L ND N

 Sunday, June 01, 2008

Capital numbers - June 2008


0• The zero meridian passes through Greenwich Observatory in London, and also through Stratford, Leyton, Walthamstow and Chingford to the north, and Hither Green and Bromley to the south.
• Greenwich was fixed as zero degrees longitude by the International Meridian Conference of 1884.


1• The Queen's postcode at Buckingham Palace is SW1A 1AA
• Between 1825 and 1925 London was the number one city in the world, until overtaken by New York.
• The 01 dialling code was introduced to London telephone numbers over a four year period in the late 1960s.
• The tallest building at Canary Wharf is at One Canada Square. The tower has 50 floors, 3960 windows, 4388 steps and is 800 feet (244 metres) high.
Bus route 1 runs from Tottenham Court Road to Canada Water.
• The M1 motorway runs 193 miles from Staples Corner in London to Rothwell near Leeds, while the A1 trunk road runs 409 miles from the Aldersgate roundabout in London to Waverley Station in Edinburgh.
• The One London party, a bunch of rebranded Eurosceptics, were wiped out at the last London Assembly elections.
• The 2005 One London campaign still lingers on the Mayoral website.
• The Duke of Wellington's address, at Apsley House, was Number One, London.


2Two Olympic Games have been held in London, the first in 1908 at a very wet Shepherd's Bush Stadium and the second in 1948 at a no-frills post-war Wembley Stadium.
• The Millennium Dome is now officially called The O2 (except during the 2012 Olympics, when it will be unbranded).
• There are two Mayors of "London", Boris Johnson (elected mayor of the Greater London Assembly) and David Lewis (Lord Mayor of the City of London).
• Greater London contains two cities - the City of London and the City of Westminster.
• London has two Royal boroughs - Kingston, and Kensington & Chelsea.
Bus route 2 runs from Baker Street to West Norwood.
• There are only two stations on the Waterloo & City Line.
• The A2 trunk road runs from Borough tube station to Dover.
Two series of Big Brother have been filmed in London (at Three Mills).


3• There are four three-letter place names in London - Bow (E3), Kew (TW9), Ham (TW10) and Lee (SE12)
Bus route 3 runs from Oxford Circus to Crystal Palace.
• There are three tram routes in London, all based in Croydon.
Walt Disney (1901-1966) produced three films set in London - Peter Pan (1953), 101 Dalmatians (1961) and Mary Poppins (1964)
• The House Mill, at Three Mills, is the largest tidal mill in the UK. Nextdoor is 3 Mills Studios - London's largest film and television studio.
• There are three civilian airports within the Greater London area: Heathrow, City and Biggin Hill.
• The A3 trunk road starts at the Monument, crosses London Bridge and heads down to Portsmouth Harbour.


4• There are four Royal residences in London - Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, Kensington Palace and Clarence House.
Dick Whittington was Lord Mayor of London four times, in 1397, 1398, 1406 and 1419.
Hampton Court maze has only four dead ends.
• There are four plinths in Trafalgar Square. The north-west plinth hosts a rolling programme of modern artworks (watch for an announcement next week), and the other plinths support statues to George IV (NE), Sir Henry Havelock (SE) and Sir Charles Napier (SW).
• London has four (soon to be three) greyhound tracks: Wimbledon, Walthamstow, Romford and Crayford.
Four London stadiums have hosted the FA Cup Final: The Oval, Crystal Palace, Stamford Bridge and Wembley.
• Many of London's (4-sided) squares will be open this Sunday as part of Open Garden Squares Weekend 2008.
Bus route 4 runs from Waterloo to Archway.
• The M4 motorway runs 193 miles from Chiswick (W4) to South Wales, while the A4 trunk road runs from Holborn via Strand and Piccadilly and onwards to Avonmouth.


5• There are five commercial London airports, although only two of these (Heathrow and City) are actually in London.
• Heathrow Airport currently has five terminals.
Jack the Ripper killed (at least) five prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888.
• The Mayor of London sets the budget for five organisations - the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, the Metropolitan Police Authority, the London Development Agency and the London Fire Brigade.
Five ferries cross the Thames in London: Hampton, Surbiton, Hammerton, Rotherhithe and Woolwich.
Five London football teams play in the Premiership: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham.
Bus route 5 runs from Canning Town to Romford.
• The A5 trunk road starts at Marble Arch and heads up Watling Street to Holyhead.


