London Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR, ICAO: EGLL), often referred to as Heathrow, is the third busiest airport in the world, after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O'Hare. Heathrow, however, handles more international passengers than any other airport. It is the United Kingdom's busiest and best-connected airport, as well as being Europe's largest.
The airport is located at the southern end of the London Borough of Hillingdon, 15 miles west of Central London. Opened in the 1930s as the privately owned Great Western Aerodrome, it was later named after the hamlet Heath Row, which was demolished to make way for the airport and was located approximately where Terminal 3 now stands. At first, it had no commercial traffic and Croydon Airport was the main airport for London. The airport opened fully for civilian use on May 31, 1946.
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The London Underground is an all-electric metro railway system that covers much of the conurbation of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. It is the world's oldest underground system, and is the largest in terms of route length. Service began on January 10, 1863 on the Metropolitan Railway; most of that initial route is now part of the Hammersmith & City Line. Despite its name, about 55% of the network is above ground. Popular local names include the Underground and, more colloquially, the Tube, in reference to the cylindrical shape of the system's deep-bore tunnels. The Underground currently serves 274 stations and runs over 408 km (253 miles) of lines. There are also a number of former stations and tunnels that are now closed. In 2004–2005, total passenger journeys reached a record level of 976 million, an average of 2.67 million per day.
The origins of the roundel, in earlier years known as the 'bulls-eye' or 'target', are more obscure. While the first use of a roundel in a London transport context was the 19th-century symbol of the London General Omnibus Company — a wheel with a bar across the centre bearing the word GENERAL — its usage on the Underground stems from the decision in 1908 to find a more obvious way of highlighting station names on platforms. The red disc with blue name bar was quickly adopted, with the word "UNDERGROUND" across the bar, as an early corporate identity. The logo was modified by Edward Johnston in 1919.
Each station displays the Underground roundel, often containing the station's name in the central bar, at entrances and repeatedly along the platform, so that the name can easily be seen by passengers on arriving trains.
The roundel has been used for buses and the tube for many years, and since TfL took control it has been applied to other transport types (taxi, tram, DLR, etc.) in different colour pairs. The roundel has to some extent become a symbol for London itself.
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Notting Hill Gate tube station is a London Underground station in Notting Hill. On the Central Line it is between Holland Park and Queensway stations and on the District Line and Circle Line it is between High Street Kensington and Bayswater stations. It is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and Zone 2.
The sub-surface Circle and District Line platforms were opened on October 1, 1868 by the Metropolitan Railway (MR) as part of its extension from Paddington to Gloucester Road. The Central Line platforms were opened on July 30, 1900 by the Central London Railway (CLR). Entrances to the two sets of platforms were originally via separate station buildings on opposite sides of the road and access to the CLR platforms was originally via lifts.
The station entrance was rebuilt in the late 1950s and reopened on March 1, 1959 linking two 'Notting Hill Gate stations' on the Circle and District and Central lines, which had previously been accessed on either side of the street, with a shared sub-surface ticket hall with escalators down to the Central lines. The escalators were the first on the Underground to have metal side panels rather than wooden. The new entrance also acts as a pedestrian subway under the widened Notting Hill Gate.
Explore: Nov 15, 2006
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The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum is located at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon in South London, the venue of the Wimbledon Championships. Opened on April 16, 2006 by H.R.H., the Duke of Kent, the state of the art museum features exhibits and artifacts dating back to 1555.
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