Facts about West London
1. The new Wembley Stadium can accommodate 90,000 spectators making it the second largest stadia in Europe behind Camp Nou in Barcelona. Wembley's wonderfully constructed arch can be seen from as far away as 15 miles on a clear day.
2. During the First World War, a tank was parked outside Ealing town hall to help promote voluntary contributions towards the war effort and in 1940 a wall was built around the town hall to protect it from enemy attacks. This proved relatively successful as it managed to survive unscathed.
3. Ealing is home to the oldest film studios in the world and is probably best known for the Ealing comedies, including The Lavender Hill Mob . It was taken over by the BBC in 1955 and since then has been used for numerous television programmes and films, including the romantic comedy Notting Hill.
4. The second invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar in 54BC is most likely to have taken place in Brentford.
5. The world's first purple dye otherwise known as ‘mauveine' was discovered by 18 year old William Perkin in 1856. The following year after patenting the new dye he opened a dye works at Greenford on the bank of the Grand Union Canal to mass produce it.
6. The 1953 British comedy 'Genevieve' was filmed in and around West Drayton, Uxbridge and their neighbouring areas. Its story centred around two couples comically involved in a vintage car rally.
7. During the 1700's the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin was well known for robbing people in the Uxbridge area.
8. Some of the scenes from the British sitcom ‘Extras' took place around the Uxbridge area. The series centred on extras working in a film studio or television set. It was written, directed and starred Ricky Gervais.
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