London

Step back in time and discover the sights, sounds and smells of London through the ages in this enthralling journey into the capital's rich, teeming and occasionally hazardous past.

Let time traveller Dr Matthew Green be your guide to six extraordinary periods in London's history - the ages of Shakespeare, medieval city life, plague, coffee houses, the reign of Victoria and the Blitz.

We'll turn back the clock to the time of Shakespeare and visit a savage bull and bear baiting arena on the Bankside. In medieval London, we'll circle the walls as the city lies barricaded under curfew, while spinning further forward in time we'll inhale the 'holy herb' in an early tobacco house, before peering into an open plague pit. In the 18th century, we'll navigate the streets in style with a ride on a sedan chair, and when we land in Victorian London, we'll take a tour of freak-show booths and meet the Elephant Man.

You'll meet pornographers and traitors, actors and apothecaries, the mad, bad and dangerous to know, all desperate to show you the thrilling and vibrant history of the world's liveliest city.

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PRAISE FOR LONDON: A TRAVEL GUIDE THROUGH TIME

'Dr Matthew Green, author of London: A Travel Guide Through Time, has a knack for revealing the most unexpected details of London's multifaceted past in fascinating and accessible detail.' - Daily Telegraph

'Matthew Green's time travelling vehicle's headlights focus on fascinating details, time after time, as it swoops around London. A must for anyone interested in London's history. His research can't be faulted.' - Liza Picard (bestselling author of 'Elizabeth's London' and 'Restoration London')

'It's a sizeable tome, yet written with such a storyteller's flare that the pages whizz by like a hover-converted Delorean... London: A Travel Guide Through Time is easily the most engaging social history of the capital since the books of Liza Picard a decade ago.' - Londonist

'I enjoyed this book immensely. Matthew Green has executed an original idea extremely well. Every page yields fascinating glimpses into the past habits and horrors of our greatest city, bringing to life the detail of daily existence in an unforgettable way. There are many surprises for all of us here about how Londoners lived, at least as much, it turns out, in the 1950s as in the 1390s. An excellent and vivid work of history.' - William Hague

'Dr Matthew Green is hands down the best storyteller I have ever met. His book, London: A Travel Guide Through Time, is endlessly illuminating and engaging.' - George Lamb

'London: A Travel Guide Through Time, by the hugely talented author Dr Matthew Green, is a masterful evocation of the sights, sounds - and smells - of old London town at various key moments through the last few centuries.' - Tom Hodgkinson (bestselling author of 'How To Be Idle')

'A brilliantly-observed work...Green starts each chapter by plonking you in a very specific location - richly described - in the London of the year featured. You then visit various parts of the metropolis by both day and night...like a skilled guide or conversationalist, the author succeeds in making the places visited genuinely interesting. A wonderful debut.' - London Historians

'Green is a superb storyteller. The writing is evocative and witty. It was such an engaging book, that I was loathe to put down at night. Whether you are new to London, a born-and-bred Londoner looking to to rekindle your connection with your city, or a visitor planning to enjoy a trip here, this book is for you.' -Medievalists.net