HIPPOS IN LONDON? THE FULL STORY OF THE CITY, LAYER BY LAYER

Under the streets of London lie hippo bones, a layer of ash left by a rebel queen, and a river that once ran somewhere else. This is the full history of London, from the Ice Age to today, told layer by layer. IN THIS VIDEO: Why hippos once lived where Trafalgar Square stands today The layer of burnt clay under the City left by Boudica's army Why the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed 13,000 houses, yet the official record shows as few as six deaths How the Great Stink of 1858 almost chased Parliament out of its own building, and gave London its sewers Why one square mile in the middle of the city still has its own Lord Mayor, its own police and its own rules The bridge that was sold to an American and rebuilt in the Arizona desert CHAPTERS: 0:00 Almost nine million people 0:39 450,000 years ago: only ice 1:53 Hippos in Trafalgar Square 3:26 Year zero: a river and no city 4:15 The Romans arrive: Londinium 5:10 Boudica burns London 6:24 Capital of Roman Britain 8:07 Rome leaves 8:36 Saxons and Vikings 10:07 The Normans and the Tower 11:13 Old London Bridge 12:11 The City, its mayor and Magna Carta 13:28 The Black Death 14:40 Henry VIII and Tudor London 15:34 Shakespeare and the Globe 16:25 Frost fairs on the frozen Thames 17:01 Civil war and coffeehouses 17:56 The Great Plague of 1665 18:25 The Great Fire of 1666 19:53 How many really died? 20:11 Wren rebuilds London 21:15 Georgian London: empire and gin 23:26 The Victorian explosion 24:58 Cholera and the Great Stink 27:02 The first Underground 28:06 Tower Bridge and the dockers 28:48 The Blitz 30:02 Post-war London 31:58 Docklands and Canary Wharf 32:35 New London 34:22 The layers of London Layers of the City goes underneath the great cities of the world: how they began, who built them, what it cost, and what is still buried beneath your feet. New York is already on the channel. Subscribe so you don't miss the next city. Which layer of London surprised you the most? Tell us in the comments, and tell us which city we should go under next. #London #LondonHistory #History