Why do Heathrow Director expect us to announce aircraft type on first call?

[anotherthing]

Having flown single pilot/single Nav aircraft, with no nice shiny glass cockpit or modern landing aids in crappy weather to moving runways, I'd say that in a multi crew modern airliner environment that the answer to your question

And are they really busier than us?

is most likely a resounding 'yes' and that applies to the TMA controllers as well.