Culture of London
London is one of the world's leading business centres, renowned for its technological readiness and economic clout, as well as attracting the most foreign investment of any global city.
[5] A variety of landmarks and objects are cultural icons associated with London, such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the tube map.
Many other British cultural icons are strongly associated with London in the minds of visiting tourists, including the red telephone box, the AEC Routemaster bus, the black taxi, and the Union Flag.
London is famous for its rock scene, and was the starting point of some of the greatest 60s and 70s artists such as David Bowie, Iron Maiden, The Clash, Led Zeppelin, Renaissance, Fleetwood Mac, the Sex Pistols, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen and popular 90s acts like Blur and Coldplay.
Most major bands' tours will pass through London as well, favourite venues being the Brixton Academy, the O2 Arena, and the Hammersmith Apollo.
In addition to spawning the bands mentioned above, London, in its capacity as the UK's cultural centre, has served as the base of a number of internationally important acts, including The Beatles and Elton John, as well as being instrumental in the birth of dance music.
London is also known for spawning numerous massively successful pop acts; with the Spice Girls, Cliff Richard, The Rolling Stones, One Direction and Little Mix being especially noteworthy.
R&B singers such as the Sugababes, Leona Lewis, Taio Cruz, Adele, Dua Lipa, Rita Ora, Jessie J, Little Mix, Jay Sean and Alexandra Burke are also extremely popular.
It has a distinctly Afro-Caribbean flavour, and highlights include a competition between London's steelpan bands and a 3-mile street parade with dancing and music.
London also hosts the Carnaval Del Pueblo, Europe's greatest Latin American Festival, held on the first Sunday of August each year.
Dance performances also take place at the Barbican Centre, Peacock Theatre (Sadler's Wells), and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
These have ranged from historical recreations of the Victorian London of Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes, to the romantic comedies of Bridget Jones's Diary and Notting Hill, by way of crime films, spy thrillers, science fiction and the "swinging London" films of the 1960s.
[citation needed] London is home to over 240 museums,[14] galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role.
Originally containing antiquities, natural history specimens and the national library, the museum now has 7 million artefacts from around the globe.
Also of eighteenth-century foundation is the Royal Academy of Arts; its summer exhibition has been an annual fixture on the London social calendar since 1769.
In addition to Tate Modern major contemporary art venues include White Cube, the Saatchi Gallery, and The ICA.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century the locale of South Kensington was developed as "Albertopolis", a cultural and scientific quarter.
Among the best known are Shepherd's Bush Empire, Brixton Academy, Hammersmith Apollo, Wembley Arena, the Marquee Club, The UCL Bloomsbury, the Royal Albert Hall and the London Astoria, which has now closed.
London also has a thriving LGBT community with a high number of venues catering to gays and lesbians, such as G-A-Y, The Black Cap, the Coleherne and Heaven.
As such, cultural tourism is growing as London became the second most visited city in the world in 2017,[26] and many travellers come to the capital to enjoy the British way of living.
been promoted as a cultural centre to attract a greater amount of tourists, and compete with cities such as Tokyo, Paris and New York.
