London is the capital city of both the United Kingdom and the constituent country of England. The ancient City of London, to which the name originally belonged, still retains its mediaeval boundaries, but the name "London" has long applied more generally to the whole metropolis which has grown up around it. ----------------- An important settlement for around two millennia, London is today one of the world's leading business, financial and cultural centres,and its influence in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the major global cities.---------------------------The AEC Routemaster is a model of double-decker bus that was unveiled in 1954. It was introduced in London on 8 February 1956 and has become one of the famous icons of London. It is still in service on two heritage routes in central London.------------The bus was developed during the period 1947-1956 by a team led by Douglas Scott and Colin Curtis, the brief being to replace the trolleybuses, which had themselves replaced trams. The buses were originally constructed at the AEC works in Southall. The original concept included the maintenance of the Routemaster at Aldenham Works. Here the buses could be completely stripped down and rebuilt, engines changed etc. which was an important part of the original concept. However, as the number of Routemasters in London got smaller this concept was abandoned, and Aldenham Works closed in the mid 1980s. Production examples, at first to the 27 feet 6 inches (8.4 metres) length then permitted, were placed in service from 1959 to replace trolleybuses, this was completed in May 1962. Subsequent Routemasters, the last 500 of which were 30 feet (9.1 metres) long RML types, began replacing the previous generation of RT-type AEC Regent buses and their similar Leyland Titan RTL and RTW counterparts. These are often mistaken for Routemasters by the public and by the media. The last Routemaster, RML 2760, entered service in March 1968. The design proved very popular with Londoners and tourists alike. It perpetuated features common to earlier buses: the open platform at the rear and the presence of a conductor to collect fares, required by the isolated driver's cab. The platform allowed large volumes of passengers to alight and board quickly at stops, and indeed at traffic lights and slow speeds. The conductor collected fares whilst the bus was travelling, thus minimising delays at stops. There were some shortcomings in the Routemaster series. Both the standing headroom of the lower floor and the walking headroom on the upper floor (standing is not allowed on the upper deck of UK buses) were rather restricted. Another shortcoming was inadequate legroom for seated passengers. Also, due to the lack of a door at the rear entrance, passengers were not well protected from cold or windy weather.