Athletics at the 1908 Summer Olympics

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, six swimming events were contested. These were the first Olympic Games in which a 100-metre pool had been especially constructed (inside the main stadium's track and field oval). Previous Olympic events were swum in open water (1896: The Mediterranean Sea, 1900: The Seine River, 1904: an artificial lake). Only men participated in the swimming events. The competitions were held from Monday, July 13, 1908, to Saturday, July 25, 1908. All six of the 1908 events became staples of the Olympic swimming programme, and have been contested at every edition of the Games since. The 50 m, 200 m, and 800 m freestyle events were dropped from the previous edition (though the 50 m and 200 m would later return), the relay was lengthened from 4 × 50 yards to 4 × 200 m, and the 400 m breaststroke was shortened to 200 metres. Canada and Finland made their first appearances in swimming, while Austria, Hungary, and the United States continued their streaks of appearing each time. Fourteen nations competed in all, with 100 swimmers entering the events.

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, England, an official football tournament between national representative selections was contested for the first time; football had been played between club teams at the Games of 1900 and 1904.Eight entries were accepted, and were included in the tournament draw, including two from France: the main team and a B team. Both Hungary and Bohemia both withdrew after the draw and before the start of play, leaving six teams to contest the tournament. Great Britain won the gold medal representing the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Ireland), although all the players were from England. Sophus "Krølben" Nielsen of Denmark set a record by scoring 10 goals in a 17–1 win over France A. The famous mathematician Harald Bohr, brother of the even more famous Niels Bohr, also played for Denmark, who won the silver medal.

At the 1908 Summer Olympics, two gymnastics events for men were contested. No nation was successful in winning more than one medal. No women's competitions were held, though women did participate in non-competitive gymnastic displays.

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, nine wrestling events were contested, all for men. There were four weight classes in Greco-Roman wrestling and five weight classes in freestyle wrestling.Greco-Roman reappeared for the first time since the 1896 Summer Olympics, with weight classes for the first time. The number of classes in freestyle was reduced from 7 to 5, with the light fly, fly, and welterweight classes dropped but the middleweight added. The addition of the 4 Greco-Roman classes brought the total number of events in wrestling up to 9.

At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, two diving events were contested, both for men only. The competition was held on Tuesday July 14, 1908 and Friday July 24, 1908. While the competitive events were restricted to men only, an exhibition was performed by two women on July 18.

At the 1908 Summer Olympics, three archery events were contested. Great Britain sent 41 archers (25 female and 16 male), France sent 15 men, and the United States sent one man.

At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a field hockey tournament was contested for the first time. Six teams entered the tournament: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany and France. England won the gold medal, Ireland the silver and Scotland and Wales were awarded bronze medals. All the medals were subsequently credited to Great Britain.

The Arnolds Field rubbish dump in Launders Lane in Rainham, London has been the location of a large number of fires since around 2013, exposing local residents to toxic fumes.The site was a gravel pit in the 1960s, and subsequently used for landfill from 1967 to 1971. Planning permission was granted in 2000 to convert the area to community woodland. Since that time, a large amount of waste has been deposited without authorisation. The London Fire Brigade have said that the site periodically reignites due to the build-up of rubbish on the site, which had been dumped "in excess of five metres" above council-approved levels. Between 2018 and 2022 the Fire Brigade had been called out to the site more than 70 times.Efforts have been by Havering Council to deal with the problem, with the assistance of the London Fire Brigade and Environment Agency. Attempts to remedy the problem have been complicated by multiple issues, including decades of illegal dumping of unknown materials and previous use of the site as a cannabis farm and weapons store.A 2012 site study found elevated levels of lead and benzo(a)pyrene in the soil. In 2023, Imperial College's Environmental Research Group was collecting data regarding the pollution caused by the fires.

Wennington is a small village in the London Borough of Havering, in east London. It is situated 14.8 miles (23.8 km) east of Charing Cross. Wennington was an ancient parish in the county of Essex that was abolished for civil purposes in 1934. It is peripheral to London, forming a ribbon development extending from the eastern edge of the urban sprawl and surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt. Wennington was added to Hornchurch Urban District in 1934 and has formed part of Greater London since 1965.

The Wennington wildfire was a wildfire that took place in Wennington, east London, on 19 July 2022 during the 2022 United Kingdom heatwave. No-one was killed, but the wildfire destroyed about 18–19 houses, including all the possessions of many residents. One resident said her house burned down "within two minutes".The wildfire began when a compost heap spontaneously combusted. It took place on the hottest day since British records began, and has been described as an indication of the threat posed by global warming in the UK, a country in which wildfires have historically been rare and mostly seen on isolated grassland and moorland areas rather than in urban areas.

St Mary and St Peter's Church is a Church of England parish church in Wennington, in the London Borough of Havering. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Eastern London Cemetery is a new cemetery in the East of London opening in 2018.The new cemetery will provide around 20,000 new burial plots for London, which has long been facing a critical shortage of burial space.