21 century London is an exciting place to be. Dubbed "swinging London" in the 1960s, the city has been at the forefront of fashion, popular music, cutting edge art and dance ever since. Around 12 million tourists a year visit the city to experience its culture, history and lively nightlife and preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games are currently injecting new energy into the East End. 1 __D__

Prior to this invasion there were no significant to settlements in the area of forests and marshes which was to become known as Londinium. By developing it as an important trading centre for goods brought up the River Thames by boat, the Romans hoped to establish the city as the future capital of England. 2 _____

Not to be put off, the new rulers quickly defeated Boudicca and her followers and went on to rebuild the city, building a wall around it to protect it from further attacks. However, the Roman Empire crumbled in The 5th century, and once more the power and influence of London took a downward turn.

3 _____ Trade soon began to expand again until in the 9th century the Danish Vikings attacked the city and burnt it to the ground once more. For the next hundred years it is a confused tale of Anglo-Saxon, Danish and Norman kings invading and controlling the city. The crowning of the Norman King, William the Conqueror at Westminster Abbey in 1066 marked the beginning of the Middle Ages in London, and a more settled era. Within the original Roman walls the city a continued to grow but since the houses were made of wood and plaster and crowded tightly together, fire was a continual hazard and hygiene so poor that when the Black Death swept through Europe in the 14" century it killed nearly a half of London's inhabitants.

A new London was born in the 16'' century when Henry VIII made himself Head of the Church in England, giving away much of the land previously owned by the church for private development. 4 _____. It was also the period of the first theatres, including the recently rebuilt Globe Theatre, made famous by Shakespeare's plays. By the 16"' century there were about 200,000 people living in London. Unfortunately, the following century was to be dominated by two disasters which again would wipe out much of the population and devastate most of the city itself.

London was no stranger to the plague, but a fatal variety brought over by rats on trading ships caused panic. While those who could escaped the city, sufferers were locked in their houses along with their families, and orders were given for all household pets to be killed. 5 _____ Although the next calamity, the Great Fire, only took eight lives and put an end to the plague, it burnt down four fifths of the city. It was during this period that Sir Christopher Wren designed and built many of the well-known London churches seen today; including St Paul's Cathedral.

The Industrial Revolution saw the population explode to six million in a hundred years as Victorian London became the centre of trade and of a large powerful Empire. The early part of the 19th century was the golden age of steam, as railways connected different parts of Britain to its capital and the first ever underground railway was built. Much of today's London is Victorian -the most famous building being the Houses of
Parliament, rebuilt in 1834. However, despite all this economic expansion living conditions amongst the poor were dreadful. 6 _____. Charles Dickens vividly describes the London of that time in his novels as poor, dirty and crime-ridden.

The boundaries of the City spread outward in the 20 century, as the population continued to snowball. A spate of luxury hotels and department stores such as the Ritz and Harrods sprang up, the first of their kind.7 _____. This time it was bombs rather than fire which caused the devastation; the post-war period saw massive rebuilding and also heavy immigration from countries of the old British Empire, which was to change the character of the city yet again.