Britain’s first escalators were installed at this famous department store in 1898. Women were offered brandy at the summit in order to calm their nerves.
Currently the third tallest Ferris wheel in the world (the tallest when built in 1999, but now behind Singapore and Nanchang), it moves at 0.6mph, and you can see 25 miles from the top.
‘Paddington Bear’ was written by Michael Bond in 1958. His bear arrived here somehow from ‘deepest, darkest Peru’ and was named after the station. You can find a statue of him near the escalators.
‘Platform 9 and 3/4 ‘ is a site of pilgrimage for fans of Harry Potter, as this is the place of departure for the Hogwarts Express. A luggage trolley ‘disappearing’ through a wall marks the spot.
The home of English rugby was built on the site of a market garden in 1908. ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ caught on after being sung by Douai schoolboys in 1988 as England beat Ireland.
Opened in 1881, the museum facade uses terracotta tiles which were resistant to the soot of Victorian London. The largest of the famous dinosaur skeletons in the central hall is a diplodocus.
Arsenal Football Club was formed by workers from the Woolwich Arsenal in the 1886, hence their nickname ‘the Gunners’. The club moved north of the river to Highbury in 1913.
The new stadium is the second biggest in Europe behind Barcelona’s Camp Nou, but has the most toilets of any stadium in the world! (2618) The first concert held here was George Michael in 2007.
The oldest tennis tournament in the world was first played here in 1877. It was won by an Old Harrovian racquets player named Spencer Gore in front of a crowd of 200, paying a shilling entrance each.
