In 1548, there were 440 communicants listed and the rural atmosphere, with access to the City and Westminster, made it a popular residence for the rich and eminent.

[6] The Regent's Canal passes through Islington, for much of which in an 886-metre (2,907 ft) tunnel that runs from Colebrook Row east of the Angel, to emerge at Muriel Street near Caledonian Road.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the availability of water made Islington a good place for growing vegetables to feed London.

By 1716, there were 56 ale-house keepers in Upper Street, also offering pleasure and tea gardens, and activities such as archery, skittle alleys and bowling.

The King's Head Tavern, now a Victorian building with a theatre, has remained on the same site, opposite the parish church, since 1543.

For twenty-plus years after decimalisation (on 15 February 1971), the bar continued to show prices and charge for drinks in pre-decimalisation currency.

[8] Between 92 and 162 acts were put on each evening and performers who started there included Marie Lloyd, George Robey, Harry Lauder, Harry Tate, George Formby, Vesta Tilley, Tommy Trinder, Gracie Fields, Tommy Handley and Norman Wisdom.

A building, the Literary and Scientific Institution, was erected in 1837 in Wellington (later Almeida) Street, designed by Roumieu and Gough in a stuccoed Grecian style.

A public appeal was launched in 1981, and a festival of avant-garde theatre and music was held there and at other Islington venues in 1982.

[8] The Royal Agricultural Hall was built in 1862 on the Liverpool Road site of William Dixon's Cattle Layers.

It was built for the annual Smithfield Show in December of that year but was popular for other purposes, including recitals and the Royal Tournament.

However, from the middle of the 19th century the poor were being displaced by clearances in inner London to build the new railway stations and goods yards.

[2] The aerial bombing of World War II caused much damage to Islington's housing stock, with 3,200 dwellings destroyed.

Clearance of the worst terraced housing was undertaken, but Islington continued to be very densely populated, with a high level of overcrowding.

Among the new residents were a number of figures who became central in the New Labour movement, including Tony Blair before his victory in the 1997 general election.

"[11] The Granita Pact between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair is said to have been made at a now defunct restaurant on Upper Street.

The completion of the Victoria line and redevelopment of Angel tube station created the conditions for developers to renovate many of the early Victorian and Georgian townhouses.

Islington remains a district with diverse inhabitants, with its private houses and apartments not far from social housing in immediately neighbouring wards such as Finsbury and Clerkenwell to the south, Bloomsbury and King's Cross to the west, and Highbury to the north west, and also the Hackney districts of De Beauvoir and Old Street to the north east.

[16] Angel tube station on Islington High Street has the longest escalator on the London Underground system, at 318 steps.

[25] The Islington Boxing Club, on Hazellville Road, was founded in January 1974 and was originally based in the community hall of York Way Court, close to King's Cross Station.

[26] The borough is home to top-flight professional football club Arsenal, whose sixty-thousand capacity stadium is in Holloway.

According to latest figures published by the Department for Education, there are 47 primary and 10 state-funded secondary schools in Islington.