Theme parks(Period 1 Reading)
hyde park is one of london’s finest landscapes and covers 140 hectares (350 acres).hyde park provides facilities for many different leisure activities and sports as well as being the focal point for public events of all sizes.about the parkwhen king henry ⅷ and his court were thundering across hyde park in 1536 in pursuit of deer and wild boar,it would have been difficult to visualize that years later the noble art of tai chi would be peacefully performed among the trees in the early morning,and the italianate tenor of pavarotti would echo across the park,applauded by vast audiences.history and architecturehenry ⅷ acquired hyde park from the monks of westminster ablackboardey in 1536.he and his court were often to be seen on thundering steeds in the hunt for deer.it remained a private hunting ground until james i came to the throne and permitted limited access.the king appointed a ranger,or keeper,to take charge of the park.it was charles ⅰ who changed the nature of the park completely.he had the ring (north of the present serpentine boathouses) created and in 1637 opened the park to the general public.in 1665,the year of the great plague,many citizens of london fled the city to camp on hyde park,in the hope of escaping the disease.towards the end of the 17th century william ⅲ moved his court to kensington palace.he found that his walk to st james’s was very dangerous,so he had 300 oil lamps installed,creating the first artificially lit highway in the country.this route later became known as rotten row,which is a corruption of the french “route de rio” or king’s road.queen caroline,wife of george ⅱ,had extensive renovations carried out and in the 1730s had the serpentine,a lake of some 11.34 hectares,created.hyde park became a venue for national celebrations.in 1814 the prince regent organised fireworks to mark the end of the napoleonic wars,in 1851 (during queen victoria’s reign) the great exhibition was held and in 1977 a silver jubilee exhibition was held in honour of queen elizabeth ⅱ’s 25 years on the throne.in 1866 edmund beales’ reform league marched on hyde park where great scuffles broke out between the league and the police.eventually the prime minister allowed the meetings to continue unchallenged and since 1872,people have been allowed to speak at speaker’s corner on any subject they want to.the lido was set up by george lansbury,the first commissioner of works,in 1930 and in warm weather is used for sunbathing and swimming.