TRAFALGAR SQUARE

Trafalgar Square is a square in central London that commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars. The area had been the site of the King's Mews since the time of Edward I. In the 1820s the Prince Regent engaged the landscape architect John Nash to redevelop the area. Nash cleared the square as part of his Charing Cross Improvement Scheme. The present architecture of the square is due to Sir Charles Barry and was completed in 1845.

The square consists of a large central area surrounded by roadways on three sides, and stairs leading to the National Gallery on the other. Prior to 2003, the square was surrounded by a one-way traffic system on all sides. Underpasses attached to Charing Cross underground station still allow pedestrians to avoid traffic.

In the middle of the square is Nelson's Column, surrounded by fountains and four huge bronze lions sculpted by Sir Edwin Landseer; the metal used is said to have been recycled from the cannons of the French fleet. The column is topped by a statue of Lord Nelson, the admiral who commanded the British Fleet at Trafalgar.

On the north side of the square are the National Gallery and St Martin's-in-the-Fields. The square adjoins The Mall via Admiralty Arch. To the south is Whitehall, to the east the Strand, to the north Charing Cross Road.

At the corners of the square are four plinths. Three of them hold statues: George IV (1840s), Henry Havelock (1861), and Sir Charles James Napier (1855). Mayor of London Ken Livingstone controversially expressed a desire to see these replaced with statues of people more relevant to the 21st century.

BIG BEN

Big Ben is the clock tower that tops the Palace of Westminster. Big Ben is 96.3m (316 ft) tall and the Great Bell weighs 13.8 tonnes. There are two theories of how the bell got its name. The first suggests that it was taken from the nickname of a champion heavyweight boxer of the time, Ben Caunt. The second and more probable explanation, is that it was named after the bulky Welshman Sir Benjamin Hall, who was First Commissioner of Works from 1855 to 1858 and whose name was inscribed on the bell.

MILLENNIUM WHEEL

The Millennium Wheel, now called the British Airways "London Eye", was originally conceived by architects David Marks and Julia Barfield as an entry for a millennium landmark competition. The project took six years and the expertise of hundreds of people from five European countries to turn it into a reality.

Meeasuring 135m in height, it is the city's fourth highest structure and is the world's highest observation wheel. It is higher than the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour, the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. and the Big Ben clock tower. Each trip takes you 450 feet above the River Thames for 30 minutes. The duration corresponds to about 2 full turns of the millenium wheel.

COVENT GARDEN

The history of the area can be traced back to AD 600, when the Anglo-Saxons established a trading town on most of present-day Covent Garden. When they moved into the old Roman town nearby for safety, it reverted to a market garden until the 17th century. Over the centuries since then it has developed as a residential, commercial and entertainment area. For most of the time it was the main fruit, vegetable and flower market for the fast-growing Capital.