Jon E. Lewis - London: The Autobiography

Jon E. Lewis lives in Wandsworth and Herefordshire. He is the author of numerous books including England: The Autobiography, The British Soldier: The Autobiography, Eye-Witness D-Day, Eye-Witness The 20th Century and The New Rights of Man.

Praise for his previous books

England: The Autobiography:

A triumph.

Saul David, author of Victorias Army

The British Solider: The Autobiography:

This thoughtful compilation... almost unbearably moving.

Guardian

[A] compelling tommys eye view of war.

Daily Telegraph

What a book. Five Stars.

Daily Express

2000 Years of the Capitals History
by Those who Saw it Happen

EDITED BY

Jon E. Lewis

Constable & Robinson Ltd

5556 Russell Square

London WC1B 4HP

www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd.

Compilation and introductions copyright J. Lewis-Stempel, 2008

For individual extract permissions, please see pages 50115

The right of J. Lewis-Stempel to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library

UK ISBN: 978-1-84529-942-2
eISBN: 978-1-78033-750-0

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First published in the United States in 2009 by Running Press Book Publishers

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

No part of this work may be produced or utilized in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information

storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

US Library of Congress Control Number: 2009920964

US ISBN: 978-0-7624-3734-4

Running Press Book Publishers

2300 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

www.runningpress.com

Printed and bound in the EU

For Penny, a London girl

TACITUS

VARIOUS

THE VENERABLE BEDE

THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE

SNORRI STURLUSON

A MONK OF ST BERTINS ABBEY

ORDERIC VITALIS

HENRY I

WILLIAM FITZ STEPHEN

THE LONDON ASSIZES

ROGER OF WENDOVER

MATTHEW PARIS

CALENDAR OF THE CORONERS ROLLS

VARIOUS

THE CITY OF LONDON LETTER-BOOK

ANONYMOUS

ROBERT OF AVESBURY

ROBERT OF AVESBURY

THE CITY OF LONDON LETTER-BOOK

CALENDAR OF PLEA AND MEMORANDA ROLLS

SIR JOHN FROISSART

THE MONK OF WESTMINSTER

ANONYMOUS

ANONYMOUS

THE CITY OF LONDON LETTER-BOOK

THE GENERAL COURT OF THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF LONDON

JOHN STODELY

ANONYMOUS

EDWARD HALL

EDWARD HALL

ANDREAS FRANCISCUS

THE CHRONICLE OF THE GREY FRIARS

WILLIAM ROPER

THE CHRONICLE OF THE GREY FRIARS

HENRY MACHYN

JOHN FOXE

VARIOUS

ANONYMOUS

WILLIAM FLEETWOOD, THE LORD MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, AND THOMAS PLATTER

PAUL HENTZNER

FATHER JOHN GERARD

BARON WALDSTEIN

SIR EDWARD HOBY

JOHN RUSHWORTH

SERGEANT HENRY FOSTER, RED REGIMENT OF THE TRAINED BANDS OF THE CITY OF LONDON

PHILIP HENRY

JOHN TAYLOR

JOHN EVELYN

ANONYMOUS

CHARLES II

SAMUEL PEPYS

JOHN EVELYN

JOHN EVELYN

SAMUEL PEPYS

JOHN VERNEY

DANIEL DEFOE

JOHN EVELYN

ZACHARIAS VON UFFENBACH

JONATHAN SWIFT

LADY STRAFFORD

DAILY COURANT

JOHN MACKY AND CSAR DE SAUSSURE

JOHN WESLEY

SAMUEL RICHARDSON

HORACE WALPOLE

WILLIAM HOGARTH

JAMES BOSWELL

HORACE WALPOLE

WILLIAM HICKEY

IGNATIUS SANCHO

KARL PHILIPP MORITZ

JOHN HOWARD

HORACE WALPOLE

WILLIAM BLAKE

JOHANNA SCHOPENHAUER

LOUIS SIMOND

JANE AUSTEN

THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON CLIMBING BOYS

MARIA EDGEWORTH

SIR ROBERT PEEL

CHARLE S GREVILLE

CHARLES GREVILLE

JOHN OLONDON

QUEEN VICTORIA

FRIEDRICH ENGELS

LORD JOHN RUSSELL

HENRY MAYHEW

CHARLOTTE BRONTE

ANNE THACKERAY RITCHIE

KARL MARX

MAX SCHLESINGER

CHARLES DICKENS

CHARLES DICKENS AND GEORGE GODWIN

GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA

HANNAH CULLWICK AND JAMES GREENWOOD

HIPPOLYTE TAINE

HENRY MAYHEW AND JOHN BINNY

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY

THE TIMES

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS

KARL MARX

HENRY JAMES

H.M. HYNDMAN

W.B. YEATS

DR THOMAS BOND AND JACK THE RIPPER

BEATR ICE WEBB

DAILY MAIL

ARTHUR HARDING

EMMELINE PANKHURST

PHILIP GIBBS

MAUD PEMBER READE

V.S. PRITCHETT

MICHAEL MACDONAGH

BILL BELMONT (SOLOMON BELERNOF)

NEWS OF THE WORLD

ARNOLD BENNETT

PHILIP GIBBS

GEORGE ORWELL

WAL HANNINGTON

EAST LONDON ADVERTISER

DUFF COOPER

ANONYMOUS SCHOOLGIRL

RALPH GLYN, MP

LEN JONES, VIRGINIA WOOLF AND EDWARD R. MURROW

VERE HODGSON

JAMES LEES-MILNE

WILLIAM SANSOM

DAILY EXPRESS

JOHN BETJEMAN

GEORGE GALE

COLIN EALES

P. WILLMOTT AND M. YOUNG

HEATHCOTE WILLIAMS

JOHN STEWART COLLIS

JOHN CROSBY

RONALD KRAY

DICK POUNTAIN AND MICK FARREN

FRANCES PARTRIDGE

VARIOUS

FRANK KEATING

MARGARET THATCHER

ANONYMOUS SAS TROOPER

MARTIN HUCKERBY

DAVID WIDGERY

DEBORAH BULL

VARIOUS

No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.. .

Y OU DONT HAVE to be a Londoner to love London so. Or even to be Dr Johnson to appreciate the truth of his bon mot. After all London has been, variously, the worlds biggest city, the crucible of ideology (capitalism and communism), the front line against Hitlers Luftwaffe, the home of parliamentary democracy, the clearing house of the world, the port of the world, and the hippest, swingingest Sixties city in the world. With all due apologies to the also-rans New York, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Tokyo London is the most interesting city in global history. And, dare I say it, the most important.

There was little about Londons birth that suggested such future grandeur. Founded by the Romans sometime in the first century AD, Londinium was intended solely as a humdrum supply camp. The capital status was unplanned; but then little or nothing in Londons history unlike, say, straight-roaded Paris would ever be planned. London early took on a life of its own. This book is the story of that life by Londons citizens and its visitors. In other words, it is London in its own words.