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Bank of England Museum at London
Known affectionately by Londoners as “the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street", the Bank of England is one of Britain’s most famous and august institutions. The Museum is housed within the Bank of England itself, right at the heart of the City of London. It traces the history of the Bank from its foundation by Royal Charter in 1694 to its role today as the nation’s central bank.
It performs all the recognized functions of a central bank – to maintain price stability, and subject to that, to support the economic policy of Her Majesty’s Government (Bank of England Act 1998) in order to promote economic growth. It has a monopoly on the issue of banknotes in England and Wales (see Sterling); it is both the Government’s banker and the bankers’ bank; a “Lender of Last Resort"; it manages the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves; it used to be responsible for the regulation and supervision of the banking industry (see Johnson Matthey, BCCI, and Barings), although this responsibility was transferred to the Financial Services Authority in June 1998. Since 1997 the Monetary Policy Committee has had the responsibility for setting the official interest rate. Scottish and Northern Irish banks retain the right to issue their own banknotes, but they must be backed one to one with deposits in the Bank of England, excepting a few million pounds representing the value of notes they had in circulation in 1845. It maintains the Government’s Consolidated Fund account. Computershare took over as the registrar for UK Government bonds (known as gilts) from the Bank at the end of 2004.
Banqueting House at London
Commissioned by James I and built by Inigo Jones, london banqueting house was part of Whitehall Palace. Completed in 1622, it was embellished by Charles I, who had the famous ceiling painted by Rubens (the artist was rewarded with £3,000 and a knighthood). This is not the original banqueting house at Whitehall - that honour went a wooden structure built in 1581 by direction of Elizabeth I. That early structure was used as a kind of multi-function chamber for royal receptions and dining. During the reign of James I it was also put to use for court masques, a form of theatre, which was then popular.
A subsequent Banqueting House burned down in 1619, providing an opportunity for Inigo Jones, then Surveyor of the Kings Works, a chance to undertake one of his first major architectural projects. Originally the facade used a mix of Portland stone, and Oxfordshire and Northampton stone for the ashlarwork. This latter was prone to crumbling, and was replaced by Portland stone in the 19th century, a fact which gives the exterior more uniformity than Jones’s original design.
British Airways London Eye at London
The British Airways London Eye. From this, view huge swathes of London whilst rotating at a stately few inches every second. The world’s highest observation wheel, it provides a 30 minute slow moving flight over the capital. Undoubtedly London’s highest view point you will get a 360 degree view of the city and surrounding area’s. It stands 135 metres (443 feet) high on the western end of Jubilee Gardens, on the South Bank of the River Thames in Lambeth, London, England, north of Westminster Bridge. It is adjacent to London’s County Hall, and stands opposite the offices of the Ministry of Defence situated in Westminster which it overlooks to the west.
You must select one of the following flight options:
Standard Flight:
A 30-minute flight. Arrive at least 40 minutes prior to your flight time and check in at the Pre-Book Ticket Desk. You can expect to wait approximately half an hour in the boarding queue.
Discovery Flight:
Be guided through the history of London on your 30 minute Discovery Flight with a London Eye guide. From Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and Nelson’s Column to the new gherkin building, discover how London’s present day skyline has been shaped by events through the ages. You will discover famous buildings like the Prime Minister’s residence, 10 Downing Street, that are hard to spot from your London Eye capsule without a guide. And discover the amazing story of how the London Eye was built.
British Museum : London
The British Museum is one of the world’s largest and most important museums of ancient history. It was established in 1753 and was based largely on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. Its first home was Montagu House which was purchased by the British government for £20,000, which was later replaced with new buildings on the same site. The museum opened to the public on January 15, 1759.
The museum is home to six million objects covering the story of human culture from its beginning to the present. Many of the artifacts are stored underneath the museum due to lack of space. The present chairman is Sir John Boyd and its director is Neil MacGregor.
Highlights of the collections
The British Museum is principally a museum of antiquities. This distinguishes it from the likes of The Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg which are “universal” museums of art and culture. In London the main collections of Western fine art and global applied art are housed in the independent National Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museums respectively. However, many exhibits of the British Museum’s exhibits are of great artistic merit as well as historical importance. Highlights of the collections include:
Buckingham Palace at London
Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of The Queen. It has been the official residence of Britain’s sovereigns since 1837 and evolved from a town house that was owned, from the beginning of the eighteenth century, by the Dukes of Buckingham. The palace was acquired by King George III in 1762 as a private residence. Over the next 75 years it was enlarged and finally became the official royal palace of the British monarch in 1837. In addition to being the London home of HM Queen Elizabeth II, it is a setting for state occasions, royal entertaining and base for all officially visiting heads of state. It has been a rallying point for the British at times of national rejoicing and crisis. The expression ‘Buckingham Palace’ or ‘The Palace’ has latterly become a common way of referring to the source of press statements coming from parts of the British Royal Family.