6• London is a six-letter word.
• Despite wiping out most of the City's buildings, it is traditionally believed that only six people died in the 1666 Great Fire of London (although it was probably rather more than that).
• Greater London is divided up into six travelcard zones, of which Zone 2 has the most stations.
• All of London's underground lines run north of the Thames, but only six run south.
Six tube lines interchange at King's Cross St Pancras - more than at any other station.
Bus route 6 runs from Aldwych to Kensal Rise.


7• Only seven people were ever executed inside the Tower of London on Tower Green, including Lady Jane Grey and two of the six wives of King Henry VIII.
• Approximately 1 in 7 of the population of England live in London (population 7½million-ish).
• 56 people died in the 7/7 bombings in July 2005.
• The walled City of London had seven gates - Aldersgate, Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Cripplegate, Ludgate, Moorgate and Newgate.
7 streets meet at Seven Dials, named after the six sundials on the monument erected there in 1694. The monument itself casts a shadow - this is the seventh dial.
• There are seven glasshouses open to the public at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, including the Temperate House, the Palm House and the Princess of Wales Conservatory.
Seven Sisters on the Victoria Line is London's highest numbered tube station. The area is named after 7 elm trees, supposedly planted in the 14th century by seven sisters (and replanted, by seven sisters, twice since).
Seven Anglo-Saxon kings are reputed to have been crowned on Kingston's Coronation Stone in the tenth century (including Ethelred The Unready).
Seven Kings is a minor suburb to the east of Ilford, and is named after chieftan Seofoca (not a number).
Bus route 7 runs from Russell Square to East Acton.


8• The London postal district contains eight postcodes: N, NW, W, SW, SE, E, WC and EC.
• There are eight Royal Parks in London: Bushy Park, Green Park, Greenwich Park, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park, Richmond Park and St James's Park
Eight deep-level shelters were built in the early 1940s, linked to existing tube stations at Clapham South, Clapham Common, Clapham North, Stockwell, Goodge Street, Camden Town, Belsize Park and Chancery Lane.
Bus route 8 runs from my house to Victoria.


9• There were, traditionally, nine Home Counties - Berks, Bucks, Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey (plus East and West Sussex).
• The London Underground network tunnels beneath the Thames nine times - four of these on the Jubilee line.
• London had nine canals: City, Croydon, Grand Junction, Grand Surrey, Grosvenor, Hertford Union, Kensington, Limehouse and Regent's.
• London's former Royal Mail underground railway had nine stations and ran from Paddington to Whitechapel.
• London has nine numbered travelcard zones (only Chesham and Amersham stations lie in Zone 9)
• The Hogwarts Express leaves from Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross.
Nine Elms, named after a row of trees by the Thames, is a mostly-industrial area between Battersea and Vauxhall.
• Wikipedia claims that there are nine ravens at the Tower of London (I'm yet to be convinced).
Bus route 9 runs from Aldwych to Hammersmith.


10• London's most famous address is 10 Downing Street, home to the Prime Minister.
City Hall, seat of the Greater London Authority, has ten levels.
• The Thames Flood Barrier has ten gates, the largest four of which weigh 3700 tonnes each.
Ten railway bridges have been built across the River Thames in London: Alexandra, Blackfriars, Hungerford, Grosvenor, Battersea, Fulham, Barnes, Kew and Richmond.
Ten is the lowest number that isn't the first word of a London street name (in either the ordinal or cardinal form).
• The A10 trunk road runs due north from Monument to Kings Lynn.
Bus route 10 runs from Kings Cross to Hammersmith.
• What's the most famous number in Wimbledon? 10 is.


11• The Chancellor of the Exchequer lives at 11 Downing Street.
• London has 11 Underground lines - Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Waterloo & City.
• The Port of London included 11 docks: St Katharine, London, Surrey, Poplar, West India, Millwall, East India, Royal Victoria, Royal Albert, King George V (and Tilbury).
• There are 11 stations on the Jubilee Line Extension.
• The A11 trunk road runs for just three miles from Aldgate past my house to the Bow Flyover, then restarts 40 miles away near Duxford and heads for Norwich.
• The M11 motorway runs 51 miles from Woodford to Cambridge.
Bus route 11 runs from Fulham to Liverpool Street.


12• The Millennium Dome is supported by 12 enormous yellow masts, each weighing 105 tonnes.
Twelve London boroughs were formed from the previous 28 metropolitan boroughs in 1965, via the London Government Act.
• The A12 trunk road runs from the Blackwall Tunnel, past Twelvetrees Crescent in Bromley-by-Bow, and on up to Great Yarmouth.
Bus route 12 (one of London's 12 bendy bus routes) runs from Dulwich to Oxford Circus.


