American Reacts to Secret City of London Mayor 

The oldest dated document found in London is dated “In the consulship of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus for the second time and of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, on the 6th day before the Ides of January” (8 January AD 57). It’s an acknowledgment of a debt for 105 denarii.

People don’t become Lord Mayor of the City of London for money, they’re generally already wealthy and successful & at least middle-aged. Basically it’s one of if not always the crowning point of their lives/careers. It’s a very prestigious position to hold and an important one because of what it represents.

Every November, the newly elected Lord mayor has a parade, known as TheLord Mayor's Show. It involves military marching bands and representatives of the twelve great livery companies. This is where the new Lord Mayor rides from Guildhall to his home ward, in the The Lord Mayor's coach ( not the same one as that used by the monarch at coronation). The procession usually takes a little over an hour and is great fun to watch, if sometimes a bit cold! There are quite a few clips on you tube if you are interested in seeing a bit of pageantry.

Steve, I lived and worked in London for almost 25 years, and there are certainly more surprises for checking out The City. Some of the ancient street names were changed to accommodate the prudishness of the Victorian era. They would even be considered obscene today. A walk around The City is easily a day-long option. So many interesting old buildings and alleyways, and the views of the River Thames can be spectacular. It's a small area, but the best for history.

Don't forget the city of London is the main business and financial district for England, with the London Stock Exchange and The Bank of England within this area.

My old dad (now 90 and still going strong), is a Freeman of the City and was an elector through the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. It's a crazy world and system, but it works, and it is core to the financial strength of the UK.

Don't forget the City of Westminster, just to the west of the City of London, which is the political heart of the UK.

Note: when he says sheriff, he does not mean the US meaning of the word. A sheriff in England (different in Scotland) is an officer of the court, not law enforcement. Now it is a mainly ceremonial position, but historically they served as assistants to the justices at the Old Baily (Central Criminal Court).

Look up Richard Whittington lord mayor during the 14th century , we have pantomimes here in the u.k. at Christmas time ,various fairytale or folklore tales Dick Whittington is one of them . 🙂

The City of London is the only place in England that a member of the Met Police can not make an arrest. As that is the job of the City of London Police. Other constabularies can only make arrests within their own areas but naturally they share all information etc. It is also tradition that the Monarch has to request the permission of the Lord Mayor of London to enter the City of London.

They are separate entities, not separate places. Goes back many centuries, even the Monarch must seek approval to enter the City of London.

My Dad was (I'm not sure if he still is) an elector in City of London elections because his employer is a firm of solicitors in the City.

I'm not sure exactly how old the oldest building in the City is, but it might be the church of St Bartholomew the Lesser - construction began (iirc) in the 1150s, and although the monastery part was destroyed in the reformation, the lady chapel, quire and part of the cloisters remain as a local parish church. It's a lovely building, with a new-ish tudor gatehouse. Another contender is Inner Temple church, built during the crusades by the Knights Templar... it was finished in 1183, but I'm not sure whether construction started before or after that of St Barts! As far as the oldest *structure* goes, parts of the Roman city wall are still standing and visible (in fact, there's a walk that goes around the route of the old walls) - that dates from around AD 400.

2:34...Before Greater London got it's own mayor every borough had one (and still does)...but don't forget this isn't so shocking as Greater London itself didn't exist before the mid 1960s.

Prior to 2000 London did not have an elected Mayor, It was run by the Greater London Council until 1986 , between 1986 and 2000 London didn't have a city wide government and much of what are now the Mayors responsibilities were run from the Borough Council level

Before 2000 there was the "Greater London Council" which ran from 1965 to 1986, at which time it was dissolved and it's powers fell to the London Boroughs. The Mayor of London currently runs the "Greater London Authority" which as this video and the previous one in this series shows does not include the City of London. Before 1965 there was the "London County Council" (from 1889) but this covered a much smaller area, with the bits outside it being managed by the respective counties surrounding London. The problem with London is that it covers multiple counties and it's own Boroughs, which makes administration complex as some powers are held by the GLA, some are devolved to the Boroughs, but if you're outside the Borough system but still within the remit of the GLA does the power fall to the GLA or the local County? And what if the Boroughs don't get along (some of them don't)?

The mayor is and the city of London has a lot to do with the guilds. It is horrifyingly complicated.

It’s not The Queen’s carriage it is The Lord Mayor’s Carriage.

You may like to check out Jay Foreman's videos about London. Amusing and informative.

