adma
Superstar
Your second point isn't what i was referring to. There are references to important figures and events in London and England's history everywhere in London. There are memorials and monuments, statues, plaques, etc on every street in the city. They aren't afraid to let you know something or someone of importance came from there. They're proud of it. And frankly, I'm not sure if you've been to London but fake half-timbering, powdered wigs, tea shops and beefeaters aren't the images of London I remember having been there a couple times.
However, it didn't prevent London from performing its share of shortsighted urban vandalism in the 20th century: destruction of anything from Soane's Bank of England to Euston Arch, etc...