Assignments:

I. Put special questions to the following sentences

1. London is more than 20 centuries old.

2. The City is the business centre of London.

3. No 10 Downing Street is the official residence of the Prime Minister.

4. Trafalgar Square was named in the memory of the victory at the battle of Trafalgar, 1805.

5. The museum contains a great collection of ancient things.

II. Finish the following sentences

1. London is situated on the banks of the river ... .

2. The oldest part of London is ... .

3. Its population is ... .

4. The aristocratic official part of London is called ... .

5. The symbol of wealth and luxury is ... .

6. The industrial district of London is called ... .

7. The well-known people of England are buried in ... .

8. Most Government offices in London are situated in ...

9. The official residence of the Prime Minister is in ...

III. Complete the following sentences

1. One of the busiest shopping centres in London is in...

2. The place where Monarch lives is called...

3. The place of meetings and demonstrations in London is called...

4. In the middle of Trafalgar Square there is a...

5. The museum which contains a great collection of pictures of different schools is called...

6. The largest park in London is...

7. Old residents of the East End call themselves...

8. ... is the oldest part of London, its financial and business centre.

9. ... was built in the 17th century by Christopher Wren.

Topic: London places of interest

There are a lot of places of interest in London. They are all worth seeing. Among them there are: Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge, the Tower of London. 

London stands on both banks of the river Thames. The Thames is the deepest and most beautiful river in Britain. There are 27 bridges over the Thames and 8 tunnels under it.

Tower Bridge is one of the oldest and most beautiful bridges in London. It was built in 1894. Tower Bridge is the only Thames’s bridge which can be raised. It regulates a large part of London traffic.

C rossing the river by the Tower Bridge you can see the Tower of London.

T he history of London is closely connected with the Tower. They say that London is the key to England and the Tower is the key to London.

The Tower of London is one of the oldest buildings of the city. It is nine hundred years old. It includes not one, but 20 towers. The oldest of which, the White Tower, dates back to the 11th century.

Many centuries ago it was a fortress, a royal palace and then a prison. Now it is a museum of arms.

On the bank of the Thames, not far from the Tower of London, you can see Westminster Palace, or the Houses of Parliament.

I t was founded in one thousand-fifty (1050). This palace was designed by Sir Charles Barry. It is a very large Gothic building. The Westminster Palace stretches along the left bank of the river Thames and is 948 feet (284.4 m) of length. It’s a very beautiful building with two towers - Victoria Tower and the Clock Tower.

This place is the heart of political life of Great Britain. It is the seat of the British government. The present Houses of Parliament were built in the 19th century. There is only one building, but it is called the Houses because it is divided into two chambers - the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

T he North or Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster is known as Big Ben.

I t is the largest clock of England, which strikes every quarter of an hour. Big Ben was cast in 1858 and came into service in 1859. The great bell was named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the chief Lord of the woods and forest, nicknamed because of his immense physique.

The North Tower is three hundred and twenty feet high (= 96 metres). The bell weighs thirteen and half tons and the hammer which strikes it weighs eight tons.

O ne of the greatest English churches, St. Paul’s Cathedral, is not far from the Tower of London.

S t. Paul’s Cathedral is one of the famous pieces of architecture in Europe. The Famous English architect Sir Christopher Wren built it in the 17^th century after the Great Fire. It took him 35 years to plan and car this cathedral. It is a beautiful building with many columns and towers. In one of its towers there is one of the largest bells in the world. St Paul’s Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of London. 

Another famous church is Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is the historic building. It is a symbol of English tradition. The coronation of nearly all English kings and queens has taken place here.

The Great West Door and towers The North entrance

Westminster Abbey was founded in the eleventh century during the reign of Edward the Confessor, one of the last of the Saxon Kings.

The twin towers were designed by a famous English architect Sir Christopher Wren.

In Westminster Abbey English kings and queens are crowned and marriage ceremonies of the British monarchs are celebrated.

Westminster Abbey is still today the most important place of worship in Great Britain.

The most interesting place here is the Poet’s Corner. About 293 famous people are buried there. Among them there are Charles Dickens, Kipling, William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Byron, Walter Scott, Chaucer, Charles Darwin, Isaak Newton and many others.

