Kings and queens once lived in the Palace of Westminster. 6

No king or queen has lived in the Palace of Westminster, which is on the north bank of the River Thames in London, since the 1500s. Today, the Palace of Westminster is better known by its other name: the Houses of Parliament.

Although the oldest part of palace in existence today is over 900 years old, most of the buildings is les than two hundred years old. In 1834, the palace was almost completely destroyed by fire and had to be rebuilt. Parts of the building were also damaged by bombs during the Second World War.

At one end of the palace is a famous tourist attraction: a tower, often mistakenly referred to as ‘Big Ben’. In fact, its actual name is the Clock Tower, or St. Stephen’s Tower, and Big Ben is the large bell hidden inside which rings every hour on the hour.

Oliver glanced at his watch. There were ten minutes left until the supermarket closed and he was rushing round, quickly dropping things he needed for the weekend into his trolley. He hadn’t been in his own flat long and now his mother ha invited herself for dinner the following day. He really wanted to impress her with his ability to cope on his own, but he knew that the usual critical comments would soon appear if everything wasn’t perfect. He hoped that the three days he’d spent cleaning the place from top to bottom wouldn’t be wasted, and he’d even gone so far as painting the front door. His mother wouldn’t notice that, though, of course. What she would notice was the dust on top of the pictures, or the old sofa, or one of a thousand other things that Oliver had forgotten about. Still, was determined to give her a good meal, and maybe that would put her in a slightly better mood than usual.