“If you do not want to live among wicked people, do not live in London.” Richard of Devizes, 1192 (Benedictine monk and chronicler)
Why did London Underground once employ a one-legged man to ride up and down the escalators at Earl’s Court tube station? What did Hitler plan to do with Nelson’s Column? Why is London’s only medieval mummy a prostitute named Clarice la Claterballock? How did a beer flood in Tottenham Court Road drown nine people? Where can you see a pair of Queen Victoria’s knickers?
Containing chapters covering London past and present; buildings and streets; famous and unexpected Londoners; arts, literature and crime; plus much much more, the 180 lists will amaze, amuse and inform. More than simply a keepsake for tourists, every self-respecting Londoner needs this book.
“Imaginatively insane”
sunday Herald
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“Impossible to put down.”
independent On Sunday
“This is the sort of book for which the word quirky was coined.”
sunday Herald
NICK RENNISON worked as a bookseller, editor and writer in London for many years. He is the author of The London Blue Plaque Guide (Sutton 2003) and Waterstone’s Guide to London Writing (Waterstone’s 1999). His other books include The Good Reading Guide (Bloomsbury 2001) and The Good Reading Guide to Crime Fiction (Bloomsbury 2003).