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Underground London - Stephen Smith

Description: ISBN 0349115656 / Author: Stephen Smith / Genre: History / What is visible to the naked eye has been exhaustively raked over; in ... more

Underground London - Stephen Smith ... UNDERGROUND LONDON, acclaimed travel writer Stephen Smith provides an alternative guide and history of the capital. It's a journey through the passages and tunnels of the city, the bunkers and tunnels, crypts and shadows. As well as being a contemporary tour of underground London, it's also an exploration through time: Queen Boudicca lies beneath Platform 10 at King's Cross (legend has it); Dick Turpin fled the Bow Street Runners along secret passages leading from the cellar of the Spaniards pub in North London; the remains of a pre-Christian Mithraic temple have been found near the Bank of England; on the platforms of the now defunct King William Street Underground, posters still warn that 'Careless talk costs lives'. Stephen Smith uncovers the secrets of the city by walking through sewers, tunnels under such places as Hampton Court, ghost tube stations, and long lost rivers such as the Fleet and the Tyburn. This is 'alternative' history at its best.

Newest Review: ... fascinates me) and the information on the river Fleet and the Mail Rail stands out as particularly memorable. The book does ... more

... attempt to cover a rather vast amount of subject matter in relatively few pages; as such, some of it seems terse and in need of further elaboration. The tone of the book vacillates between amusing and irritating - I didn't find it as off-putting as the other reviewer did, but certain elements did grate; the Kensal Green incident *is* a bit dishonourable and makes you wonder why he thought that divulging his own questionable ethics was a good idea? I also wasn't keen on his rather disparaging treatment of the m...more

Read Reviews for Underground London - Stephen S...

Underground London - Stephen Smith: So-so read with some worthwhile elements (395 words)
by - written on 21/07/08 (Very useful, 77 readings)
Rating:

As a Londoner (by acquisition rather than by birth) I'm fascinated with the "hidden" aspects of London which you can walk right by or over without ever really knowing they were there. That's in fact the main reason why I bought this book - hoping that it would reveal some of those hidden places to me. Overall I have to say I wasn't disappointed in that specific regard -there is some nice coverage of the ghost London underground stations (a subject that particularly fascinates me) and the information on the river Fleet and the Mail Rail stands out as particularly memorable. The book does attempt to cover a rather vast amount of subject matter in ... Read the complete review

Almost as bad as having to take the Tube to work every day (1014 words)
by - written on 07/11/05 (Very useful, 657 readings)
Rating:

I like London, in an I-live-there-and-it’s-a-nightmare-but-kind-of-cool way. I also like a good book about the place. Which is why I picked this up in a three for two offer at one of the big bookshops in the West End. It looked like it might be quite interesting, and there were an impressive array of favourable quotes on the back. Having read it, I rather wish I’d gone for something else instead. The book is sub-titled ‘Travels Beneath the City Streets’, and it describes various subterranean bits of London that the majority of people remain blissfully unaware of – as well as some that are familiar to most. This is something that I’ve always had a vague, ... Read the complete review