Let's All Go Down The Strand Trivia Quiz

Answer: Trafalgar Square

When Whitehall was the site of the monarch's principal palace, the area to the north was occupied by royal stables. The main stable block (a fine building, by all accounts), on the site of the present National Gallery, survived until the early nineteenth century, though by that time it was used partly as a public record office and partly as a menagerie, and was surrounded by very nondescript houses. Plans for redevelopment were originally drawn up by John Nash (the designer of Regent Street and the Royal Pavilion at Brighton) and carried through by Charles Barry (the architect of the Houses of Parliament) in the early 1840s.

Answer: Charing Cross

Charing Cross Station was opened in 1864 on the site of a former market. Today, in 2013, it is a terminus for the South Eastern and Southern train companies, with suburban and main lines into Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The passenger throughput is estimated at about 100,000 per day.

The monument in the forecourt is a nineteenth-century reproduction of the original Charing Cross, erected by King Edward I to mark the last resting place of his queen's funeral cortège on its journey from Nottinghamshire to Westminster Abbey. The original cross, demolished in 1647, stood where the equestrian statue of Charles I can now be seen at the junction of Whitehall and Trafalgar Square.

Answer: The Savoy

The Savoy Theatre was opened in 1881 by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte as a venue for the immensely popular comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. With the profits from the theatre, he was soon able to acquire an adjacent plot and build the Savoy Hotel, which opened in 1889 and was extended in 1903. With César Ritz as its first manager and Auguste Escoffier as its first chef de cuisine, the Savoy immediately established a reputation for excellence.

Answer: stamp collectors

Edward Stanley Gibbons was the son of a Plymouth chemist, who started dealing in stamps from his father's shop while he was still in his mid-teens. His venture was a success, and in 1874 he made the move to London, where the business has continued to expand and has become probably the best known name in the world in its field.

The firm also deals in autographs, and offers advice to investors who may see stamps as attractive "alternative investments"

Answer: Somerset House

The original Somerset House was built around 1550 for Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England under the boy-king Edward VI. When Somerset was executed for treason the house passed to the Crown. By the eighteenth century it had fallen into disrepair, and was demolished in the 1770s to be replaced by the present building, which was the first large purpose-built Government office building in London. For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it was occupied mainly by the General Register Office (which kept records of births, marriages and deaths) and the Inland Revenue.

At the beginning of 2013 the north wing housed the Courtauld Institute art collection, including many masterpieces of early Italian and Flemish art and French impressionist and post-impressionist works. The future of much of the rest of the building was uncertain.

Answer: BBC World Service

Bush House was built in the early 1920s for Irving T. Bush of New York, who intended it to be an international trade centre for manufacturers, but owing to a slump in manufacturing it was adapted for use as offices. The BBC European Service moved there in 1940, to be joined in due course by the services which eventually formed today's World Service. "Bush House" became synonymous with the BBC's international services, but the Corporation vacated the building in July 2012 and moved the World Service into more up-to-date accommodation in a redeveloped Broadcasting House.

Answer: St Clement Danes

Nobody really knows why the church is associated with the early Danish invaders of England, though there are several conjectures. A stone church has certainly stood here since before the Norman conquest. Although the destruction of the Great Fire of 1666 did not extend as far as the Strand, the church was declared unsafe in 1679 and Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to design the replacement.

In 1941 the church was bombed, and much of the cost of repairs was contributed by the Allies' air forces: hence the connection with the Royal Air Force.

Answer: tea

Twining's began selling tea in 1706 in Devereux Court, just behind their present premises. Although most of the tea that we Brits drink today comes from India, we originally imported it from China: hence the two Chinese figures in traditional costume who are to be seen above Twining's door. The premises also house a small tea museum, with free admission.

Answer: Royal Courts of Justice (Law Courts)

The Royal Courts of Justice (generally known as the Law Courts) were built in the 1870s. The Judicature Act of 1873 had merged the separate civil courts of England (Queen's Bench, Chancery, Common Pleas, Exchequer, Probate, Divorce and Admiralty) into one Supreme Court: this change, and the increasing volume of litigation, led to the acquisition of a seven-acre (1½-hectare) site for the building of a new set of courts. Since then, further extensions have been added, notably the eleven-storey Thomas More Building at the rear in Carey Street.

The Lord Mayor of London is traditionally sworn in here by the Lord Chief Justice after the pageant of the Lord Mayor's Show. It's a splendid occasion, but if you're thinking of coming to London for it, bring an umbrella - rain is even more likely for the Lord Mayor's Show than for a cricket match in Manchester!

Answer: Temple Bar

Until the 1870s the City boundary was marked by a gateway across the street, on which the heads of decapitated traitors had been displayed until the 1740s. The gateway was demolished and removed because of traffic congestion, and mouldered for more than a century in a park in Hertfordshire.

In the early 21st century it was restored and brought back to the City, where it now stands in the redeveloped Paternoster Square complex adjoining St Paul's Cathedral.