There are two addresses in London that the whole world knows. One is 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives. The other is Buckingham Palace - the official London residence of the Queen. It is one of London’s most popular historical buildings. And it is one of the most interesting places in London for the tourists.

T his famous palace, first built in 1703, is in the very centre of London. It is two places, not one. It is a family house, where children play and grow up and it is an official residence of the Queen. It isn’t open to the public.

Buckingham Palace is like a small town, with a police station, two post-offices, a hospital, a bar, two sports clubs, a disco, a cinema, a swimming pool, and a garden, which is like a private park. There are 600 rooms and three miles of red carpet. Two men work full-time to look after the 300 clocks. About 700 people work in the Palace.

The ceremony of the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace is a great tourist attraction. It takes place daily at 11.30 a.m. and lasts half an hour.

London has many fine squares. Some of them are quiet, others are busy like Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.

T rafalgar Square is the geographical centre of London. It is located in the centre of the West End.

Trafalgar Square is named in the memory of Admiral Nelson’s great victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 during the Napoleon war. The national hero of this battle was Lord Horatio Nelson, admiral of the British fleet. Admiral Nelson lost his life in Trafalgar.

Nelson Column, which is 51 m. high and two beautiful fountains are located in the middle of Trafalgar Square.

On the North side of this square there is the National Gallery of Art - one of the most important Art Galleries in the world. It has a fine collection of European paintings. It includes paintings of the British, Italian, Spanish, French and other famous schools. It is especially famous for its examples of Rembrandt and Rubens.

The National Gallery was founded in 1824 when the House of Commons bought a collection of 38 paintings from a banker, John Julius Angerstein, who then opened his home for viewing the collection. As the collection grew the need for a larger gallery was answered in 1831 with a building in Trafalgar Square.

Now the National Gallery contains a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. 

N ot far from the National Gallery is the British Museum.

The British Museum is one of the greatest and best - known museums in the world. It was founded in 1753 by a decision of the Parliament. It occupies a splendid great building.

The British Museum is the best-known national museum of antiquities and ethnography. The collections of the British Museum contain the antiquities of Egypt and Greece. The British Museum has one of the largest libraries in the world (about 7.000.000 books that occupy more than 80 miles of shelves). There are many old books and manuscripts there. Many great people worked in this library.

For years Piccadilly Circus has been the heart of the West End.

P iccadilly Circus itself was created in 1819 by the architect John Nash. In the middle of it there is a famous central fountain. On the top of this fountain stands a statue of Eros, the Greek god of love. This statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus is one of the symbols of London. It’s a work of the sculptor Sir Alfred Gilbert.

Piccadilly Circus is the meeting-point of 6 streets. It’s always full of cars and people. There are many theatres, shops and restaurants there. Piccadilly Circus is a West End shopping centre. There are many shops with big advertisements, belonging to different foreign firms there.

London is also famous for its beautiful parks. The most famous of them are: Kensington Gardens, St. James’s Park, Regent’s Park, Hyde Park.

H yde Park is the largest park in the West End of London. This is the most prominent and famous London park. It has been a royal park since 1536. Hyde Park is about 2 km long and over 1 km wide.

In the 19^th century it became a popular place for public meetings. It is a very democratic park. The park has Speaker’s Corner where anyone can make a speech about anything they want. Speaker’s Corner is situated near the north-eastern entrance of Hyde Park.

Hyde Park is a popular area for free time activities, including jogging, running and horse riding.

One of the beautiful things in London is Madame Tussaud’s museum.

M adame Tussaud’s is the most famous museum of wax figures in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. This wax museum was opened in 1835. It is well-known all over the world. It represents wax figures of the famous and infamous people of the past and present. Today’s wax figures at Tussaud’s include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. There are about 4 hundred figures in the museum.

But the whole picture of London will not be completed if we don’t mention one more interesting place. It is the London Eye.

T he London Eye is the biggest wheel in Britain. It is also known as the Millennium Wheel. The London Eye is situated on the south bank of the river Thames. It is the tallest observation wheel with 40 km panoramic views on a clear day. The wheel is 135 m high. The architects are David Marks and Julia Barfield. It has 32 cabins for 25 people each. It takes about 30 minutes to climb into the sky. Up, up and away. The London Eye is very popular with tourists because there is a wonderful view from it. The London Eye was opened 8 years ago in 1999. It is a symbol of London today.