The Little Book of London

Those of us who live in London and love the city (despite all its manifold faults) often have our own list of clandestine destinations, secrets and interesting facts about the capital -- which we're happy to show off to people not lucky enough to live here. But however well you think you know London, the chances are good that that David Long's The Little Book of London will enlarge your storehouse of knowledge. The quirky facts here are delightfully arcane -- such as the fact that the guns of HMS Belfast, moored on the Thames near Tower Bridge, are targeted at Barnet and, if fired, would destroy Scratchwood Services on the M1. Or the fact that the first parking meters were installed in Mayfair with a charge of a shilling (enough to keep parking attendants at bay for an hour -- the same amount today would buy you 45 seconds). In fact, it is often the wonderful historical nuggets here that are the most entertaining, even the grisly ones (such as the watchmaker who threw himself off the Whispering Gallery in St Paul's Cathedral in 1856, or the man who took a similar dive from the North Tower of the Crystal Palace 12 years later). Such items are crammed into the nearly 200 pages of this eccentric book, so if you are seeking bizarre facts about the railways, the Royal family, theatres or the number of rock stars who have popped their clogs in London, it's all here. And did you know that when Conan Doyle installed Sherlock Holmes in 221b Baker Street, the street numbering ran no further than 85? (That's the trouble with this book - you can't resist quoting it!) --Barry Forshaw

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what a contrast to his other books........ - Rated
David Long is clearly very versatile. This is a more humorous attempt at writing about London than I've seen from him before, & he pulls it off very well. A good mix of sober & crazy facts from all walks of London life, showing what an eclectic & interesting place this town is.

What a cracker! - Rated
Got two copies for Xmas, and laughed solidly until I reached the end. Maybe not the most USEFUL book on London, but certainly the funniest in a long while. Odd anecdotes, strange facts, extraordinary people and wild goings-on combine to paint an irresistable portraint of the greatest city on earth.

Great present, easy read, lots of laughs - Rated
Definitely a browser rather than a traditional guide book, but still a real find for anyone with an interest in London with wealth of wacky or unexpected detail about both the modern and historic city, and all of it delivered with wit and panache.

Buy one for someone, then keep it yourself - Rated
Bought this for a non-reading friend new to London (from NY)- as it looked like an easy-dip-in-dip-out book. Then I dipped in, then I dipped in a bit more, then I read the whole thing through and decided to keep it myself so I'm back to buy another. Some really, REALLY extraordinary stuff in here, and lots of bizarre stories about people and places - all of it true, he says - together with some neat cartoons and a lot of laughs.

Irresistable: the funniest book on London I've read for years - Rated
The definitive 'loo book' for any trivia-loving London junkies, this one's hilarious either to read or dip into and just kept me coming back for more.
As well dozens of witty cartoons, it's packed with a ton of believe-it-or-not stuff such as how champagne was invented in London a full 30 years before the French did it, what happened when Jimi Hendrix found out his Mayfair nextdoor neighbour was the composer Handel, and why London's first ever traffic light blew up killing a policeman and causing a passing platoon of cavalry to stampede. The oddest jobs, the strangest royal memorabilia, the weirdest museum exhibits, and what they do with seaweed at the Dorchester Hotel.