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 | Historical attractions of London: The National Theatre, London. click to open  |  | Historical attractions of London: Natural History Museum: The original nucleus of the Natural History Museum was the scientific collection of Sir Hans Sloane which was taken from the British Museum's collection is 1860 and was augmented in 1881 by thousands of new exhibits including those brought back by Joseph Banks, who accoumpanied James Cook on his boyages of discovery and by Charies Darwin from his explorations around the world, and presented to the cathedral-like building in Cromwell Road. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: Imperial War Museum: Spitfire, Focke-Wulf 190 and Mustang. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: The First British TV programme in Film Museum, London. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: The Bank of England has been rebuilt several times since it came to Threadneedle Street in 1734, but only the windowless curtain wall of the admired late eighteenth-ceniury building by Sir John Soane remains. Sir Herbert Baker's ten-storey replacement, erected in 1921-37, incorporated another, even earlier, feature-Robert Taylor's Court Room. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: Keats House in Hampstead was the home of the poet John Keats from 1818 until consumption forced him to winter in Italy two years later. On 23 February 1821, at the age of twenty-five, he died in Rome. In his day, the house was semi-detached and his fiancee, Fanny Brawne, lived next door with her widowed mother. A number of his great works-'La Belle Dame sans Merci', sonnets and 'Lamia'- were written in the house. Under a plum tree in the garden he wrote the famous 'Ode to a Nightingale'. The tree has been replaced but several other trees (still saplings in 1820) now shelter the garden. Personal ephemera, including Fanny's engagement ring, are displayed in the house. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: The hill-top village of Hampstead was a spa frequented by the carriage trade early in the eighteenth century. Chalybeate spring water was discovered in Well Walk and the wealthy and fashionable came to take a cure. The water was bottled and sold in flasks in a nearby street which became known as Flask Walk . With delightful streets and original Georgian houses, the village today lives up to its description as one of the 'Politest Public Places in England'. This observation was made before the long-vanished Assembly Room was forced to close because loose ladies and gamblers were giving the neighbourhood a bad name. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: Kenwood, the 'noble seat' of the earls of Mansfield on Hampstead Heath, was saved in 1925 when plans to build on the surrounding woodland were afoot. Edward Guinness, the first Earl of Iveagh, intervened and bought the estate. It was his wish that the house, by Robert Adam, be preserved as a fine example of an eighteenth-century gentleman's home. On his death two years later, Lord Iveagh left Kenwood and a remarkable collection of paintings to a trust. Robert Adam had completely remodelled another house for the first Earl of Mansfield in 1767; and the central structure and splendidly decorated rooms at Kenwood are largely Adam's work. His contemporary, Angelica Kauffmann, painted the ceiling in the hall and her husband, the Venetian artist Antonio Zucchi, was responsible for the murals in the 'Adam Room'. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: Buckingham Palace - Since Queen Victoria's accession in 1837, it has been the London residence of the royal family. It was originally built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham and enlarged and rebuilt in 1852 by John Nash and Aston Webb in 1913. click to open |  | Historical attractions of London: Horace Walpole considered that the heavy, early eighteenth- century portico of the Admiralty was 'deservedly veiled' by Robert Adam's graceful screen which has playful sea horses atop the pilasters. Thomas Ripley, a friend of Walpole's father, Sir Robert the Prime Minister, had replaced Christopher Wren's Admiralty building in Whitehall with a sombre, brick building. The interior has many fine rooms and carvings by Crinling Gibbons. click to open |
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