Just to put the Lord Mayor's & the City of London's status into perspective - the Monarch HAS to ask the Mayor's permission to enter the City!!!! -

The first Mayor was in 1189 but there had been Sheriffs for at least 400 years by then. For another great video about the City, check out Stephen Fry's Key to the City.

0ldest surviving building in the City of London is the White Tower of the Tower of London completed in 1089

I used to work in the city of London, but I've never met anyone who lived there. Our customers were nearly all bankers and stockbrokers.

Greater London, for the most part, has not had a unified authority until recently. It has mainly been governed at a borough and prior to that a parish level, with borough and parish councils. Between 1965 and 86 there was the Greater London Council, but the leader had no title. It was only in 2000 when the Greater London Authority was created, as part of the Labour Governments devolution fad, that London got a mayor.

The Museum of London has numerous exhibits and catalogues the City going back to prehistory. It's at London Wall near the Barbican. They have a website to look at. The Lord Mayor's show happens each year in November, a procession through the streets, floats, bands etcetc. Wonderful entertainment.

London is in fact three cities and three counties. There is the original Roman City of London which is generally just called The City. The City of London is also technically a county. then there is The City of Westminster, the ceremonial and political centre of London. These are both within the city of Greater London which is also a county. Then there's the County of Middlesex which is almost completely contained within Greater London. Westminster is also separately the administrative centre for Middlesex. It's complicated.

I worked for the probation service in north west London in the late 1970s/early 1980s. At the time, the City of London had its own probation service which had, as I recall, two members of staff whose main function was to deal with the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court.

The Mayor of the City of London is separate from Londons Mayor ! The City refers to an area of London in the centre of the LONDON the capital.

2:31 To answer your question there, the City of London has always been separate. The rest of London as a whole used to be several separate councils that were only grouped together as "London" in the 19th century. They had a council-style government, the London County Council, with a Leader of the Council - no mayors - the most famous of them was probably Herbert Morrison. In the 1960s London got expanded into Greater London and was given a Greater London Council which was similar. Then in the 80s Mrs Thatcher saw it as a threat because it was Labour dominated so abolished it, just leaving the local borough councils with no central authority. The next Labour government brought it back as the Greater London Authority in 2000 and introduced a directly elected mayor, rather than the leader being one of the councillors. Yes this is confusing and complicated!

Each November , The Mayor has a 'show' .Please watch one .

5:13...The Guilds are still called guilds as well as Livery Companies and Livery Company 'is' descriptive since during ceremonial occasions each member of a guild present will wear that guild's 'livery' or uniform consisting of at least two colours. These coloured uniforms date back to the medieval period and were very important as an easy way to identify fellow guild members during mass gatherings.

I think you're confusing the Mayor with the Lord Mayor, it's very similar here in Manchester where we also have an unelected Lord Mayor and an elected Mayor

Sheriff is a contraction of Shire Reeve, which was an Anglo-Saxon position subordinate to a court magistrate. By the late Anglo-Saxon period when England had come into existence as a unified nation, there was already a nationwide organisation of taxation & Law operating at effectively down to village level. Many of our Ministries, Courts and other Authorities are merely extensions and expansions of the administrative apparatus that pre-dates the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD.

Most people outside of "Inner London" or Greater London Authority (region). Do not know there is such an closed "rich folk only" controlled body. It is often publically called the "Square Mile" - as a visitor you will only really see the "City of London Police Service" cars.

Been away for a few days, Lovely time at Thorpe Park. Can't wait to go through the last few days of your uploads 😁 This is one of my favourite channels to check in on right now

the monarchy are not allowed into the city of London without the permission of the Mayor.

Speaking of bonkers skyscrapers that represent the City of London and its mindset (in my other comment): do check out "The Building That Lasered Cars" and "The Lloyd’s Building: Inside Out" on the Jago Hazzard channel!

Before a mayor was elected in 2000 London’s districts ran their own affairs. Many, many people in London and the U.K. still don’t know that London has two mayors, not just people from outside the U.K. Unlike mayors from other countries and the Greater London area mayor the LORD Mayor is the second most important person in the country.

