Download or read book London s Strangest Tales Historic Royal Palaces written by Iain Spragg and published by Portico. This book was released on 2014-05-23 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: London's Royal Palaces are still some of the most visited places in England. A great deal of their official histories are well known. But London's Strangest Tales: Historic Royal Palaces reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on the grounds of these beautiful buildings. It gives an alternative history: from the wandering inebriated zebras at the Tower of London, the cricket ball that probably killed a king, and the mystery of Kew's disappearing mosque. This is a wonderful collection for anyone with an interest in the history and heritage of our palaces and in London life generally.
Download or read book London s Strangest Tales written by Tom Quinn and published by Anova Books. This book was released on 2008-03-30 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following in the bestselling footsteps of the Strangest series, London is now available in a beautiful gift format – the perfect present for the London obsessive in the family! This fascinating volume is packed with amazing things you didn't know about the capital, such as the fact that it’s still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in Burlington Arcade. Did you also know, for example, that there is a tiny, working jail cell that looks like a fat lamppost, situated at the southeast corner of Trafalgar Square, that still has a direct phone link to Scotland Yard? Or indeed, that the entrance to Buckingham Palace that faces down the Mall is actually the back door, not the front? Whether you're a visitor to the capital, a dailuy commuter or one its 7.5 million inhabitants, this book is an alternative, and often bonkers, guide to the city.
Download or read book London s Strangest Tales Historic Royal Palaces written by Iain Spragg and published by Portico. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: London's Royal Palaces are still some of the most visited places in England. A great deal of their official histories are well known. But London's Strangest Tales: Historic Royal Palaces reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on the grounds of these beautiful buildings. It gives an alternative history: from the wandering inebriated zebras at the Tower of London, the cricket ball that probably killed a king, and the mystery of Kew's disappearing mosque. This is a wonderful collection for anyone with an interest in the history and heritage of our palaces and in London life generally.
Download or read book Down Dirty and Divine written by Stephanie Clarke and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2012-08-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Down, Dirty and Divine is an invitation to readers to go on a meaningful and transformational journey through the undergroundof London, and to assist in healing the City whilst also cleansing their own soul and the soul of the planet.Murder and madness, death and disease, crime and corruption, pain and punishment, ghouls and ghosts – this is London’s morbid history. But it is humanity’s history too. Rev. Stephanie Clarke answers the question: how can we heal? Selecting 12 London Underground Tube Stations as the physical and spiritual entry points into the City’s underbelly, she offers readers some historical information, some personal reflection and an affirmative prayer to heal the particular trauma associated with the site of each Tube Station. In a dream-state, the author was told that the 2012 Olympic Games would stimulate an unprecedented convergence of the masses upon the City of London and would be a powerful catalyst to usher in global transformation. Serendipitously, many of London’s great citizens, including Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, have long held the vision of London as the New Jerusalem, a celestial city of light and a universal centre of peace and reconciliation.Down, Dirty and Divine is a spiritual tour guide, inviting readers to be active instruments in the fulfillment of this grand planetary vision in 2012 and beyond.
Download or read book London s Strangest Tales written by Tom Quinn and published by Portico. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: London’s Strangest Tales takes a walk on London’s weirder side with an absorbing collection of curious tales from one of the world’s greatest cities. This fascinating book is packed with amazing things you didn’t know about Britain’s capital, like the fact that it’s still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in the Burlington Arcade, and the fat lamppost at the corner of Trafalgar Square that is secretly a tiny prison cell. And did you know that the entrance to Buckingham Palace you see from the Mall is actually the back door and not the front? The stories within these pages are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for a new generation of London-lovers, this book is a brilliant alternative guide to the city, whether you’re a visitor, a daily commuter or one of its 8 million inhabitants. Word count: 45,000
Download or read book London s Truly Strangest Tales written by Tom Quinn and published by Portico. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More extraordinary but true stories from London’s history. In this fascinating follow-up to his bestselling London’s Strangest Tales, Tom Quinn makes a further foray into the weirder side of the capital, bringing us a splendiforous collection of bizarre-but-true stories that explore a thousand years of London’s history. Discover the ghosts that stalk West End theatres, the mysterious mummy who lives in a City church cupboard, and secret tunnels under the Thames. Find out why there’s a TARDIS at Earl’s Court, why frogs once rained from the skies, and why the mulberry tree in the gardens at Buckingham Palace isn’t quite what it was supposed to be. A dip-in-and-outable treasure trove of London lore, London’s Truly Strangest Tales is both an ideal gift for dyed-in-the-wool Londoners who want to find out more about the great city they live in, and the perfect souvenir for people just passing through. Word count: 58,000
Download or read book A Treasury of Royal Scandals written by Michael Farquhar and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2001-05-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Nero's nagging mother (whom he found especially annoying after taking her as his lover) to Catherine's stable of studs (not of the equine variety), here is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class. Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted-like so many of the crowned heads themselves-A Treasury of Royal Scandals presents the best (the worst?) of royal misbehavior through the ages. From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity-or just very bad luck.
