Britain has a great heritage. It has some of the finest historic buildings in the world.
Palaces, castles and museums bursting with tradition and history… there’s just so much to see and do.
Around 30 million people visit Britain every year from overseas.
Three of the top five museums and galleries in the world can be found here.
There are 14 Roman walled cities, 8 heritage cities and hundreds of castles.
In London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge are just some of the places to visit, but how to fit it all in? I’ll show you.
Now, one way to see the sights is to hop on and hop off an open-top London bus. Now, most buses go from A to B, but this one is special. This is a Big Bus tour bus and is a great way to see the city.
The Houses of Parliament, one of the largest parliament buildings in the world.
This is Regent Street, which was built in the 1800s. The street itself separated Mayfair, which was an upper-class area, with Soho, over there, which was a working-class area.
Benedict Protheroe is a tour guide.
Richard: So in your opinion then, what is it about London that overseas visitors just absolutely love?
Benedict: Well, in London, we have over 2,000 years of fascinating history. It's a centre for art, for culture, for music, for fashion, there's restaurants, nightlife, museums, the river. Everything you could possibly want to see or do, you've got it here in London.
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The River Thames cuts through the heart of the city. At over 200 miles long, it’s the longest river entirely in England.
The iconic London Eye sits next to the Thames. 135 metres high, the Eye was built to celebrate the millennium and has over three and a half million visitors a year.
The city of London’s financial district dominates the skyline. The buildings include 30 St Mary Axe, otherwise known as the London Gherkin.
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Historic houses look really grand, but what would it have been like to have lived hundreds of years ago?
I’ve come to Warwick Castle to find out. Let’s step back in time... It's still me!
This castle dates back almost eleven hundred years to William the Conqueror. Very nice!
Edward the Fourth was imprisoned here in the 1400s and Royalist soldiers attacked Warwick during the English Civil War. Some royal visitors have been more welcome. Elizabeth the First and Queen Victoria both spent time here, so I’m in good company.
What a beautiful view... Who turned the lights out?
Adam is the Attractions and Shows team leader.
Richard: Adam, what have you come dressed as?
Adam: Oh, well, today, Richard, I've come dressed in my finest 1620s gear, about what a gentleman would wear about 400 years ago.
Richard: And I love my outfit. What have you got me dressed as?
Adam: Well, I've got you dressed as a man-at-arms of the 15th century, so you're not as wealthy as me, but you still look quite mean and gnarly.
Richard: Cool, good man. Now, tell me about Warwick Castle.
Adam: Well, here at Warwick Castle, we have over one thousand years of incredible jaw-dropping history. The oldest part of the castle goes back well over a thousand years, but what you see here today, Rich, mostly dates back to about 600 years ago and it pretty much remains untouched from then onwards till today.
Richard: So, what would it have been like to live here in medieval times?
Adam: Well, it would probably have been quite a smelly and dark place. The moats that you see down here would have actually not been filled with water, but with sewage draining from the castle.
Richard: Now, I was rather hoping someone would tell me how to use this sword. Do you mind?
Adam: Sadly, I'll be honest with you, it's not really my thing. But I know two gentlemen who will be able to help you out. They're just round the corner.
Richard: Over there?
Adam: Yep. Just round there. Good luck!
Richard: Great! Thank you. What a helpful chap!
Richard: Guys, guys, guys, guys! Hang on, guys, break it up, break it up! I've just been told that you're the guys to see about learning to use the sword. Can you show me a move?
Swordsman: Yes, of course. Well, first of all we need to get you in your on guard stance.
Richard: OK.
Swordsman: Put your left foot forwards and your right foot back turned out to the side and your sword up in front of you like this. Now what you're going to do is the attacking sword is going to come in, you're going to push it down and away and step in and cut.
Richard: No problem.
Swordsman: Think you can do that?
Richard: Step aside, my man. Here we go.
Swordsman: On guard!
Richard: That's quite easy. Very nice. Thanks very much! Is he going to be alright?
Swordsman: Oh, he'll be fine, don't worry.
Richard: Are you sure?
Comments
Hello, team!
There is a sentence from the podcast: "what would it have been like to have lived hundreds of years ago?"
I have grammar questions about this sentence:
1. The first part of the sentence above is a sort of a result part in the Third Conditional.
I mean, I can change the sentence into something like "what would it have been like if I had lived hundreds of years ago?", thus making the Third Conditional.
So we use the Present Perfect in this first part ("what would it have been like").
Am I correct in my guess?
2. In the second part we also use something that looks like the Present Perfect, but in fact it isn't: "to have lived hundreds of years ago".
What is this grammatical construction - "to have lived"?
3. Continuing the 2d question above:
Can I change in the sentece "to have lived" into "to live" (I mean "what would it have been like to live hundreds of years ago?")?
Will it change the meaning?
