London is now some 2,000 years old, and for the last thousand has been one of the greatest cities on earth. Engulfed in calamities that seemed to mark its end—fire, plague, riot, civil war, mass bombing—it has emerged from each crisis stronger than ever. Its cultural life and long heritage has made London one of the most visited. best-loved places in the world. With intriguing facts and stories, this treasury look at the minutiae of everyday life, as well as the major London events that changed the world. It uncovers what it was like to live in London thorugh the ages and reveals which pub is London's oldest, the legend of the Tower of London, the mystery of the red columnns next to Blackfriars Bridge, the average life expectancy of a Londoner, and what qualifies a person as a Cockney.