Professional Documents
Culture Documents
London - Level 1 - Reader
London - Level 1 - Reader
;t:,
n A great city
ilii r'
h rrfljil
ffi
ffi
w
: i*&tr. The plague often carre to Lonclon, but f665 was the
dffi.\ worst year of all. In the hot slllxlner that year thousands
&-ttlr-rh*
ffi@.#Sre'.ffi'1,fu' r',,rr of people wcre ill,, ancl 100,000 of them died. 1665 was
nF#idjw;ffi
---=--ffi
=,.1****.
4
-
callecl the Year of the Great Plague. Then a year later, in
i lltltEt{r'd"{:;t[]f]F H *,,. -"
-;i
li-latiir irr ptlit gr_egeor1r,fi" 1666, there was a big re - the Great Fire of London. It
]r fr"ttq- ,j t$rr'roriltfftto r began in a house in Pudding Lane, lretlr London Bridge.
t rfi*t .t rttt r r I rtt rtdrcr " - Most houses were built of w<,rod at that time, and fires
i i.
jii- ffi;rsil1q-&$ffi$i 4d
love wood. The Great Fire of London went through street
WitLiam's castle - the Tower of London after steet after street, ancl it clid r"rot stop for fonr days.
A great cty
St Paut's CathedraI
Windsor"0,ctf.
"ffi
Tower of London
The Tower of London is not just one towerl it is eleven because Richard put Edward's two yourrg sons in prison in
rowers ir-r different buildings. At the centre is the white the rwer. Nobody ever saw them again. Nearly 200 years
Tower. This was built about 1078, and it was the tallest later, people found bones in the Tower. Perhaps they were
building in London ar the time. You can see the crowtl the bones of the king's dead sons - nobody knows.
and visit the Bloody Tower. Two other famous prisoners in the Tower were Anne
Jewels in the Jewel House,,
Boleyn, wife of Henry the Eighth, arrd morher of Queen
Elizabeth the First. Before she was queen, Elizabeth was
also er prisoner in the Tower. F{er sister, Quccn Mary, put
her there.
More two million people visit the Tower every
thar-r
year. There are thirty-six Yeoman \7arders, or Beefeaters,
at the rwer. They tell visitors all about the Tower and its
famous people.
Tower Bridge is more than 100 years old. It is or-re of
Lonclon's most famous bridges. \7hen tall ships go up rhe
river, the centre of the bridge opells. Ycru can learn lnore
about the bridge at the exhibition rhere called the 'Tower
*L.::; 1q:
Bridge Experience'.
l_3
Whitehatt and
Westminster
Big Ben, but really Big Ben is the bell in the clock. You can
hear Big Ben ring every hour. Four smaller bells ring on By the river
the quarter-hours.
In 1605 there was a man called G.ty Fawkes. He and his
friends did not like l(ing James or his government, and
they pur a bomb under the Flouses of Parliament. But You cannot see London without a visit to the River
norhing happened, because soldiers found G.ty Fawkes Thames. You can walk along the river, go across its many
ancl took him away. Now, British people celebrate this bridges, or go in a boat and see London frorn the river.
every year on 5 November with big fires and fireworks, The first Globe Theatre was built ar rhe time of Queen
ar-rd they often burn a figure of Guy Fawkes on the fire. Elizabeth the First. People watched \illiam Shakespeare's
plays there. In 1997, a new Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
opened, next to the River Thames. In the sumrer, you
can visit the theatr:e and see Shakespeare's plays. Under
the theatre is Shakespeare's Globe Exhibition. Here you
can learn rore about the work of England's most famous
writer and the old and new Globe theatres.
London Zoo
Princess of Wales playground
Shakespeare. Or you can see the park from the water - take
There are Lrsually a lot of people at Speaker's Corner, a boat along the canal frorn Camden Lock to Lirtle Vcrrice.
near Marble Arch. Some people come here because they In the summer, you can listen to mr-rsic in the park.
want to tell the world important or interesting things - St James's Park is next to the Mall. It is a small park,
about the government, or science, or the church, or the but very beautifr-rl'' arrd it is the oldest of the royal parks.
end of the world. They stand at the Corner, and call out Lots of birds live on and around the lake in thc cerrtre of
to all the people around them. Other people stand and the park.
listen' and sometimes laugh too.
I(ensington Gardens is next to Flyde Park. Flere you
can see a statue of Peter Pan, the fan'rous boy in the book
Peter Panby J. M. Barrie. There is also a playground here,
callecl thc Diana, Prirrcess of \7ales playground. Many
people walrt to remember Princess Diana. She lived ncar
here in l(ensingtor- Palace, and tl-re playground has lots of
exciting thir-rgs for children.
Regent's Park is the home of Lond on Zoo. The zoo
opened irr 1828, and it has animals and birds from all
over the world. Tl-rere is'also a theatre in the prrrl<. On
a sunIner's evening, you can sit out alld watch rr play by
24 More museums and galleries 2.5
t
i, , Dickens Flouse Museum. The wrirer Charles Dickerls
:ru
," ' .,q..
*-1"-..,i
lived in this house with his family for three years, from
IB37 to 1839. F{e wrote two of his books here - Oliuer
Twist and Nlc/: olas ,Jickleby. After Shakespeare, Dickens
is England's next rnost famous writer.
Another important British wrirer, Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, wrote stories abor-rt Sherlock Hohnes. The clever
detective and his friend Dr \Tatson Are now famous all
ffi&#&
The Great Court in the British Museum
over the world. The Sherlock Holmes Museum is at 22Ib
Baker Street. The house was built in 1815, and in the
stories Holmes lives at this address.
More museums and galleries 27
*d
,&
Theatres, music,
t4'
t!. It:
and sport
.L ':.
b.
&;
34
,L-
lrr ;sl
Shopping and eating
rb
41$.,
- is Flarrods, in Knightsbridge. It
I began in 1849 when Henry Charles
rL
Harrod opened a small food shop
in Brompton Road. The building in
Knightsbridge opened in 1905, and
,
now 4,000 people work there. Some
people go there and buy something
!-
very, very small, just because they
want the bng with the famous
'Harrods' name on it.
Oxford Street has many big shops - Selfridges, Marks
and Spencer, Debenhams. For smaller shops, go to Covent
Garden. Charing Cross Road is famous for its bookshops.
There are lots of them, and they sell old and new books.
At weekends you can visit some of London's markets.
Petticoat Lane market (open on Sundays) is in Middlesex
Street, and has cheap clothes and things for the home. At
the market in Portobello Road (open on Saturdays) you
ffiffi,. F; /' Shopping and eating
ffi, *. ''*,-
W%'"**#-'
*\& them are expensive. You can find food from Italy, Mexico,
.s*k*'
.s
lq Spain, India, China, Russia, and merny other countries.
There are hundreds of goocl rcstaurants in Piccadilly,
Soho, Leicester Square, and Cover-rt Garden, and more in
n, I(ni ghtslrrid ge, ancl Chel sea.
I(er-rsi n gsto
GLOSSARY