Press releases Lord Mayor’s Show 2007 – key facts and figures
Tuesday 02 October 2007

Notes for Editors

For further information, please contact Lesley Mair at the City of London Corporation on 020 7332 1754 or email: lesley.mair@cityoflondon.gov.uk

The Role of the Lord Mayor

The Lord Mayor of the City of London is an international ambassador for the UK financial services industry and spends up to 80 days a year traveling to around 20 countries to promote this industry and the Square Mile as a place of excellence in which to do business.

As head of the City of London the Lord Mayor is involved with local government and London-wide issues, ranging from the City of London’s work in the regeneration of neighbouring boroughs to transport and environmental issues which affect the City.

On behalf of the Sovereign and the Government, he also acts as host when the City of London provides hospitality for visiting heads of state and foreign dignitaries. In addition, the Lord Mayor provides a platform for Government Ministers to make keynote speeches. The Prime Minister attends the Lord Mayor’s annual Banquet at Guildhall, whilst the Bankers’ Dinner each June is the occasion for the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s annual keynote speech, known as the Mansion House Speech. The Easter Banquet, also held at Mansion House, is the major annual opportunity for all London’s diplomats to listen to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Other Cabinet members and international business figures also value these opportunities.

The Lord Mayor also presides over meetings of the Court of Common Council and Court of Aldermen, and attends Livery events and charitable projects. He receives visiting overseas ministers and senior businessmen and keeps in close contact with City institutions and firms as well as travelling to other UK financial centres to keep in touch with regional economic activity. In his year of office he will make some 600 speeches on a wide variety of subjects from City financial matters to charity and patronage.

City of London Corporation

The ancient City of London Corporation has a 21st-century role supporting the business city as the world’s leading international financial and business centre. The City of London Corporation provides local government services for the City of London “Square Mile” at the heart of London – but its responsibilities also extend far beyond the City boundaries and include paying for and running the Barbican Centre, Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, and three wholesale food markets, as well as acting as the London Port Health Authority.

• Saturday 10th November 2007 marks the 792nd Lord Mayor’s Show.
• It welcomes in the 680th Lord Mayor of the City of London.
• There has been a Lord Mayor of London ever since 1189, when Henry Fitzailwyn first held office.
• Dick (Richard) Whittington was Lord Mayor three times – in 1397, 1406 and 1419l
• In modern times, the Lord Mayor’s term is limited to one year.
• The Show always takes place on the second Saturday of November.
• This year, the election of the Lord Mayor will take place on Monday 1st October. He does not take office until the day before the Show, at a silent ceremony held at the City’s historic Guildhall.
• In 1215 King John granted a charter allowing the City’s citizens to elect their own mayor. The new Mayor had to travel to Westminster to the sovereign for approval and swear fealty to the Crown. Over the years the Mayor’s journey became so splendid that it became known as the Lord Mayor’s Show.
• The Show has survived two bouts of the plague and the Great Fire of London. The last time it was interrupted was in 1852 for the Duke of Wellington’s funeral.
• The route of the modern show was set in 1952.
• The Pageantmaster is responsible for organising the logistics of the Show – this includes arranging for the lifting and checking of 3,500 manhole covers, installation of 4,000 grandstand seats and 6,300 galvanised crowd barriers and laying of 43 tonnes of sand. He also organises the 6,000 participants, 200 vehicles and 24 marching bands.
• The procession is three miles long, fitting into a route of just 1.7miles. It starts at 11am, after a flypast over Mansion House, and follows the traditional route through the streets of the City to the Royal Courts of Justice. There, the Lord Mayor takes an oath of allegiance to the sovereign before the Lord Chief Justice and the judges of the Queen’s Bench Division. The procession sets off on the return journey from Victoria Embankment to Mansion House
• The day ends with a fireworks display from a barge in the Thames between Blackfriars Bridge and Waterloo Bridge. A team of eight pyrotechnicians takes two days to set more more than half a tonne of the giant fireworks, some of which shoot more than 600ft into the air.
• More information at www.lordmayorshow.org