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Bradt Guide Eccentric London
Ref: BRA005
Meet a man who listens to Tube trains from the road above with a large hearing-trumpet…the inventor who made giant ships out of ice…a chap who rides down the river in an Edwardian bath chair…the guy with the world's biggest collection of pillar boxes
These are just a few of the colourful characters to be found in Eccentric London, the fascinating follow-up to Benedict le Vay's sell-out book, Eccentric Britain.
Here the London-born author devises district-by-district guides to everything compelling, curious, bizarre, absurd or hilarious. Plus the oddest shops, museums, jobs, pubs and people you could possibly imagine.
Book Reviews
"Those who read it are unlikely ever to look at London, or Londoners the same way again."
-- Britain Calling
"One of the best (guides to London)."
The Mayfair Times
"Beautifully illustrated with lavish colour photography and black and white drawings. Worth buying for the front cover alone."
Essex Courier
“An endlessly fascinating book, written with huge charm, that explores the eclectic curiosities of London past and present.”
The Good Book Guide, April 2004
Reader Reviews
“I am delighted that I have bought a copy of your superb book on Eccentric London which I find extremely useful as well as interesting.”
Ken Drake, Cambridge
Author's Note, by Benedict le Vay
THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD
London is the greatest big city in the world, and Londoners need reminding of this even if visitors don't.
London is the greatest for:
* Theatre, with the Royal National and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), the Globe, the thriving commercial West End, the widespread fringe and pub theatre scenes: 159 theatres putting on more plays than anywhere else on earth
* Nightlife and food (every kind and quality imaginable on the planet in 8,500 restaurants)
* Art, museums and galleries, many of them free or little known
* Layer upon layer of fascinating history in its mellowed, ancient architecture and unique set of churches, ranging from medieval crypts at Westminster Abbey to Wren's fabulous creations
* Newspapers with daily papers with a higher quantity and quality than anywhere else on the planet
* Daring, breathtakingly modern buildings, with associated provocative sculptures
* Cabbies and their `knowledge' of its reassuringly absurd medieval street plan
* Ceremonials - not with a boring president, but a real queen in a real palace with real guards with bearskin hats. The world's greatest royal coronations, funerals and weddings, and the unending soap opera that genuine royalty affords
* Shopping, with 29,000 shops providing a wonderful range of oddities
* Eccentric humour
* Liberty and freedom of speech, with its unarmed police, Speakers' Corner and Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition
* Architectural curiosities, and - oddly - for the 'village' charm it somehow maintains within its urban sprawl, giving at its best, and for the lucky few, the most pleasant suburbia on the planet
* Transport, with the world's biggest yet clearest Tube network and its renowned double-decker buses
* Wonderful open spaces, from the unmatchable jewel-in-the-crown royal parks - including the fabulous Richmond Park and Hampstead Heath - to the unique London squares.
But - is it greatest for eccentricities and oddities, quirks and queries? This book provides the answer.
Benedict le Vay works on the features section of the Daily Mail. He can perhaps be classed as an expert on eccentricity having spent several years researching such esoteric pastimes as cone collecting, snail racing and bog snorkelling for Bradt's Eccentric Britain.
£11.95
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