13• There are only 13 motorway junctions in Greater London - three on the M1 (j1, j2, j4), five on the M4 (j1, j2, j3, j4, j4a), one on the M11 (j4) and four on the M25 (j14, j25, j28, j29).
• London has 13 Premiership and League football clubs.
Thirteen of London's green wooden cabmen's shelters remain (there were originally 61).
• The A13 trunk road from Aldgate to Shoeburyness is home to the innovative Artscape project, and was an inspiration to Billy Bragg.
Bus route 13 runs from Aldwych to Golders Green.


14• There are 14 mainline rail termini in central London: Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Euston, Fenchurch Street, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Marylebone, Moorgate, Paddington, St Pancras, Victoria and Waterloo.
• When electing members to the Greater London Assembly, London is divided up into 14 constituencies.
• London is covered by 14 free cycle maps.
• 1 out of every 14 Londoners is Muslim.
• There are 14 National Trust properties in London.
• London hosted the 14th Summer Olympic Games in 1948.
14 bells hang in St Paul's Cathedral, one of which (Great Paul) is the biggest bell in the UK.
• In 2000, the Millennium Dome was subdivided into 14 Zones.
Bus route 14 runs from Warren Street to Putney Heath.


15Fifteen is the name of Jamie Oliver's restaurant at 15 Westland Place.
15% of the population of England live in London.
• The British Museum holds 15 of the 92 original metopes from the Parthenon, and Greece wants them back.
• The three wettest months in London are December, January and February, with an average of 15 wet days each.
Bus route 15 runs from Paddington to Blackwall.


16• There are 16 stations on the Victoria line.
• There are 16 London Roads in Greater London: A105 Enfield, A118 Romford, A205 Forest Hill, A21 Bromley, A217 Mitcham, A23 Streatham & A235 Croydon, A24 Morden, A24 Cheam,
A308 Kingston, A310 Twickenham, A315 Hounslow, A4005 Harrow, A410 Stanmore, Elephant & Castle, Plaistow, Wembley.
Clapham Junction, the UK's busiest station, has 16 platforms (numbered 2 to 17).
16 tube stations lie outside the borders of Greater London.
Bus route 16 runs from Victoria to Cricklewood.


1717 London boroughs lie alongside the River Thames, from Hounslow and Richmond in the west to Bexley and Havering in the east.
• The popular beat combo East 17 were named after the postcode of the area of London from which they originate - Walthamstow.
17 mosaics at Leytonstone tube station commemorate the films of Alfred Hitchcock, who was born just down the road at 517 High Road.
17 monarchs are buried in Westminster Abbey.
Bus route 17 runs from London Bridge to Archway.


18• Greater London is the 18th most populous city on the planet.
• Dr Barnardo opened his first home for homeless boys at 18 Stepney Causeway (in December 1870).
• There are 18 E postcodes (including E4, which is the only London postcode to stretch beyond the Greater London boundary).
• Bendy bus route 18 runs from Euston to Sudbury.
• Non-bendy nightbus route N18 runs from Trafalgar Square to Harrow Weald.


19• There are 19 tournament tennis courts at the All England Club in Wimbledon, SW19.
Victoria and Waterloo stations both have 19 mainline platforms, more than any other stations in London.
• Residents of Ilford campaigned unsuccessfully to change their postcode from IG1 to the more London-y E19.
• The University of London is a federation of 19 self-governing Colleges.
• There are still 19 grammar schools in London (8 for girls, 8 for boys, and only 3 mixed).
Bus route 19 runs from Finsbury Park to Battersea.


20• There are 20 road bridges across the River Thames in London: Hampton Court, Kingston, Richmond, Twickenham, Kew, Chiswick, Hammersmith, Putney, Wandsworth, Battersea, Albert, Chelsea, Vauxhall, Lambeth, Westminster, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Southwark, London and Tower.
• Medieval London Bridge was supported by 20 stone arches.
• The Tower of London contains 20 towers, the central one of which is White.
• EastEnders is set in the fictional London borough of Walford, E20.
• Since April 2000, all London telephone numbers have begun 020.
• London has 20 regional radio stations.
• The A20 trunk road runs from New Cross down through Kent to the docks at Dover.
• There are 20 different postcodes in London: N, NW, W, SW, SE, E, WC and EC; then BR, CR, DA, EN, HA, IG, KT, RM, SM, TN, TW, UB.
Bus route 20 runs from Walthamstow to Debden.


