London, Ontario

The citizens of LONDON, 125km west of Hamilton, are justifiably proud of their clean streets, efficient transport system and neat suburbs, but to the outsider the main attractions are the leafiness of the centre and two of the city's music festivals – the three-day Bluesfest (Tel:519/488-1240, Web: www.thebluesfest.com ) and the three-day Home County Folk Music Festival (Tel:519/432-4310, Web: www.homecounty.ca ), both held in mid- to late July. London owes its existence to a one-time governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, who arrived in 1792 determined to develop the wilderness west of Lake Ontario. Because of its river connections to the west and south, he chose the site of London as his new colonial capital and promptly renamed its river the Thames. Unluckily, Simcoe's headlong approach to his new job irritated his superior, Governor Dorchester, who vetoed his choice with the wry comment that access to London would have to be by hot-air balloon. When York (present-day Toronto) was chosen as the capital instead, Simcoe's chosen site lay empty until 1826, yet by the 1880s London was firmly established as the economic and administrative centre of a prosperous agricultural area. With a population of some 340,000, it remains so today.