Tag: tourists

100 Days Until The Olympics – A Look At London 2012 By The Numbers

With 100 days to go, it’s no secret that opinions about the Olympics are heavily divided in the UK. According to a BBC poll, 64% of people think we’ve spent too much on the games. However, 51% of people in London think the games will be good for the city according to a separate YouGov poll for the London Evening Standard. Yet, no matter what your opinion is on the games, there is no argument that they are going to have a big impact on London. Here’s a look at some of the numbers:

Browse more data visualizations.

Some key highlights for me are:

  • The fact that London will host the world’s largest McDonalds.
  • There are more than twice as many reporters as athletes.
  • 29.4 million tourists will supposedly visit the UK for the Games and surrounding events. (This number seems absurdly unrealistic considering the UK recorded 29.8 million visitors in the whole of 2010, according to Visit Britain.)

So what do you think of the London 2012 Olympic Games? Love them? Hate them? Meh? Leave your comment below:

London: A Guide for the Naive

London: A Guide for the Naive from SamGould on Vimeo.

I came across this spoof documentary or mockumentary about London from the Londonist blog. Essentially, it tells you everything you ever wanted to know about London’s history, if you don’t care about things like facts or accuracy. As a spoof it works fairly well and is certainly worth a watch.

Some highlights include the secret order of the black cab which controls London, the fact that the Thames was a gift from Egypt and that the rich don’t bother with regular Oyster cards, but instead have their own special payment system. There are plenty of other amusing bits as well, that will get you sounding like a true Londoner in no time.

While not the fumiest thing I’ve ever seen, it will make you chuckle, especially if you know a thing or two about London’s history and landmarks.