What stories does London hold?

It is said that the kingdom and the Tower of London will fall if the six resident ravens leave.

Once you start looking, pineapples can be seen everywhere in London. You can find them everywhere from railings, to pubs, and even adorning the tower of St Paul's Cathedral. But why are Londoners so obsessed with pineapples?

On 30 December 1952, Albert Gunter was driving the number 78 bus over Tower Bridge towards Shoreditch when the bridge - to his surprise - began opening. He quickly slammed his foot down on the accelerator and managed to jump the gap successfully, escaping with just a broken leg.

Unless you're visiting the zoo or taking care of a pet, animals are a rare sight to see around London. However, in 2006, a female bottlenose whale swam up the Thames. And every year, Freemen of the City of London exercise their right to herd sheep over London Bridge.

From the 1200s to 1835, the Tower of London housed a menagerie of exotic wild animals including a polar bear which was chained, but allowed to swim in the Thames.

Urban myth says that the parakeets that have colonised London's green spaces can actually be traced back to Jimi Hendrix! Rumour has it that he released a pair in Carnaby Street in the 1960s.

221B Baker Street is also known as the home of Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective: Sherlock Holmes.

You may recognise the Abbey Road zebra crossing in North London from its iconic appearance on a Beatles album cover. The crossing was given Grade II listed status in 2010 - despite the fact that the original zebra crossing was moved several metres over 30 years ago.

Bronze lion heads with mooring rings in their mouths line the Victoria Embankment. It is said that if the lions drink the water from the Thames, London will flood.

An Egyptian obelisk brought to London from Heliopolis, Alexandria, was erected on Victoria Embankment in 1878. The Needle was granted to the UK by Muhammad Ali, ruler of Egypt and Sudan, in 1819. It is flanked by a pair of sphinxes, and a time capsule is buried underneath.

HMS Belfast is one of the largest and most powerful light cruisers ever built. It played a crucial role in protecting the arctic convoys in the Second World War. Preserved by the Imperial War Museum, it was brought to London and opened to the public in 1971.

The postbox is one of London's most iconic sights and is now a way for people to share their own stories far and wide. The first boxes were trialled in the Channel Islands before being approved for use in London in 1856. However, they didn't get their red colour until 1874.