London For Visitors Trivia Quiz

Answer: the present palace once was the Duke of Buckingham's mansion

Rather than building a new palace, buying and extending an existing building was preferred. As a Princess, Queen Victoria was Duchess of Lancaster,not of Buckingham.

Answer: the Mall

Pall Mall belongs to what has been called 'Clubland'.The name refers to an ancient game.

Answer: the Old Palace of Westminster

Greenwich Palace was built by and for the Tudor Kings. Windsor Castle dates back to the Normans. Whitehall Palace was there already in Henry VIII's times.It belonged to Wolsey who was forced to give it to his King. - But on the site of the present Houses of Parliament( officially the New Palace of Westminster) there was already a royal mansion in the times of Edward the Confessor.Of the OLD Westminster Palace- as rebuilt by William Rufus in 1099 - only Westminster Hall survived the fire of 1834. NEW Westminster Palace (=present Houses of Parliament) was built by Sir Charles Barry and A.W.N.Pugin (1840-1868). Windsor Castle is strictly speaking not in London, but in Berkshire.The first Westminster Palace was already in existence when William the Conqueror invaded Britain.

Answer: St Peter

It was Edward the Confessor who wanted to have a church and a palace near to his capital.He saw to it that a 'minster' or 'abbey' was built to the west of the City of London. Plenty of St.George Chapels and St.Dunstan Churches, but Edward's Abbey was dedicated to St.Peter

Answer: London Bridge

London Bridge was built where Caesar had crossed the Thames. Tower Bridge is a relative newcomer:19th century. Westminster Bridge was new in Wordsworth's times, but has since been rebuilt already. Blackfriars Bridge is near where the famous Blackfriars Theatre was. The Blackfriars were Dominicans.

Answer: St. James

Whitehall stands for 'political London', 'government buildings'. Windsor is the present name of the Dynasty. Westminster also refers to 'political London', 'Parliament'. St.James is the name of the Palace built by the Tudor Kings on the site of an earlier St.James' Hospital.

Answer: St. Paul's Cathedral

All-Hallows-by-the Tower is one of the few churches in London that pre-dates the Great Fire of 1666.William Penn was baptised in it. John Quincey Adams, the sixth President of the USA, was married here. But Nelson and Wellington, of course, got their tomb in something more majestic. Just as Reynolds,Turner,and Anthony Van Dyck they are buried in St.Paul's crypt. Lord Nelson's Tomb is the one that was originally ordered by Cardinal Wolsey for himself.

The Latin text: 'Lector,si monumentum requiris, circumspice' of course refers to Sir Christopher Wren, who is also buried in the crypt.

Answer: St Bride's in Fleet Street

St Bride's has been called the 'journalists' church' because it was in what was once the so-called 'street of ink'. All-Hallows-by-the-Tower has foundations that date back to 675. St Helen's was built about 1212. St.Ethelburga (14th century) did not perish in the Fire. St. Bartholomew the Great dates back to 1123 and was part of an Augustinian Priory, founded by Rahere, who also was the builder of St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt

George Washington has his statue on Trafalgar Square, outside the National Gallery. Probably an instance of British fair-play to put him so close to their own national hero, Lord Nelson. Another U.S.A. president who has his statue on an equally symbolic spot: Abraham Lincoln on Parliament Square.

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Peter Pan is to be found in Kensington Gardens, the park west of Hyde Park. Charles I has his equestrian statue on Trafalgar Square. He seems to be looking at the place where he was beheaded, opposite Whitehall Palace. That's only an impression however, as the statue predates his beheading.

It was hidden by Royalists during the Civil War and surfaced again during the Restoration. It was re-erected on its present spot between 1675 and and 1677. As any visitor to the House of Lords will have noticed, Richard I has his equestrian statue in Old Palace Yard. Cromwell's statue can be seen nearer to the House of Commons and Sir Winston Churchill is watching from other side of street.

Other popular statues are Queen Anne's just in front of St {Paul's;the} Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, and Achilles in Hyde Park, 'London's first nude statue'. An 'unpopular' statue is the Duke of York's, in Carlton House Terrace.

It cost 30,000 pounds and was paid for by deducting a day's pay from every officer and man in the British army.