Thursday, December 30, 2010

Trafalgar Square Fireworks Live NYE Webcam Stream

For many years, revellers celebrating the start of a New Year have gathered on Trafalgar square, despite a lack of civic celebrations being arranged for them. The lack of official events in the square was partly because the authorities were concerned that actively encouraging more partygoers would cause overcrowding.

This live feed is in London for the New Year's Eve celebrations:

Trafalgar Square New Year Fireworks Live

Event Information:

Since 2005, a firework display centred on London Eye and the South Bank of the Thames near the Square has given spectators a fitting start to the New Year.

There has been a Christmas ceremony at Trafalgar Square every year since 1947. A Norway Spruce (or sometimes a fir) is given by Norway's capital Oslo and presented as London's Christmas tree, as a token of gratitude for Britain's support during World War II. (Besides the general war support, Norway's Prince Olav, as well as the country's government, lived in exile in London throughout the war.) As part of the tradition, the Lord Mayor of Westminster visits Oslo in the late autumn to take part in the felling of the tree, and the Mayor of Oslo then comes to London to light the tree at the Christmas ceremony.

The square is famous for its feral pigeons, and feeding them is a popular activity with Londoners and tourists. The National Portrait Gallery displays a 1948 photograph of Elizabeth Taylor posing there with bird seed so as to be mobbed by birds. The desirability of the birds' presence has long been contentious: their droppings look ugly on buildings and damage the stonework, and the flock, estimated at its peak to be 35,000, was considered to be a health hazard. In 1996, police arrested one man who was estimated to have trapped 1,500 birds for sale to a middleman; it is assumed that the birds were being trapped to be eaten