A Londoner’s London
I have been deeply moved by the reaction to my book and as a lot of readers have bought multiple copies to give as presents I thought it might be of interest particularly as Christmas approaches. It can be bought online at most bookshops (£25 post free anywhere in the world) including Waterstones Happy reading
victor.keegan@gmail.com
REVIEWS
WHAT TIMING! At almost the exact moment I knew I needed a book like this, along it came. For nearly a year now lockdowns and restrictions of various intensities have mounted many of us back on Shanks’s pony, and sent us on long distance rambles through the cities and towns we live in.. . . .
. . . . Would I recommend this book to others? Within an hour of opening it I’d already ordered another for a rambling daughter. Thanks Vic.
David Aaronovitch is a Times columnist, BBC broadcaster and author.
FULL REVIEW
TO Buy
Waterstones (or Amazon for speedier delivery
https://www.waterstones.com/book/lost-london/vic-keegan/9780954076276
ONE IS usually suspicious of books with titles such as ‘Secret London’, ‘Hidden London’, ‘Vanished This’, ‘Forgotten That’. But Keegan’s curiosity for London’s story is indeed burning; beyond deeply held, and genuinely felt. He puts in the miles. He knows the cracks in the pavement, the nooks, the crannies and the wrinkles. Hence one’s cynicism evaporates on discovering (for example) that we lost a massive 2,000 seat opera house on the Embankment when the developer, one James Mapleson, ran out of money in the 1870s when all that was still required was the roof. The site was subsequently built upon by what are now known as the Norman Shaw Buildings, home (for the second time) of the Metropolitan Police’s Scotland Yard . . .
This is a wonderful dip-in, dip-out book.
Mike Paterson, Director, London HistoriansLondon Historians
Andrew Jones
IT IS VERY hard to put down! A real treat which I am really savouring.
Andrew Jones, author of The Buildings of Green Park”
IN HIS PREFACE Vic says that he is finding it more difficult to find places of general interest and wonders whether he will reach number 200. Let’s hope he is being pessimistic and that ‘Lost London 2’ will appear in a couple of years with another 100+ of these delightful and informative vignettes.
Don Brown, Director, The London Society
