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 The Square Mile The City of London has flourished as a cosmopolitan centre of finance and business for nearly 2000 years. Battered and burnt by Boudicca in Roman times, again in 1666 and only 70 years ago in The Blitz. Each time London has risen from the ashes and adapted itself to the modern world. |
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The Blitz London was bombed nearly every night from September 1940 to May 1941. An American journalist wrote ‘When all this is over, there are those who’ll say, ‘I was a soldier,’ or ‘I was a pilot,’ or ‘I was a sailor’ and those who will say with equal pride, ‘ I was a citizen of London’. |
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Hidden Corners Alleyways, gardens and squares, tucked away off the beaten track. Each has its own charm and host of stories. Even those who’ve worked a lifetime in the City can be pleasantly surprised to discover what they’ve missed all those years. |
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Plague and Fire Thousands died in the Great Plague of 1665 and a year later four fifths of the City was destroyed. For King Charles II and his brother, James, it was their finest hour. But in a time of religious ferment, who got the blame and why did James have to flee the country a dozen years later? |
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Samuel Pepys to the execution of King Charles I and close to his son, Charles II, Pepys was the great survivor of civil war, plague and fire A shrewd operator with an eye for the ladies: he wrote his diary in code and was the soul of indiscretion. Trace his life through the streets, visit the churches that he knew and enjoy his words. |
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City Churches The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed 87 churches: Sir Christopher Wren and his talented team rebuilt 51 – as well as St Paul’s Cathedral. The variety and originality of his work and that of his contemporaries can only be appreciated by visiting them - and of course there’s a synagogue too. |
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