Where do you think the edge of London is?

[slowmotion]

With one eye closed, I'd say near the Polish War Memorial on the A40. The tripwire is seeing horses tethered in scrubby fields.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Black holes don't have planets.

The most probable fate of the planet is absorption by the Sun in about 7.5 billion years, after the star has entered the red giant phase and expanded beyond the planet's current orbit.

But they do have galaxies which have stars which have planets

 

[Beebo]

Who 'officially' designated Southend or Luton London Airports?
.

Gatwick and Stanstead are both a long way from London and well outside the M25.
Heathrow only just scrapes inside the M25 and the proposed expansion that's it over the M25.

 

[400bhp]

To the left of L and the right of n.

 

[DaveReading]

Gatwick and Stanstead are both a long way from London and well outside the M25.
Heathrow only just scrapes inside the M25 and the proposed expansion that's it over the M25.

The Roskill Commission, which sat in the late 1960s, was tasked with deciding on a site for London's THIRD airport (in addition to Heathrow and Gatwick). Its findings were shelved after the oil crisis and Stansted was expanded instead to become the de facto third London airport.

The only new airport that has been built anywhere near London since then is London City Airport.

Luton has a reasonable claim to be considered a London airport as it's only a couple of miles further than Gatwick from Central London.

If we're going to define the M25 as the demarcation, then obviously that excludes Luton, Stansted and Gatwick, but on the other hand you could reasonably add Northolt and Biggin Hill, both within the M25.

In other words, there are no "official" criteria that define what is and isn't a London airport.

 

[Bromptonaut]

The Roskill Commission, which sat in the late 1960s, was tasked with deciding on a site for London's THIRD airport (in addition to Heathrow and Gatwick). Its findings were shelved after the oil crisis and Stansted was expanded instead to become the de facto third London airport.

In other words, there are no "official" criteria that define what is and isn't a London airport.

Stansted was always the obvious site but politically unpopular being in solid Tory Essex greenbelt. Roskill went for an equally politically difficult site in Buckinghamshire, Wing/Cublington/Stewkley between Aylesbury and Bletchley. Government under Heath preferred a Thames Estuary site in area of Maplin/Foulness. The oil crisis allowed it to be kicked into the long grass for 10 years until another round of politicking eventually alighted back on Stansted.

 

[smutchin]

Ah but I don't. I live on the Wirral. Which to the uninitiated is either Liverpool or not Liverpool. I may start a thread.

Yer a massive Wool, la'

(My room-mate at uni was known as 'Scouse Pete' even though he was from Heswall. He found it all highly amusing.)

 

[Paulus]

I have lived in Barnet all my life, it used to be in Hertfordshire, the county boundry was and still is towards Whetstone. My Dad used to pay the Rates to the county hall in Hertford. My address was Hertfordshire, it still is. But we have an Enfield postcode EN5 and a London phone number020 8, but the rest of the number is still the old Barnet one from years back. Confused?

 

[smutchin]

It used to be south of Watford Gap. My geography fails . . .

You're thinking of Watford, on the northern edge of London, just inside the M25.

Watford Gap is an entirely separate place in the Midlands, near Northampton, about 60 miles north of Watford. It was traditionally a key coaching stop on the major routes linking north and south (even today it's on the M1, close to the start of the M6). Not even the most optimistic airport owner would try to claim it is part of London, or even that it marks the boundary of London.

Watford Gap's historical status as marking the north-south divide is largely based on the boundaries of regional accents.

 

[swee'pea99]

Most of the africans i meet refer to England (and perhaps Great Britain) as London.

Many moons ago on a cycling trip to Spain & Portugal with a friend, we were constantly being asked where we came from. 'London,' sez I. 'Ramsgate,' says mate, triggering 'where's that?' followed by a load of detailed and inconclusive explanation - largely due to the fact that no-one being talked to had heard of anywhere he used as a reference. Within a couple of days, he'd taken to answering: 'London'.

 

[DaveReading]

My address was Hertfordshire, it still is.

Though the Royal Mail reckons nowadays that a county is superfluous as part of an address.

Do I need to include a county name in the address when I'm addressing mail?

 

[smutchin]

Hmm. Always believed my eldest son was a Cockney, but Whitechapel is not really inside the new boundaries. Noise pollution :-(

We had that discussion when my son was born - also in Whitechapel, presumably at the same place as your eldest. We decided that he probably wasn't a Cockney, strictly speaking, but that didn't stop us telling people he was.

 

[Paulus]

Though the Royal Mail reckons nowadays that a county is superfluous as part of an address.

Do I need to include a county name in the address when I'm addressing mail?

I suppose these days where almost every address has a post code, you only need the house number/name and the postcode for letters and other post to find it's way to the intended building.

 

[subaqua]

With one eye closed, I'd say near the Polish War Memorial on the A40. The tripwire is seeing horses tethered in scrubby fields.

that puts Beckton Outside of London .

 

[Ian H]

With one eye closed, I'd say near the Polish War Memorial on the A40. The tripwire is seeing horses tethered in scrubby fields.

You can see such fields well within that point. I'd say the Colne valley. I think it's debatable whether Uxbridge or Harefield are within.