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Did you know that the City of London and London are two different places? Sure, one actually lives within the other, but they have separate mayors, plus the Queen actually has to ask to enter the City of London. But how did this strange arrangement arise?
I knew the City of London was a small, one-mile square in the middle of London, but I didn’t know it was something akin to the Vatican. It’s not actually its own country, but it apparently has different voting regimes, and its own police force. The more you know. [YouTube]
Thanks Grey!
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I thought the Queen owned every piece of land in this country. Silly me.
Silly me, I didn’t realise the ‘United Kingdom’ was a country
Isn’t it a country?
Say what?
what
Ok ok. The United Kingdom consists of 4 countries per se but in general it is believed to be one country. So says wikipedia
I’d say the UK is a country (A) made up of 4 countries (B). Where A and B are different meanings of country. B being quite UK specific.
I like to stroll the City on weekends, when everything is closed and quiet. The streets are named after old marketplaces or taverns, there are wards like in Tuscan cities, you can really tell this is an -old- place.
There’s something strangely satisfying about finding tiny alleyways with wobbly brick walls next to big glass buildings.
I agree with both of you. There is nothing like the City in the weekend. I love it.
Excellent video although of course nowadays some parts of other British cities, (Birmingham to name but one) where you’d be hard pushed to believe you were even in the UK.
When I’m in places like that I actually find it harder to believe I’m in the 21st century.
The City Of London, Vatican City and Washington DC are all similar in that they are separate to each of their respective countries and to a degree governed by their own laws.
Each has a large Egyptian obelisk located within it (St. Peter’s Square, the Washington Monument and Cleopatra’s Needle) normally associated with the worship of the Egyptian Sun God, Amen-Ra (hence ‘Amen’ at the end of a prayer), each of the three has it’s own separate security force…
…yeah enough, but all kinds of other things I wouldn’t post on the Giz
Actually, it’a Amun Ra, and saying Amen at the end of Abrahamic prayer has nothing to do with him…now, be a good boy and put your tinfoil hat back on before the voices start again
Actually it’s what you please. Amen, Amun even Imen are all correct. In Hebrew, as our view of the name has come from straight from the dead Egyptian language, it would only be written as ‘MN’, vowels are subjective and considered interchangeable, it’s solely down to interpretation.
Any well educated person should know that Abrahamic religions, are rooted in older mythology/religion which superseded them. Each older civilization fed mythology down the line, ie. Noah’s Ark is straight from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh.
I need not bother with the point further except to say your ignorance does no justice, and besides, my Mummy says she liked my hat.
Little known fact: The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh is itself based on “Thundercats”; Gilamesh representing Snarf, of course
Naturally, full marks Sherlock.
The Vatican is a separate state – not just an city with-in another. The word “Amen” is derived from then Hebrew word “Aman” and means “so be it”
Did you know that dragons guard the entrance to the city. Every main road that leads into the City of London has a statue of a dragon protecting it. The most famous ones are probably the ones on High Holborn Its a handy way of knowing you are entering the city.
Cleopatra’s needle isn’t actually located in the City of London. Its in Westminster (just opposite the London eye. The City’s coolest (and most hidden in plain sight) thing is probably the London stone. Its behind a grate placed in a building on Cannon Street (pretty much opposite Cannon Street station). No one really knows what it is but the most accepted theories were that it was either a Roman milestone or Roman millarium which marked a central spot from what all distances from London were measured.
Yeah that’s true, there actually is Dragon Statues all around it. Cleopatra’s needle is literally just down the road from the City of London, like 2 minutes round the corner from one of the exits. Almost there I guess
York also has the rule about the monarch asking permission from the Lord Mayor to enter within the city walls, since (and I’m assuming this) the city also dates from the Roman era, and probably also had an agreement with William the Conqueror.