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

In some of the great cities of Europe – Paris, Vienna, Prague, and Brussels – tourists bored with life above ground can descend below. All these cities have sewer museums and tours, and all expose their underbelly willingly to the curious. But not London, arguably the home of the most splendid sewer network in Europe.

Rose George (b.1969)