Where: London. England. United Kingdom, Europe.
What: Tower Bridge, Climbing the Millennium Dome, Greenwich Meridian Line, London Eye, The Shard, Thames Clipper, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Houses of Parliament, The Gherkin, Lloyds of London, Camden Lock, The South Bank, Tate Modern, GLA Armadillo, Banksy Graffiti, Big Ben, Iconic London Underground roundel, The Walkie Talkie, The Cheese Grater, Iconic red bus and telephone boxes, London Eye, TV-am Eggcup House, The London Studios, BBC White City, BBC New Broadcasting House, Buckingham Palace.
When: 1978 and ongoing.
Country counter: No.1
How: London Underground (Tube), Black Taxi, Walking, Thames Clipper river cruise, Emirates cable car.
"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life;
for there is in London all that life can afford."
So goes Samuel Johnson's famous maxim. Having travelled to many the world's most famous capital cities now, including Cairo, New York, Moscow, Tokyo, Berlin, Istanbul, Toronto and Paris, it is only now that I can fully appreciate London. From afar I look back in awe and reverence and pride, for I am from this great city. London's River Thames flows through my veins; London's energy and frisson beats in my heart, London's yellow bricks ground my every step. There really is no place like London. It is my forever home - wherever I may live in the world.
London has diversity and energy; it has monarchy and poverty living side-by-side; it has a place for everyone and is steeped in history. Seemingly every cobble and every brick has some important event or person of import connected with it. It is a city with icons at every turn which are unmistakably, quintessentially, unquestionably London in their resonance: the roundel of the Tube, the red buses and telephone boxes, buildings of majesty like the Palace of Westminster and Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Saint Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben... These icons speak to the world - and the world speaks back.
Below is a curated selection of some of my best photographs from my many visits to the capital of England and of the United Kingdom which, I think, go just a little way to capturing something of the essence of this magical city, a city like no other.
The Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben clock tower in the City of Westminster.
The unrivalled glory of the River Thames at night with its Millennium Bridge, The London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. London is, without doubt, the most beautiful city in the world.
The Millennium Dome foregrounding a spectacular Canary Wharf as seen from the new Thames cable car.
Saint Paul's Cathedral amid a built-up city. Seen from the top of London's Shard.
The view of London out towards the east and Canary Wharf as seen from London's newest building - The Shard. Foregrounded is the GLA Armadillo building and Tower Bridge. I love the way the Thames meanders into the distance in this shot.
An iconic lamp along the River Thames' South Bank.
The London Eye at dusk.
London's new architecture: The Cheese Grater, The Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie.
London: a city that will forever be my home no matter where I live in the world.
The uncompromising Brutalism of the South Bank Centre.
The Greater London Authority building, also known as the Armadillo, foregrounded by a rain-covered banister.
An illuminated and iconic London Underground sign foregrounds Centrepoint.
The British Telecom Tower in Fitzrovia.
The most iconic of travel signs, imitated around the world but never bettered, set against London's wonderful yellow brick. The house I grew up in was built of this stuff and so I have a bit of a thing for the yellow brick buildings of London and the South East - something you never knew would speak so much of home - until you leave it.
Four iconic red phone boxes in a row along The Strand.
The sun sets over the Palace of Westminster.