Lord Mayor's Show 2014

• Saturday 8 November
• 11am-12:30pm

Starts early with the river pageant then the magnificent Lord Mayor's procession sets off from Mansion House at 11am. The day finishes with a bang in a fireworks display on the river at 5.15. We hope this site has all the information you need to prepare for the day

It begins with the ancient and justified caution of King John. He tried to win London’s support by allowing it to choose its own Mayor, but he insisted that immediately after election the Mayor must leave the safety of the City of London, travel upriver to distant Westminster and swear loyalty to the Crown.

Over the centuries this inconvenient journey became one of London's favourite rituals. It moved from river barges to horseback and then into the magnificent State Coach, and around it grew a rowdy and joyful mediæval festival that became known as the Lord Mayor's Show.

Highlights• This year the City of London Corporation’s 1297 copy of Magna Carta will feature in the Show, kick-starting global celebrations of the ancient charter’s 800th anniversary in 2015
• Magna Carta is widely regarded as a cornerstone of English law and human rights. For the first time, the charter required a monarch – King John - to accept that his will was not arbitrary and that people could only be ruled through the law of the land
• 7,000 people from all over the world in the procession, including 180 horses, 140 vehicles, 70 floats, a vintage steamroller, a Spitfire, a Viking ship, Masai dancers, Taiko drummers, Shaolin kung-fu dancers, a grand piano pulled by bicycles, Napoleon and a tank
• New City of London Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow travelling in the golden State Coach

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