London For Expert Visitors Trivia Quiz

Answer: the fish porters at Billingsgate

Billingsgate porters wear a kind of wooden hats which allow them to transport unwieldy crates of fish. The police are called Bobbies after Sir Robert Peel, the man who 'invented' them. The Yeomen warders have blue, white and red roses as a decoration of their hats. The Ladies at Ascot...well their hats are phenomenal.

Answer: Sir Robert Walpole

Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford ,was in power from 1721 till 1742. Hugh Walpole, novelist, was born at Auckland, New Zealand, in 1889. Died near Keswick,1941. Disraeli (London 1804-London 1881.)Twice Prime Minister :1868 and 1874-80.Also authored some novels. William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1891).Liverpudlian. Was four times Prime Minister of Great Britain: {1868-74;} 1880-85 {;} {1886;} 1874-1880.

Answer: the Chancellor of the Exchequer

Whitehall is the Foreign Secretary's headquarters. The Government's Chief Whip lives at number 12. Recently Tony Blair has swapped with his Chancellor of the Exchequer,but one may suppose that will last only as long as Tony lasts.

Answer: Cheapside

Cheapside= where you can 'buy' (compare German kaufen)

Answer: Lombard Street

Sir Thomas Gresham was the founder of the Exchange. The first bankers were probably the Jews (see street name:Old Jewry). Soon 'the Christians' felt that the interdiction of 'usury' was a severe handicap for their financial well-being and began to ignore the papal teachings on lending and borrowing money.

It was the Italians from the Milan area who first found a technique to circumvent the 'illegality' of banking by the creation of so-called 'pawnshops' (in Dutch still called 'lommerd' from 'Lombard'.)- Threadneedle street is where the Bank of England is - Lloyds is a relatively recent newcomer.

It started business in 1689 and obtained official status only in 1871.

Answer: the Serpentine

The Round Pond is in what is strictly speaking Kensington Gardens. The Lido is the beach of the Serpentine. Little Venice is a canal north of Paddington Station.

Answer: none

For reasons of strict religious neutrality the decision was taken NOT to include any religious symbols rather than to have to have a whole set of them.

Answer: Petticoat Lane

Leather Lane is in Holborn. Berwick street is in Soho. Portobello Market is in the Notting Hill area. 'Petticoat Lane' is the name given to the Sunday Market in and near Middlesex Street. This was a traditionally Jewish area with shops closing on Saturdays but reopening on Sundays. Near here was the famous Bloom's Jewish restaurant until it moved to Golders Green.

Answer: Huguenot refugees from France

Quite a few Polish soldiers who had fought with the British army stayed away from Soviet-occupied Poland. Flemish weavers who fled the Spanish Inquisition found refuge in English coastal areas. Sandwich was their port of entry usually. Plenty of Italian restaurants and pasticcerias in Soho but no link with political refugees.

It was after the Repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 that French protestants were given a plot of land here. It may be them who introduced 'French cuisine' here..?

Answer: Covent Garden

Camden Town has a street market where fruit and vegetables can be bought, but not on such a scale as was the case in Covent Garden. Camden Lock and Camden Passage are a mix of antiques and bric a brac. Smithfield is London's meat market (and once a place of execution as well). Billingsgate..well your nose will tell you this is fish country.

The etymology of COVENT Garden points to this having been where the monks of Westminster Abbey (=a Convent ) grew their greens and pinks.