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms at London
This is where Winston Churchill and his cabinet took refuge during the second World War. All the rooms are laid out as they were when the war ended and include living quarters, a soundproof Cabinet Room and the Map Room. The nerve-centre of Britain’s war effort, the rooms, including Churchill’s Office, the Cabinet Room and the Map Room, are now open to the public as part of the Imperial War Museum.The Cabinet War Rooms are open daily in summer between 9.30 am and 6 pm. Opening begins half an hour later from 1 October. Shortly after becoming Prime Minister in May 1940, Winston Churchill visited the Cabinet War Rooms to see for himself what preparations had been made to allow him and his War Cabinet to continue working throughout the expected air raids on London.
The section of the War Rooms open to the public is in fact only a portion of a much larger facility. They originally covered three acres (12,000 m²) and housed a staff of up to 528 people, with facilities including a canteen, hospital, shooting range and dormitories. The centrepiece of the War Rooms is the Cabinet Room itself, where Churchill’s War Cabinet met. The Map Room is located nearby, from where the course of the war was directed. It is still in much the same condition as when it was abandoned, with the original maps still on the walls and telephones lining the desks. Churchill slept in a small bedroom nearby, with a telephone room next door that provided a direct line to the White House in Washington, DC.
Changing of the Guard at London
Guard Mounting, popularly known as the Changing of the Guard is performed daily in spring and summer, and every other day in autumn and winter, at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony consists, very literally, of the changing of the guard. Guards are present 24 hours a day and work in shifts; the ceremony entails the new shift marching to take the place of the old shift, accompanied by a Guards band, which plays any music from traditional marching tunes to familiar pop songs.
The Queen’s Guard consists of different regiments at different times, but is generally provided by the five Foot Guards regiments whose full dress consists of a tall bearskin hat and red jacket. Additionally, it is not just restricted to the British Army. The Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and units from Commonwealth countries also take part.
Clarence House at London
Clarence House, which stands beside St James’s Palace, was built between 1825 and 1827 to the designs of John Nash for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, who resided there as King William IV from 1830 until 1837. It was the London home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1953 until 2002 and was also the home of The Prince of Wales between the ages of one and three, when Her Majesty The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh moved there following their marriage in 1947.
The house was built between 1825 and 1827 to a design by John Nash. It was commissioned by William IV who was known as the Duke of Clarence before he inherited the throne in 1830. He lived there in preference to the nearby St James’s Palace, which he found too cramped. It passed to his sister Princess Augusta Sophia and, following her death in 1840, to Viktoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the mother of Queen Victoria. In 1866, it became the home of Queen Victoria’s second son and fourth child Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Edinburgh.
Cutty Sark Clipper Ship at London
Cutty Sark was built for John Willis to be the fastest clipper on the China tea route. Designed by Hercules Linton and built by Scott & Linton at Dumbarton in 1869 as a composite built extreme clipper ship for “Old White Hat” Jock Willis of London at a cost of £ 21/ton. Her dimensions are 212′5″×36′0″×21′0″ and tonnage 963 GRT, 921 NRT, and 892 tons under deck. Cabins on Main Deck dressed to interpret life on board for officers and men. Main museum display area on ‘Tween Deck (only deck accessible by wheelchair users) describe aspects of the ship - her construction; designer; owner etc, her trade and life onboard.
She worked the China tea routes from 1870 until 1877, then for the next five years she carried general cargo. In 1885 she began the Australian wool trade, and it was on this hard route that she proved she was the fastest ship of her time, with a passage from Newcastle in New South Wales to Deal in Kent in only 82 days. In 1895 she was sold to the Portuguese and twenty seven years later, in Falmouth, was seen and purchased by Captain Wilfred Dowman, returning again to the British flag. After some restoration, she was donated to HMS Worcester as a training vessel for cadets at Greenhithe, and in 1953 was handed over as a gift to the Cutty Sark Preservation Society. The Preservation Society began major restoration works, and sited her in a dry-dock designed and built specially to receive her. In June 1957 she was formally opened to members of the public by HM The Queen.
Dickens House at London
London’s Charles Dickens Museum is in Doughty Street in the district of Bloomsbury. It occupies a typical Georgian terraced house which was Charles Dickens’ home from 1837 to 1839. Dickens moved on to grander homes as his wealth increased and his family grew, but this is the only house he owned in London which survives. The museum opened in 1925. Indeed, the expression “Dickensian England” is still widely used today to describe the effects of abject poverty and social deprivation.This museum is the preserved house where Dickens lived when writing many of his greatest works. On four floors, visitors can see paintings, rare editions, manuscripts, original furniture and many items relating to the life of one of the most popular and beloved personalities of the Victorian age.
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