White City, London

The area now called White City was level arable farmland until 1908, when it was used as the site of the Franco-British Exhibition and the 1908 Summer Olympics.

The starting point of the marathon race at the 1908 Summer Olympics was at Windsor Castle creating a distance of 42.195 km (26.219 mi) or 26 miles 385 yards to the finishing line at White City stadium.

After the Olympics, the stadium continued to be used for athletics until 1914, and, in 1927, it was turned into a greyhound racing track, although it was also used for short periods by Queens Park Rangers football club, and for other sports.

Champion cowboys and cowgirls from Canada and the United States participated, including Pete Knight, Weldon Bascom, Clark Lund, Ted Elder, and Vera McGinnis.

[8] The Stadium was home to the White City Rebels motorcycle speedway team, part of the inaugural British League in 1929 and from 1976 to 1978.

[11] In July 2012, BBC sold Television Centre to a partnership consisting of Stanhope plc, Mitsui Fudosan and AIMCo for £200 million.

[13] The redeveloped Television Centre was opened to the public and will offer entertainment and leisure facilities, including a new branch of members' club Soho House, offices aimed at the creative sector and approximately 1,000 new homes, together with pedestrian access through the site providing connectivity with the local area, including Hammersmith Park.

[15] Landowners in the area, including White City Living by St James, Westfield London, Stanhope and Imperial College London are in the process of redeveloping the site into White City Place, which will provide 5,000+ new homes, 2 million square feet of commercial office space, 30 acres of public space, and 19,000 jobs.

Sections of this second major campus started opening in most notably an "innovation hub" for the college, including research facilities and commercialisation space, as well as postgraduate accommodation.

Shepherd's Bush railway station
Bird's eye view of part of the Franco-British Exhibition (1908)
B&W photo of men sitting on a bridge
Men of Kitchener's Army , stationed at White City, London, 24 November 1914
Westway flyover junction at Ladbroke Grove , looking east