Do you know what's under your feet? The London Underground was the very first underground railway – but it wasn't the first time Londoners had ventured below ground, nor would it be the last. People seem to be drawn to subterranean London: it hides unsightly (yet magnificent) sewers, protects its people from war, and hosts its politicians in times of crisis. But the underground can also be an underworld, and celebrated London historian Fiona Rule has tracked down the darke...

London's old buildings hold a wealth of clues to the city's rich and vibrant past. The histories of some, such as the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey, are well documented. However, these magnificent, world-renowned attractions are not the only places with fascinating tales to tell. Down a narrow, medieval lane on the outskirts of Smithfield stands 41–42 Cloth Fair – the oldest house in the City of London.Fiona Rule uncovers the fascinating survival story of t...

Notting Hill was not always an upmarket residential enclave and celebrity hotspot. Streets of Sin delves into the district's murky past and relates the deplorable scandals and shocking crimes that blighted the area from its development until the late twentieth century.Best-selling London historian Fiona Rule sheds new light on notorious events that took place amid the leafy streets, including the horrifying murders at Rillington Place, the nefarious career...

Do you remember the docks? In its heyday, the Port of London was the biggest in the world. It was a sprawling network of quays, wharves, canals and basins, providing employment for over 100,000 people. From the dockworker to the prostitute, the Romans to the Republic of the Isle of Dogs, London's docklands have always been a key part of the city. But it wasn't to last. They might have recovered from the devastating bombing raids of the Second World War – but it was the adv...

Amid the bustling streets of Spitalfields, East London, there is a piece of real estate with a bloody history. This was once Dorset Street: the haunt of thieves, murderers and prostitutes; the sanctuary of persecuted people; the last resort for those who couldn't afford anything else – and the setting for Jack the Ripper's murderous spree. So notorious was this street in the 1890s that policemen would only patrol this area in pairs for their own safety. This book chronicle...

WINNER OF THE POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS POLITICAL HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2014.Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the Profumo scandal, An English Affair is a sharp-focused snapshot of a nation on the brink of social revolution.Britain in 1963 – Harold Macmillan was the Prime Minister of a Conservative government, dedicated to tradition, hierarchy and, above all, old-fashioned morality. But a breakdown of social boundaries saw nightclub host...

New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police, houses the notorious Black Museum, a unique collection of exhibits, photographs and other items connected with some of the most famous crimes of the last century. Fifty of those crimes were murders and they are explored in detail in this compelling book. Recently renamed The Crime Museum the author Gordon Honeycombe was given privileged access to its darkest secrets. His book spans a hundred years of murder, manslaughter ...

The streets of London flourish like possibly no other city on earth, with stories from its rich history, stories of death - fire - disease, of riots, and grisly murders, but also of tales of hope, happiness, determination and success. Behind every story and every street however, are the people who lived, worked, played, and even murdered there. Did you know for instance that when Great Scotland Yard was being built in 1890, that the dismembered body of a woman was discovered by workmen, du...

A hilarious compendium of all that's weird and wonderful about life in the British Isles - the eccentric, bizarre bureaucracy and outright oddity reported over the last year by the nation's newspapers, including: Guardian headline, 'Man with false leg hit with toilet lid.'; The Astrological Magazine, 'announces that it is to cease due to unforeseen circumstances.' Jack Crossley spent some 40 years in Fleet Street and has compiled this laugh-out-loud collection of anecdotes and strange goin...

In 1888 Jack the Ripper made the headlines with a series of horrific murders that remain unsolved to this day. But most killers are not shadowy figures stalking the streets with a lust for blood. Many are ordinary citizens driven to the ultimate crime by circumstance, a fit of anger or a desire for revenge. Their crimes, overshadowed by the few, sensational cases, are ignored, forgotten or written off. This book examines all the known murders in London in 1888 to build a p...

News, views and hilarious stories from the legend of Newsnight and long-standing quiz master of University Challenge.‘Bursting with good things’ Daily TelegraphDuring 25 years as BBC Newsnight’s supreme inquisitor, Jeremy Paxman proved himself as the master of the political intervview. From John Major to Theresa May and Tony Blair to Ed Miliband, he has them quaking in their boots. But it wasn’t just politicians. Paxman’s interview...

An engaging, wickedly funny and splendidly anecdotal memoir of a career spent among writers, agents, publishers and bookmen and women of every stripe.Jeremy Lewis's first memoir, 'Playing for Time', was hailed by James Lees-Milne as 'the funniest and best written book I've read for years.' His second, 'Kindred Spirits', was described by John Carey as 'sheer pleasure from start to finish'. Now he has written a third autobiographical account of his encounters with literary figures ov...