It’d be interesting to see the table for the most spoken language in some towns and boroughs. 
I don’t think that’s going to work: everyone speaks at least a smidgeon of English, all citizens are supposed to be fluent (more or less). The proper English speakers would be impossible to count. I go out with Mrs d00d and a bunch of her friends, we speak a mix of Portuguese and English.
Lord knows where the report author gets these figures from. I live in H&F, where there’re lots of Poles, Turks, Somalis, those from ex English speaking areas, the West Indies.
French!!?
Always a joy to see multiculturalism on my doorstep. Especially when you see what type are waving the fag nowadays.
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No idea @d00d . I know my first friend at secondary school (Cardinal Vaughan, in Kensington, close to his “home” ) was the son of the French ambassador. As luck would have it, he was very good at French. So good, in fact, that I learnt next to nothing as he told me all the answers, so I didn’t have to bother thinking.
I never heard a foreign language or saw a coloured person locally until I was 20.
Even now you would be lucky to see more than one black person in our village or surrounding villages.
And if you did, I would probably be running with him…My good mate Paul.
Exactly. 
I was surprised to see Panjabi as the 2nd most spoken language in the district of Ealing.
My husband was born and raised there and I lived there in my teens. There used to be a thriving Polish community there - which initially began with Polish re-settlers being welcomed there, post WW2. My husband had so many schoolfriends who were Polish and I remember there still being a thriving Polish community when I lived there, so I would have expected Polish to be the 2nd language spoken there.
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It’s fascinating looking at the original data to see which languages are spoken in different areas.
We never got to hear just how many English settled in Krakow, why is that?
Dunno. However, given the number of Poles who came to the UK to fight in the RAF (circa 20%) during WW2, and those who fled the expansion of Russian communism a few years later, maybe the concept of an English “Costa Del Sol” about 60 miles from Auschwitz/Birkenau wasn’t quite so attractive after all?
Sorry @spitfire , you’ve touched a nerve with me on this due to my family background (Polish father). 
It is in Doncaster Boot.
Out of all the different European countries, I rate the Polish to be more like the British than any other nationality. Perhaps that’s why there are so many here.
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I would also expect family links created from the second world war might also be a reason. When growing up there were quite few Polish families in the area. My art teacher was Polish and told us that he had to dodge being shot at when escaping Warsaw. There was a Polish airforce division based in the east coast of Scotland - that might be why. There is a large Polish cemetery in Perth for those who died in the conflict.
But it seems that more Poles are returning home than are leaving Poland looking for work. Poland has proven to be a real EU success story.
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I remember having a Polish family as our neighbors during my childhood in London.
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Nice Thought. And Con Sid Er Ate
Soldiers are a bit short these days.
And don’t cut the custard.
Which ‘Off’ Course.
Is when.The Index ☞ Finger comes in Hand D.
E
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Interesting bit of history is that numerous Scottish merchants settled in Krakow back in the 16th Century and integrated there.
I remember Earl’s Court back in the 60’s English was the second language and Australian the first. 
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I think that was the case in parts of London for over 40 years. They changed the visa &
contractor tax rules/AUS$ strengthened and I think there’s now a quota which has completely reversed the trend of Antipodean workers coming here to party for years. It’s a shame as it filled much needed gaps in skills over here with highly qualified and motivated individuals. Whatever happens in the Antipodean education sector needs to be emulated here.
I was born in East London and grew up there in the 50s,60s and 70s … I don’t think it was any different back then really.
Multiculturalism thrived … different languages seemed interesting … I think our tolerance for ‘difference’ has diminished … sad that curiosity is often replaced by suspicion now 
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That’s interesting sofea.
I went to school in Stepney and left in 78. It was quite a turbulent time in some respects. There was I think a considerable amount of sympathy for both The National Front and British Movement. Quite a bit of violence too, sometimes in the playground.
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I don’t think London was very tolerant in the 60s and 70s. Even the early 80s were tense. Riots were common in some areas.
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What a pleasant surprise, this OT has drifted too.
A proper trip down Memory Lane.
As a Student Apprentice. Renting a shared pad and eating of Carboard Plates. For no other reason than. Non of us had brought are Mums 2Do The washing up.
There often winging there way though the window in Earls Court. Without the boomerang mechanism 1957.
Well remember how meeting up with guys, mainly from the Commonwealth.
Same lingo, But far away life styles. So different. Doodle Bugged London.
Street Names overwritten. With “Kangaroo Valley” and “Canook Canyon”
Surprisingly they were often both cranking up the esprit da corps between them.
Never did get my head around that one.
Or the previously unknown Throw Away [Soundbite] Being.
“Dine and Dash”. Yep guess who.
The Ozzies >> Naturally.
Happy Days. Much rivalry. But no one got hurt enough. To not enjoy Elbow Wrestling. While having a Beer Together.
All da way down Kangaroo Valley.
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