Things you didn't know about... Westminster

The Abbey was built on an island
Thorney Island was the small bit of land in between the Thames and the River Tyburn, upstream from medieval London, on which King Edward decided to build Westminster Abbey. Waters have fallen, land has risen, London rose up around the island, and now Thorney Street, at the back of the MI5 building, is all that remains of the island.

Harry took the Tube
Scenes from the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix were shot at Westminster Tube station—notably, the bit where Arthur Weasley takes Harry Potter to the Ministry of Magic.

Westminster is green and pleasant
Despite being one of the most central and urban boroughs, Westminster has several green spaces, and is stuffed full of plants and wildlife. Pretty much a quarter of Westminster's total area is protected because of its wildlife status.

Big Ben is not a clock, he's a bell
You can't mention Westminster without thinking of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben... but did you know that the name of the famous clock actually refers not to the clock but to one of the bells? The main bell, officially known as the Great Bell, is a whopping great 2.2 m (7.2 ft) high—no wonder it's so loud.

Terry met Julie in Westminster
Waterloo Bridge that connects Westminster and the South Bank is the location for The Kinks' famous hit Waterloo Sunset, about Terry and Julie who meet at the bridge every Friday night. The song reached no. 2 in the charts in 1967.

Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner was a happy accident
Contrary to popular belief, there was never any intention to lay aside an area of the Abbey for poets, playwrights and writers. It happened because Geoffrey Chaucer was buried there—but due to the fact that he had been a clerk at the Abbey, rather than for his literary skills. Over the years, many of the country's greatest writers have been honoured, including Charles Dickens, Lord Byron and—very belatedly—Oscar Wilde, in 1995, almost a century after his death.