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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

” The London Train” is a novel in two parts, separate but wound together around a single moment, examining in vivid detail two lives stretched between two cities. Paul lives in the Welsh countryside with his wife Elise, & their two young children. The day after his mother dies he learns that his eldest daughter Pia, who was living with his ex-wife in London, has moved out from home & gone missing. He sets out in search of Pia, & when he eventually finds her, living with her lover in a chaotic flat in a tower block in King`s Cross, he thinks at first he wants to rescue her. But the search for his daughter begins a period of unrest & indecision for Paul: he is drawn closer to the hub of London, to the excitements of a life lived in jeopardy, to Pia`s fragile new family. Paul`s a pessimist; when a heat wave scorches the capital week after week he fears that they are all `sleep-walking to the edge of a great pit, like spoiled trusting children`. In the opposite direction, Cora is moving back to Cardiff, to the house she has inherited from her parents. She is escaping her marriage, & the constrictions & disappointments of her life in London. At work in the local library, she is interrupted by a telephone call from her sister-in-law & best friend, to say that her husband has disappeared. Connecting both stories is the London train, & a chance meeting that will have immediate & far-reaching consequences for both Paul & for Cora. ” The London Train” is a vivid & absorbing account of the impulses & accidents that can shape our lives, alongside our ideas; about loyalty, love, sex & the complicated bonds of friends & family. Penetrating, perceptive, & wholly absorbing, it is an extraordinary new novel from one of the best writers working in Britain today. ...

The London Underground is the heart of London life, used by millions of commuters & shoppers every year, its tentacles extending into the suburbs it has helped to create. Its turbulent life has been determined by the trials & tribulations endured by the people it carries: it provided an network of life-saving shelter in the Blitz, but has also been the scene of numerous tragedies. The London Underground will transport you vividly back to the past: well over half the illustrations are in colour, & most of the photographs have not seen the light of day since they were taken. ...

The London Underground is a pioneer & an institution. The first underground railway in the world, & incorporating the first ever deep tunnel `tube` lines too, it is at the heart of London life, with millions of commuters & tourists using it every year & its tentacles extending into the suburbs it helped to create. Its turbulent history reflects the trials & tribulations of London itself: it provided a network of life-saving shelters in the Blitz, but has also faced many logistical challenges, with constant improvements necessary to keep the Tube fit for purpose. This book is not a recompilation of facts & photos published elsewhere, however. Taking a fresh approach, it is a history that focuses on the interesting & quirky aspects of the subject. To transport you more vividly back to the past, well over half the illustrations are in colour, including many rarely seen photographs. ...