It`s time to visit London
- what a noisy city! Watch out for the beeping double-decker buses. Mind the gap on the tube & hear Big
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Young children will love to press the beep-beep sound button as they journey through the sights of London on the iconic open top bus. Press the beep-beep button as you pass the fabulous sights of London including ZSL London Zoo, the wonderful toyshop on Regents Street, Westminster Tower, Big Ben & the Natural History & Science Museums. With funny characters & a `spot Sherlock` feature, there is plenty to talk about on every page of The London Noisy Bus. This bus-shaped book has bright, bold & beautiful illustrations by Marion Billet & promises to be lots of fun for toddlers on the move! ...

Young children will love to press the sound button & hear an authentic mind the gap message as they journey through the sights ...

221B Baker Street was the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle`s `consulting detective`. He penned 56 short stories & four novels featuring the detective & his faithful assistant, Dr Watson, mostly set in & around London. From 1887 until 1927, each new story captivated readers. Within the stories, over 250 London landmarks & streets are mentioned & John Christopher has brought together archive & more recent images of the most famous of Holmes`s London haunts. Discovering the London of Sherlock Holmes gives the reader an insight into the London of the master detective, with guides to the locations which feature in the stories. From Scotland Yard to Paddington Station, from Victoria to the Embankment, from the Houses of Parliament to Holmes` own residence in 221B Baker Street, John Christopher brings Holmes into the modern day & makes it easy for the fan to guide themselves around the venues from the stories. ...

There are a multitude of ` London Calling` cards in the collection at Rocket 68. This lively illustrated range of London themed prints & cards aims to portray the vibrancy & beauty of London`s architecture, areas, life & communities. Each card is supplied with quality Gunpowder grey envelope in a cellophane wrapper. These cards are all illustrated by Jill White & printed in the UK on a lovely soft Calisto FSC accredited board. ...

Even the most devoted Anglophile will learn something new from these four hundred fun & wide-ranging trivia questions about London's history, monuments, architecture, famous residents, place-names & notable events. A delightful way to explore the city on foot or via armchair, this fun book is the perfect gift, with history ranging from obscure lore to facts & fascinating, often humorous, histories. Here's a sample: Where is the only cross-eyed statue in London & who does it depict? a) Next to the Royal Exchange in the City of London; George Peabody, the nineteenth-century American-born philanthropist b) At the point where Fetter Lane & New Fetter Lane converge; John Wilkes, the eighteenth-century politician c) Islington Green; Sir Hugh Myddleton, the seventeenth-century entrepreneur Answer: b) John Wilkes really did have a severe squint, as reproduced in the statue, but despite his looks, he was a legendary & eloquent womanizer who once said that, when meeting an attractive woman, it took him only ten minutes to talk away his face. ...

The London Scene is a beautifully illustrated, gift-book-sized hardback that marks the launch of the Signature Collection, a series of neglected or forgotten works by major authors. Next in line are pieces by EM Forster, Edgar Allan Poe & Jerome K Jerome, which are to be published in the spring. --Observer ...

Modern-day London abounds with a multitude of gardens, enclosed by railings & surrounded by houses, which attest to the English love of nature. These green enclaves, known as squares, are among the most distinctive & admired features of the metropolis & are England's greatest contribution to the development of European town planning & urban form. Traditionally, inhabitants who overlooked these gated communal gardens paid for their maintenance & had special access to them. As such, they have long been synonymous with privilege, elegance, & prosperous metropolitan living. They epitomize the classical notion of rus in urbe, the integration of nature within the urban plan
- a concept that continues to shape cities to this day. Todd Longstaffe-Gowan delves into the history, evolution, & social implications of squares, which have been an important element in the planning & expansion of London since the early 17th century. As an amenity that fosters health & well-being & a connection to the natural world, the square has played a crucial role in the development of the English capital.
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The iconic London Taxi is the only vehicle in the world to be specifically designed for hire work in cities, & since its introduction a great variety of taxis have travelled the streets of the capital. Illustrated throughout with many black & white photographs, ” The London Taxi” follows the development of the taxi, painting an image of the changing lifestyles of Londoners through the context of the growing cab trade & the many different styles of taxi that have served the people of London. ...

Much has been written about London`s terraced houses with their simple dignity, their economical use of space & their sense of comfort & human scale. Yet the small gardens that lie before or behind the houses in this great city have until now been overlooked. In this groundbreaking account of the development of the private garden in London, eminent garden historian Todd Longstaffe-Gowan provides a delightful remedy to the oversight. Recognising the contribution of modest domestic gardens to the texture of eighteenth- & early nineteenth-century London, Longstaffe-Gowan explores in detail the small gardens, their owners & their significance to the development of the metropolis. Some two hundred illustrations enhance this rich & fascinating discussion. Town gardening was conventionally maligned as a trifling pursuit conducted within inhospitable & infertile enclosures. This view changed during the eighteenth century as middle class Londoners found in gardening activities an outlet for personal enjoyment & expression. This book describes how gardening affected the lives of many, becoming part of the ritual of the daily round & gratifying material aspirations. Longstaffe-Gowan charts how the private garden became for the first time a common expectation, how the rise of town gardening coincided with new social & economic views, how temporary fanciful gardens became popular, how gardens in the city related to suburban gardens & much more about the origins & growth of domestic gardens in London. Todd Longstaffe-Gowan is a landscape architect in private practice in London. He is gardens adviser to Hampton Court Palace & has worked as a landscape architect on the conservation of historic parks & gardens & the design of new landscapes in Britain, on the Continent & in the West Indies. ...