Short answers, pulled from the story.
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, standing on the River Thames in southeast England. The capital of England moved from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the home of the royal court and the nation's political capital.
London has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core, the City of London, was founded by the Romans as Londinium around AD 47, about four years after their invasion of AD 43.
London is administered in two tiers, a citywide strategic tier coordinated by the Greater London Authority and a local tier of 33 local administrations. The mayor since 2016 is Sadiq Khan, who holds executive powers, scrutinised by the London Assembly.
More than 300 languages are spoken in London, and more than 50 non-indigenous communities each have populations over 10,000. At the 2021 census, 78.4 per cent of Londoners spoke English as their first language, followed by Romanian, Spanish, Polish, Bengali and Portuguese.
London hosted the Summer Olympics in 1908-1948 and 2012, making it the first city to host the modern Games three times. The 2012 Games used the Olympic Park developed in the Lower Lea Valley.
The London Underground, opened in 1863, is the world's oldest rapid transit system and the third-longest metro system in the world. It serves 272 stations, and over 4 million journeys are made on it every day.
The 2025 population of Greater London was just over 9.8 million, making it Europe's third-most populous city. That total accounts for 13.1 per cent of the United Kingdom's population and 15.5 per cent of England's population.