'A beautiful book.' Daily Mail'Exhilaratingly curious.' Evening Standard'Gripping.' Spectator'Brilliant.' Penelope Lively'Indefatigably researched.' Country Life'Beautifully illustrated.' MonocleMudlarking, the act of searching the Thames foreshore for items of value, has a long tradition in En...

Mudlarking enthusiast Ted Sandling takes us on a riveting journey along the Thames foreshore and back into the past.'A beautiful book.' Daily Mail'Exhilaratingly curious.' Evening Standard'Gripping.' Spectator'Brilliant.' Penelope Lively'Indefatigably researched.' Country Life'Wonderful, quirky.' Tr...

What is visible to the naked eye has been exhaustively raked over; in UNDERGROUND LONDON, acclaimed travel writer Stephen Smith provides an alternative guide and history of the capital. It's a journey through the passages and tunnels of the city, the bunkers and tunnels, crypts and shadows. As well as being a contemporary tour of underground London, it's also an exploration through time: Queen Boudicca lies beneath Platform 10 at King's Cross (legend has it); Dick Turpin fled the Bow Stree...

Hugh Dennis' hilarious and insightful exploration of the changing image of Britain and Britishness will enthral those who love Outnumbered, The Now Show, Mock the Week and quintessentially British humour.'Utterly readable and laugh-out-loud funny' - Stephen FryHugh Dennis has secretly been worrying about what being "British" meant for nearly a decade, ever since his friend Ardal O'Hanlon had told him in passing that he was the most British person h...

In this perfect companion to London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd once again delves into the hidden byways of history, describing the river's endless allure in a journey overflowing with characters, incidents, and wry observations. Thames: The Biography meanders gloriously, rather like the river itself. In short, lively chapters Ackroyd writes about connections between the Thames and such historical figures as Julius Caesar and Henry VIII, and offers memorable por...

Charting the quirky past of one of the most important cities in the world, 'London, A Very Peculiar History' will challenge what you thought you knew about this great capital and blow your mind with things you most certainly didn't. From Roman roads to the congestion charge, this title takes a whistlestop tour of iconic London landmarks and eras, whilst poking its head round the corner of the back alleys to see what's really been going on behind the scenes. Alongside the Top Ten Tourist At...

A fascinating tour of London's strangest and most intriguing locations. Ranging from architectural evidence of past incidents and stories of life beneath the city, to anecdotes of magic, mystery and murder, this is a perfect companion for the curious Londoner.It includes:A Museum of Magical Curiosities; The City's Lost Tunnels and Citadels; The Ghost of a "She-Wolf; The Bawdy House Riots; The Story of 'Jack the Stripper'; The Atmospheric Railway; The Thames Ringway Bicycle ...

The quintessential Englishwoman Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the Two Fat Ladies and author of Spilling the Beans, takes us on a personal journey through the country of her birth.From Cornwall to Cumbria, Norfolk to Northumbria she brings her extraordinary knowledge, huge passion, forthright opinions and inimitable wit to the distinctive history and regional character of every corner of England.In her cornucopia of local knowledge she reveals, for exampl...

Passionate, affectionate and indefatigably curious, In Search of England joins a tradition of writing, from William Cobbett to JB Priestley, that makes a journey around the English countryside and character. England is the most various of countries; within its borders, life changes mile on mile. Roy Hattersley celebrates crumbling churches and serene Victorian architecture, magnificent hills and wind-whipped coast, our music, theatre and local customs, and, above all, the quirky good humou...

John Cherrington and his seventy-four year old walking companion set out one fine morning in May to traverse the only English footpath that cuts south through the rural heart of the country, a formidable path called the Macmillan Way. Cherrington’s walking partner is Karl Yzerman, an irascible bull of the woods”, a full twenty years his senior and the perfect foil to the wry and self-deprecating author. Their journey begins at Boston on the Wash and takes them through areas of outstanding...

The Little Book of Dorset is a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of the places, people, legends and true stories about the county's past and present.

It is often assumed that the national identity must be a matter of values and ideas. But in Robert Winder's brilliantly-written account it is a land built on a lucky set of natural ingredients: the island setting that made it maritime; the rain that fed the grass that nourished the sheep that provided the wool, and the wheat fields that provided its cakes and ale. Then came the seams of iron and coal that made it an industrial giant.In Bloody Foreigners Robert Winder told ...