London quiz questions for capital city trivia

London earns its place in any quiz night for one simple reason: everyone in the room has an opinion about it, whether they've lived there for years or just changed trains once at a busy station. It's a city built up in layers, part ancient settlement, part Victorian engineering project, part modern skyline, and that mix makes for a genuinely varied round.

These 18 questions move from the sights any visitor would recognise through to the kind of history and trivia that trips up people who think they know the city well. They're organised into three sections and run roughly easy to hard within each, so pick and choose what suits your crowd or run the whole thing as a themed London night.

Landmarks and Geography

Start with the sights. Most of these should be gettable for anyone who's spent even a weekend in the city.

1What is the name of the river that flows through the centre of London on its way to the North Sea?

Answer:The Thames(click to reveal)

2What is the name of the giant observation wheel on the South Bank, which opened to the public in 2000?

Answer:The London Eye (it stands 135 metres tall, about the height of a 40-storey building, according to Britannica)(click to reveal)

3What is the name of the huge bell inside the clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, a name most people wrongly use for the whole tower?

Answer:Big Ben (the tower itself was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, according to UK Parliament)(click to reveal)

4Which glass skyscraper near London Bridge, completed in 2012, is the tallest building in the UK?

Answer:The Shard (it reaches 309.6 metres, according to the building's own website)(click to reveal)

5Not counting the City of London, how many boroughs make up Greater London?

Answer:32 (source)(click to reveal)

6Which large royal park, next to Marble Arch, is home to Speaker's Corner, where anyone can turn up and address the crowd on whatever they like?

Answer:Hyde Park(click to reveal)

History

From a Roman river crossing to the fire that reshaped the city, this section covers the events that built modern London.

7In what year did the Great Fire of London break out and destroy most of the medieval city?

Answer:1666. It started in a baker's shop and burned for four days, though the recorded death toll was remarkably low (source).(click to reveal)

8In what year did the London Underground open, becoming the world's first underground railway network?

Answer:1863 (the first section ran between Paddington and Farringdon, according to London Transport Museum)(click to reveal)

9Which ancient civilisation founded the riverside settlement that grew into London, giving it the name Londinium?

Answer:The Romans (most historians date the founding to somewhere around AD 47 to 50, per the London Museum)(click to reveal)

10Which English king ordered the construction of the White Tower, the oldest building within the Tower of London, after his conquest of England in 1066?

Answer:William the Conqueror (building work began around 1078, according to Historic Royal Palaces)(click to reveal)

11Which London palace became the monarch's official residence in 1837, when a young Queen Victoria became the first sovereign to live there?

Answer:Buckingham Palace (source)(click to reveal)

12Which architect designed the current St Paul's Cathedral, rebuilt with its famous dome after the Great Fire?

Answer:Sir Christopher Wren (the cathedral was declared officially complete in 1711, decades after the fire that made the rebuild necessary)(click to reveal)

London Trivia and Culture

The kind of facts that make good filler questions or a closing round of oddities.

13London's black cab drivers must pass a legendarily tough test covering roughly 25,000 streets around the city. What is this test commonly known as?

Answer:The Knowledge (formally the Knowledge of London, it's been required of cabbies since 1865, according to Wheelchair Travel)(click to reveal)

14Which annual Caribbean-inspired street festival, held over the August bank holiday weekend in west London, is considered the largest street festival in Europe?

Answer:Notting Hill Carnival (it began in 1966, according to Channel 4 News)(click to reveal)

15According to legend, which birds are kept at the Tower of London because the kingdom is said to fall if they ever leave?

Answer:Ravens. Six are kept there by royal decree, plus a spare "just in case" (source).(click to reveal)

16Standing in Trafalgar Square, how tall is Nelson's Column, from the base of the pedestal to the top of Nelson's hat?

Answer:169 feet, or about 51.6 metres (a 2006 cleaning revealed it was actually 16 feet shorter than the height long recorded in guidebooks, according to Britannica)(click to reveal)

17The winged statue on top of the fountain in Piccadilly Circus is popularly known as Eros. What is the figure actually meant to represent?

Answer:Anteros (the god of requited love and Eros's brother; the monument's official name is the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, built to honour the philanthropist Lord Shaftesbury)(click to reveal)

18According to the Royal Household, how many rooms does Buckingham Palace contain in total?

Answer:775 (including 52 royal and guest bedrooms and 78 bathrooms, according to The London Pass)(click to reveal)

Tips for Running a London Round

Expect a home-turf advantage. If anyone in the room lives in or near London, the easy landmark questions will go fast. Lean on the history and trivia sections to level things out.

Have a map or photo ready for landmark questions. Showing a picture of the Shard or the London Eye alongside the question works well if you're running a hybrid picture-and-quiz round.

Don't let one wrong "Big Ben" answer derail the room. Since so many people use the name for the whole tower rather than just the bell, decide in advance whether you'll accept either answer.

Pace the history questions by date. Jumping between 1066 and 1863 in quick succession can lose people who aren't confident with dates. Grouping questions roughly chronologically, as this post does, helps keep the round readable.

Looking for more themed rounds to pair with this one? Our history quiz questions range from ancient civilisations to the modern world, and our geography quiz questions cover capitals, borders, and physical geography with the same easy-to-hard structure. Or use our quiz creator to build a custom round and run it on the night.