Hello Yshc,
The phrase 'would have been' is not a present perfect form but rather a perfect modal (modal + have + past participle). However, you are correct that it functions like a third conditional form.
The form 'to have lived' is a perfect infinitive form. The infinitive has several forms: the bare infinitive ('to live'), the passive infinitive ('to be lived'), the continuous infinitive ('to be living'), the perfect infintive ('to have lived') and so on.
You can change 'to have lived' to 'to live' here without any change in meaning.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thanks a lot!
Actually, I didn't know too much about London Historical Places before watching this video. But I'd love to visit the London Eye and the Warwick Castle. Here in Brazil there are a lot of historical places to visit too. In my city, for example, there's a part of the city which was entirely recovered and it's very similar to what it would have looked like 200 years ago.
I don't know if I would enjoy living during the 16th century. I mean, I can't live without internet.
First at All, I want to visit London and all of its historic and iconic places, then make around by the streets, take a boat by Thames river and then visit other interesting cities and places in all entire UK.
Yes, in my country there are many historic places and we have a long history to know, Inca and before Incas cultures left many places and monuments in many regions of my country, Cuzco was the capitol of Incas Empire so in this city and around it there are many monuments and places to visit, Machu Pichu is the most known place, in the current capitol Lima there many castle and big houses during Spain Colony, and monuments of before Incas culture as well. at north of the country You could get Trujillo and Chilcayo cties where yo could visit many monuments of Chimu and Mochica cultures, in Chachapoyas region North East as well. at South of Lima on Desert of Nazca you could get Nazca Lines which are a enigmatic places to discover by scientifics.
Hello, everyone.
☆ Where would you like to visit in London?
- I've heard and read a lot about the beautiful places of Great Britain. However, most of all I'd like to visit London and its sights. Among them there are The House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, St Paul's Cathedral, London Brigde and The Tower of London. I'd like to visit all the famous museum in London as well, especially British museum. Hopefuly, I could see many historical heritages gathering from all over the world there.
Besides, I'd certainly visit the old University of Cambridge and Oxford.
I think traveling in these places would be very interisting.
☆ Are there many historical places in your country?
- Yes, there are a lot of the buildings in my country which has a certain historical bearing that building.
The historical buildings on the whole give an idea and insight of the cities past, its culture and the lifestyle of the people of another era.
☆ What would life have been like 500 years ago?
- 500 years ago is the last period of Hindu Kingdoms in my country, Indonesia. Many well-organized kingdoms with high degree of civilization were ruled by indigenous kings who had adopted the Hindu religion. The period in our history is called the period of Hindu-Indonesia period.
The period was also reffered to the first portuguese colonialism in my country Indonesia.
Hi Kirk, in thi video, they say "in the fourteen hundreds". I have studied "hundred" is always singular after a number and it can be plural only when there is no number in the front, e.g. in "hundreds of people". I thought I would read it "in fourteen hundred", even without the article "the".
Same for 1620s, even in this case I would think it is because they include all the 10 years of the 20s.
Could you help me out to put all this in place?
Thank you,
Maria
Hello Maria,
It's true that when we are pronouncing one specific number, 'hundred' is singular, and also that we say 'hundreds of people'. But it's also possible to use 'the' before 'hundreds' in contexts when 'the' makes sense, e.g. 'The hundreds of people who came to the concert were disappointed', in which we're talking about a specific group of people.
When we want to speak about the span of a century, or a time within that century - for example 1400-1500 - we can say 'the 15th century' or 'the 1400s' (pronounced 'fourteen hundreds'). And when we want to speak about a decade or time within that decade, we can say, for example, 'the 1620s' or even just 'the 20s' (if from context it's clear that we're talking about that decade in the 17th century).
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Yes Kirk, it's all clear now. Thank you very much for yr explanation.
Maria
I would definitely like to go on a guided tour of Buckingham Palace and have a ride on the London Eye a few times. It would be great to visit Elizabeth Tower and approach the most famous bell in the world as close as possible. The Globe Theatre is without a doubt among the most desirable places to visit in London for me. Museums, galleries, squares, historical sites and buildings, bus tours and walking excursions are all those things that attract me in such a great city as London! But there’s more – I’m going to run the London Marathon one day and I hope nothing will prevent me from doing it.
Sadly, one of the most famous cities in Ukraine is probably Chernobyl. My friend’s grandmother still lives near there and after his last visit to her he brought a souvenir hat with the word ‘Chernobyl’ on it. And maybe I’m not right but I think that selling souvenirs in such a place is extremely inappropriate especially when it’s done for increasing one’s bank account.
If you want to come to Ukraine one day, I would recommend to visit such cities as Kyiv and Lviv - one of which is a capital of my country, of course, and has a lot of interesting places to go to, and the other is the most romantic and authentic one visited by many tourists from all around the world.
I’m sure that life 500 years ago would have been simply different especially if you would come there from the future having experienced the modern and more convenient, in many aspects, way of life.
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