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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Docklands
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The name by which Londoners now know the area of the old London docks, stretching miles along the north bank of the Thames (the urban development corporation formed to revive the region was given the name London Docklands). The docks, once the heart of London's commercial activity, had become unviable by the mid-1960s – larger modern ships needed deep-water berths and there was no remaining advantage in unloading so far up the Thames. Much attention has been focused on the area during its years of development.
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*Wapping became the scene of violent events in 1986–7, when the new offices of the Times were besieged; the financial problems of *Canary Wharf were headline news in 1992; and the corporation itself was the subject of controversy in 1992, when it was revealed that in the period 1987–92 it had received almost as much in government grants as the other nine urban development corporations in Britain put together. The area's teething troubles were increased by transport problems. These were solved in 1999 by the completion in 1999 of the Jubilee line from Waterloo, enabling the region to become once again a thriving and economically important part of London.
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