UNIFORMS IN LONDON: There are a many kinds and each have their history.
The Guards are outside Buckingham Palace and they have red coat with high bearskin hats. Outside a Buckingham Palace we can see changing of the Guards.
The Royal Horse Guards are on Trafalgar Square and they have dark uniforms and helmets.
The Police had in past truncheon and rattles and now they have whistles and walkie-talkies.
Traffic Wardens control parking since 1960s. They have navy blue uniforms and a peaked cap.
Beefeaters are outside Tower of London and they are most photographed men. They come from ex-army men and they guard the security of this building.

WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL: Westminster Cathedral is a seat of the Cardinal Archibishop, and the leading Catholic Churches in England. It was built at the turn of the cenury and it is situated half a mile from Westminster Abbey, near Victoria Station.
The single bell in the 280 foot high campanile is dedicated to Edward the Confessor.
The Cathedral was designed by J. F. bentley and it was built in Early Christian Byzantine style between 1895 and 1903. It is composed of red bricks with bands of grey portland stone. More than one hundred different kinds of marble were used for the interior decoration of the Cathedral.
An early alabaster sttue of Our Lady and Child comes from the Nottingham School. The marble pulpit was the gift of Cardinal Bourne in 1934. The Cathedral has chapels to commemorate St Thomas of Cantenbury, St George and the English Martyrs, as well as saints of Ireland and Scotland.
A novel feature is the organ which can be played from either end of the Cathedral.

HISTORY OF LONDON. London has nearly 2,000 years of recorded history. It was founded, as Londinium by the Romans, following their invaion id A.D. 43. It was in the time when Westminster was still a marsh. The Roman had inhabited the land. They built the first wooden bridge and, in A.D. 120, began the construction of the defensive walls, fragments of which still be seen today. The Romans left in the 5th century and the city was largely abandoned, though by the 8th century it was again a busy trading centre, and in the 11th century it became the capital of England.

Edward the Confessor built a palace and abbey at Westminster, creating the twin centres which still exist. The Norman perion saw the construction of the Tower, old St. Paul´s Cathedral and many other buildings and the first stone bridge over the Thames. Medieval london grew in importance as a trading centre and in 1215, with the sealing by King John of Magna Carta, its citizens won the right to elect their own leader, or Lord Mayor. London saw rapid growth during the Tudor and Stuart period which led to new building outside the walls in areas such as Covent Garden and Lincoln´s Inn.
The most important building of the 16th century is the Royal Exchange, founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas gresham. On the north side is the Bank of England. The building was designed by Sir John Soane, though it has been much modified.

In 1666 the Great Fire of London broke out and destroyed three-quarters of the City. The fire started at a baker´s shop and spread very quickly destroying the houses built of wood. The rebuilding of London followed the Medieval street plan but the old timber huoses were replaced by more up-to-date buildings made of brick in order to reduce any risk of fire in the future.

Sir Christopher Wren, a famous English architect spent many years reconstructing and rebuilding the city. He rebuilt St. Paul´s Cathedral and designed 51 new churches of which 23 still stand. He designed the Monument, a 202 feet column to commemorate the Great Fire of London, which broke out a short distance away in Pudding Lane. It is worth climbing its 311 steps to get an impressive panoramic view of the surrrounding area.
In the 18th century London underwent further development, the city flourished and this led to further expansion into areas such as Mayfair, although the poor of London still lived awful conditions.

During the 19th century London spread rapidly into suburbs, swallowing up villages and countryside. This initiated the development of new frms of transport, such as buses and railways, including the underground system. In the 19th century Britain was at the height of her colonial powers and this influenced further building and constructing in London. At this time the Houses of Parliament were built as well as St. Pancras Station.
During WWII Britain was badly damaged by German bombs including large areas of London.
Today London is a sprawling, cosmopolitan metropolis, about 625 square miles in area and more than seven milion people live and work there.
The emblem of Welsh is a vegetable, a leek or a flower, daffodil. The Irish emblem is a shamrock. The English emblem is a re rose and the Scotish emblem is a wild plant, a thistle.