The city walls of the city of London were built by the Romans. AD 200 approx.

did you know king charles may not enter the city of london without the lord mayors permission

There probably aren't really that many old buildings from ancient times, as they have been keeping on expanding, albeit within the restraint of their One Square Mile - hence the Skyscrapers.* All I could think of off the top of my head would be either the Tower of London (which was to defend the Kinkf from the Londoners, not the Londoners from incasion, as we learnt in the previous video), or the remains of the Roman City Wall. But I think, I've ssen a video on an actual building other than the Tower that is really, really old. I think that was over on the Jago Hazzard channel. Need to check back on that. Also not sure, if that was within the one square mile of the City. * Fun fact: the one characteristic Highrise that can be seen on some pictures that is known as the Gherkin was only built in 2002/2003, designed by renowned and honored architect Sir Norman Foster, was the talles (and I'd say most beautiful) back then, the Diamant if you will. Soon got surrounded by insanely high and huge (as in voluminous) buildings! Bonkers, completely bonkers... But I guess that's the City of London for you.

"What's the Oldest House in London?" from Look Up London (not Jago Hazzard, as I presumed): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m1rYBFTO_Bk.html "The World's Oldest Hat Shop | Lock and Co." from Londonist Ltd: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jHnVvBEWGRE.html

You need to understand London has two mayors, one democratically elected who does the work and runs London and the one in the video who is only a ceremonial figure who gets an annual parade and drums up business and finance from other people around the world and lobbies for financiers interests. There has been no demarcation line between the City of London and the rest of London since the middle ages when it was a gated city with gates manned by the crusading Knights Templar. Today only four dragons remain as boundary markers and only a few minor laws are different, the video really overplays it You commit crime in the City of London you go through the same judicial process and courts as anywhere else.

City mayors aren’t a common thing here, it’s different to the US

You would be surprised. It is a medieval authority.

As I mentioned in the last video you did on this, it'd be worth watching the Lord Mayor's Show parade where all the Livery Companies take part. The full thing is over an hour but there are short summary videos like this one from 2018: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ESta7nwBYhc.html unfortunately I can't find one with commentary though, the BBC usually does it but they would be the very long ones.

Interesting fact, the City of London is not in the Doomsday Book.

One of my ancestors was a lord mayor. By all accounts, he was crap at his job & died destitute not long after.

Mate it's an honour given to an already successful business person. not everything is about doing stuff for money...jeez! 🙄

Of course, in recent years Governments have been too frightened of the financiers to upset them, in a lot of areas. I wouldn't want a lot of the tradition abolished, but I would like the Lord Mayor to be the figurehead Lord Mayor of the whole of Greater London. ( I don't approve of directly-elected mayors. The British tradition is to have figurehead Mayors, to represent the town or city - rather like the Queen.) Most English Guilds were abolished 1550, but the London ones were allowed to survive. Many established schools or other colleges. One of the Guilds (=Livery Companies) is the Haberdashers. (Haberdashery is the small articles you need when you are working with cloth: pins, needles, buttons, edging, thread, etc.) About 1690 a man called Robert Aske founded schools with the Haberdashers, and between 1960 and 1964 I went to one of them, Haberdashers' Aske's, which is known as a very good school. While I was there it moved to Elstree on the edge of London. Because of the Guild connection one year we had the Lord Mayor of London presenting the school prizes. I remember receiving one from the Lord Mayor, then Sir Bernard Waley-Cohen. I also remember the Sheriffs being there, with their distinctive fur hats. The second of the two main Proclamations proclaiming Charles III as King was made to the City of London, on the steps of the Royal Exchange. One great privilege of the Lord Mayor of London is also quite a problem. Now the citizens of London were riotous and quite a headache. (In 1141 they were upset with a claimant to the throne - Matilda, to be honest an arrogant cow - that she had to flee the city, leaving her dinner behind.) So, there was a strict rule of no swords in the City. And generally, no matter who you were, you couldn't unsheath a sword in the presence of the Monarch. But the great exception is the Lord Mayor of London. So when a Queen or King visits the City, he carries the Sword of State in front of her/him. A great privilege, but the Sword is very heavy, and Lord Mayor's can be elderly... It is literally a burden of office! This is why the flag of the City of London is the St George's Cross of England with a sword in one quarter.

The City of London, means democracy does not exist anywhere in the world, it’s an illusion, this includes America that’s a company not a country ie the British east India company, your flag is based on the companies flag. Regards JH

After the Lord mayors show.

8:53...Actually London isn't very good for ghost hunting mate...since ghosts (along with other supernatural creatures like werewolves, vampires, goblins, witches...oh and God!) don't exist 🙄

Boris Johnson, before he became Prime Minister, was Lord Mayor of London.