21• There are 21 underground stations inside the Circle Line.
• Tower Hamlets is named after the 21 Hamlets Of The Tower: Bednal Green, Blackwall, Bow, Bromley, East Smithfield, Hackney, Limehouse, Mile End, Norton Folgate, Oldford, Poplar, Ratcliff, St Katharines, Shadwell, Shoreditch, Spittlefields, Tower Extra, Tower Intra, Trinity Minores, Wapping and White Chappel.
• The London 21 Sustainability Network runs the annual Love London Festival (which ends today).
Gun salutes mark special royal occasions on certain days of the year in London. The basic Royal Salute is 21 rounds. At the Tower of London 62 rounds are fired on Royal anniversaries (the basic 21, plus a further 20 because the Tower is a Royal Palace and Fortress, plus another 21 'for the City of London') and 41 on other occasions.
• The A21 trunk road runs from Lewisham to Hastings.
Bus route 21 runs from Lewisham to Newington Green.


22• Only 22 runners have completed in every London Marathon from 1981 to 2008.
• There are 22 N postcodes, from N1 to N22 (Wood Green).
• At the 1908 London Olympics, 22 countries competed in a total of 22 sports.
• The A22 trunk road runs for only a couple of miles through London on its way from Purley to Eastbourne.
Bus route 22 runs from Piccadilly Circus to Putney Common.


23• The Crystal Palace transmitter broadcasts ITV on channel 23.
• In 2012, 23 Olympic sports will be held in Greater London (the three that won't are Canoe/Kayak, Rowing and Sailing).
• The tube station with the most escalators is Waterloo, which has 23 (plus two moving walkways).
• Between 1528 and the present day, St Paul's Cathedral has had only 23 organists.
• The A23 trunk road runs from Westminster Bridge Road through Brixton and Streatham, past the site of the old Croydon Airport, and on down to Brighton.
Bus route 23 runs from Liverpool Street to Westbourne Park.


2424 trams (numbered 2530 to 2553) are used to run the Croydon Tramlink service.
• London contains 24 Grade I listed churches.
• The A24 trunk road runs from Clapham Common to Worthing.
Bus route 24 runs from Hampstead Heath to Pimlico (and, unusually, has done so uninterrupted for more than half a century).


25• The M25 motorway nearly encircles London, running 118 miles from Dartford to Thurrock (but not the two miles over the Dartford Crossing). The London Orbital cost £909 million to build and was completed in 1986.
• There are 25 wards in the City of London, each with its own alderman.
• The London Assembly at City Hall has 25 elected Members.
• There are 25 stations on the Bakerloo line.
• The London station with the longest (unbracketed) name is Caledonian Road and Barnsbury, which has 25 characters.
• Bendy bus route 25 runs from Oxford Circus past my house to Ilford.


26• The Crystal Palace transmitter broadcasts BBC1 on channel 26.
26 Whitehall (the Ripley Building) was the first purpose-built office building in Great Britain.
• The boardgame Monopoly features 26 London properties, from the Old Kent Road to Mayfair. [although it's not the original city, obviously]
Bus route 26 runs from Waterloo to Hackney Wick.


27• There are 27 stations on the Circle line, and 27 stations on the Jubilee line.
• TfL operates tube services in 27 London boroughs.
Bus route 27 runs from Camden Town to Turnham Green


28• London's highest-numbered postcode is that for Thamesmead, SE28.
• There are (for the next few months) 28 stations on the Hammersmith and City Line.
• Prior to 1965, London comprised 28 metropolitan boroughs.
• A London football team has won the FA Cup 28 times (Arsenal 10, Spurs 8, Chelsea 4, West Ham 3, Wimbledon 1, Charlton 1, Clapham Rovers 1).
• Only 28 of London's 268 Underground stations are located south of the Thames.
• The steepest gradient on the Underground network is 1 in 28, between Bow Road and Bromley-by-Bow.
Bus route 28 runs from Wandsworth to Kensal Rise


29• There are 29 buildings/structures in London taller than St Paul's Cathedral (and 28 taller than Battersea Power Station).
• Bendy bus route 29 runs from Trafalgar Square to Wood Green


30• In 2012, London will host the Games of the 30th Olympiad.
• The Gherkin can be found at 30 St Mary Axe. It has 40 floors, 18 lifts and is 180m tall.
• The Crystal Palace transmitter broadcasts Channel 4 on channel 30.
• The A30 trunk road runs from Hounslow to Land's End.
Bus route 30 runs from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick


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