The City

Tradition

The City does not refer to the whole of central London but rather to a small area east of the centre, which includes the site of the original Roman town. It is an area with a long and exciting history, and it is proud of its independence and traditional role as a centre of trade and commerce. This tradition is focussed on the City's Lord Mayor, whose official residence is the Mansion House. Once a year, in November, the Lord Mayor's Show takes place. This is a colourful street parade in which the newly elected Lord Mayor travels in a golden coach, which is over 200 years old. In the evening a splendid meal is served in the Guildhall, to which the Prime Minister and members of the Government are invited.

Commerce and finance

The City of London is one of the major banking centres of the world and you can find the banks of many nations in the famous Threadneedle Street and the surrounding area. Here, too, you will find the Bank of England. Nearby is the Stock Exchange which is like a busy market, except that here not food but shares in commercial companies are bought and sold. A littIe further along in Leadenhall Street is Lloyds, the most famous insurance company in the world.

During weekdays in the City you can see the City gents with their bowler hats, pin-striped suits and rolled umbrellas. This is the 'uniform' only of those men involved in banking and business in the City, and outside this small area you will probably not see anyone dressed like this.

The Old Bailey

The centre of the country's judicial system is to be found in the western part of the City. The Old Bailey houses many courts and some of Britain's most famous murder trials have taken place here. Many solicitors and barristers have their offices (called 'chambers') nearby, particularly in the area known as the 'Temple'.

All criminal trials in Britain are held before a judge and a jury consisting of twelve ordinary people. It is the jury, not the judge, who decides if a person is guilty or not. An accused person is considered innocent until proved guilty. All defendants are entitled to legal representation, which will be provided free if they cannot pay for it.

The press

Fleet Street is famous as the home of the nation's newspapers but, in fact, only two of them - The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph - are still in Fleet Street. However, people still say 'Fleet Street' to mean 'the press'.

The British are a nation of newspaper readers. Many of them even have a daily paper delivered to their homes in time for breakfast!

British newspapers can be divided into two groups: quality and popular. Quality newspapers are more serious and cover home and foreign news thoughtfully while the popular newspapers like shocking, personal stories as weIl as some news. These two groups of papers can be distinguished easily because the quality newspapers are twice the size of the popular newspapers.

Historic buildings in the City

St Paul's Cathedral was designed by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren, after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married there in July 1981.

The Tower of London was first built by William the Conqueror more than 900 years ago, and was famous as a prison. Two queens were executed here, and two princes murdered.

Susan Sheerin, Jonathan Seath, Gillian White: Spotlight on Britain; Oxford University Press, 1985, page 18 ff.