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison
Newgate prison, for seven hundred years, was at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey.
The prison has been demolished and restored several times in its history, including during London’s Great Fire and prison riots.
In 1783 it was the largest prison in London, and the gallows of the city were moved from Tyburn to Newgate Street.
Public executions ended in 1868 and carried inside the prison instead.
The River Thames is "Severely Polluted" with Plastic River Thames Plastic pollution in the River Thames is reaching record-high levels, and things could get much worse. London's River Thames is full of secrets: home to human teeth, deadly Amazonian Piranha , and " hyperactive " eels predisposed to swimming in high cocaine concentrations. But are those somebody's gnashes snarling from below Tower Bridge — or bottle caps? Tight on its belt, the Thames exposes its most deadly horrors. It isn't easy to miss. The second-largest river in the United Kingdom has a massive plastic problem, documented by a new report . Researchers noted that the London River has some of the world's highest confirmed plastic particles rates, which makes the Thames one of the worst plastic-polluted rivers on Earth. Continue...
Why did London become the capital of England? It’s a fun story! Technically “London” didn’t become the capital until after the 16th century. What we now call “the City of London” was an entity of its own, the ancient square mile which Rome founded. And it still is in many ways. It was a power and money centre, even before the Norman Conquest. Up through the Middle Ages, there was no fixed “capital” per se. The kings never stayed put in one place, they were moving about, and the capital was where the king was, not even where the government was. The government, at that time, were the king’s ministers who handled (get it?) the day-to-day jobs. During the reign of the Wessex kings, Winchester was the closest thing to an English capital. The first permanent residents of Winchester appear to have arrived in the Iron Age, sometime around 150BC, establishing both a hill fort and also a trading settlement on the western edge of the modern city. Winchester would remain the exclusive home of th
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