The St Lawrence is water, the Mississippi is muddy water, but the Thames is liquid history.

John Elliot Burns (1858-1943)

Dirty old river, must you keep rolling, rolling into the night / People so busy, make me feel dizzy, taxi light shines so bright / But I don’t, need no friends / As long as I gaze on Waterloo Sunset, I am in paradise.

Ray Davies (b.1944), Waterloo Sunset

The gondolas of London.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), Describing the horse-drawn hansom cab

London is a city of clubs and private houses. You have to be a member.

Alec Waugh (1898-19810, The Sugar Islands

I shall be in command of the defences of London and I shall save London, and England from disaster.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), aged 16