Download or read book Kensington Palace written by Tom Quinn and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than 300 years, Kensington Palace has played host to a colourful cast of kings, queens and assorted aristocratic hangers-on. A stone's throw from the bustling streets of central London, this grand building has served as the stage for some of the most dramatic and bizarre events in the history of the royal family. It was here that the young Queen Victoria was held a virtual prisoner for eighteen years; and it was here that George II installed both his wife and his mistress, giving the latter rooms so damp that there were said to be mushrooms growing on the walls. More recently, the palace has witnessed an extraordinary series of scandals, from Princess Diana's bombshell TV interview with a journalist smuggled into the palace disguised as a salesman, to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's shock departure – first for Frogmore Cottage, and then for America – amid rumours of a rift with William and Kate. With exclusive interviews with palace staff past and present, fascinating historical details and a fully updated postscript considering what life after Kensington holds for Harry and Meghan, Kensington Palace: An Intimate Memoir from Queen Mary to Meghan Markle offers a rare behind-the-scenes insight into one of Britain's most iconic residences.
Download or read book Tower written by Nigel Jones and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 665 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dazzling history of the Tower of London, one of the world's busiest tourist attractions, and the people who populated it. Castle, royal palace, prison, torture chamber, execution site, zoo, mint, home to the crown jewels, armory, record office, observatory, and the most visited tourist attraction in the UK: The Tower of London has been all these things and more. No building in Britain has been more intimately involved in the island's story than this mighty, brooding stronghold in the very heart of the capital, a place which has stood at the epicenter of dramatic, bloody and frequently cruel events for almost a thousand years. Now historian Nigel Jones sets this dramatic story firmly in the context of national—and international—events. In a gripping account drawn from primary sources and lavishly illustrated with sixteen pages of stunning photographs, he captures the Tower in its many changing moods and its many diverse functions. Here, for the first time, is a thematic portrayal of the Tower of london not just as an ancient structure, but as a living symbol of the nation of Great Britain.
Download or read book Cavalier written by Lucy Worsley and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2008-12-20 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces in England, a vivid and captivating portrait of a seventeenth-century nobleman, his household, and the dramatic decades surrounding the English Civil War. William Cavendish embodied the popular image of a cavalier. He was both courageous and cultured. His passions were architecture, horses, and women. And, along with the whole courtly world of King Charles I and his cavaliers, he was doomed to failure. This is the story of one remarkable man, but it is also a rich evocation of what sustained him-his elaborate household. In this accessible narrative history, Lucy Worsley brings to life the complex and fascinating hierarchies among the inhabitants of the great houses of the seventeenth century, painting a picture of conspiracy, sexual intrigue, clandestine marriage, and gossip. From Ben Jonson and Anthony Van Dyck to long-forgotten servants, Cavalier recreates the cacaphony, stink, ceremony, and splendor of the stately home and its inhabitants.
Download or read book Mrs Keppel written by Tom Quinn and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Alice Keppel, it was all about appearances. Her precepts were those of the English upper classes: discretion, manners and charm. Nothing else mattered - especially when it came to her infamous affair with King Edward VII. As the King's favourite mistress up until his death in 1910, Alice held significant influence at court and over Edward himself. But it wasn't just Edward she courted: throughout her life, Alice enthusiastically embarked on affairs with bankers, MPs, peers - anybody who could elevate her standing and pay the right price. She was a shrewd courtesan, and her charisma and voracity ensured her both power and money, combined as they were with an aptitude for manipulation. Drawing on a range of sources, including salacious first-hand eyewitness accounts, bestselling author Tom Quinn paints an extraordinary picture of the Edwardian aristocracy, and traces the lives of royal mistresses down to Alice's great-granddaughter, the current Duchess of Cornwall. Both intriguing and astonishing, this is an unadulterated glimpse into a hidden world of scandal, decadence and debauchery.
Download or read book Ghosts of the Tower of London written by G. Abbott and published by David & Charles. This book was released on 2012-07-31 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tales of haunting from one of the world’s most terrifying landmarks. The Tower of London’s most horrific tragedies are well known; the gruesome deaths of the two boy princes in the Bloody Tower, Anne Boleyn’s execution, the Jesuit priests and heretics who suffered the agonies of the rack and thumbscrew. Is it any wonder, then, that there are frequent reports of bloodcurdling screams and moans, of unexplained footsteps and ghostly headless figures? Here, recorded for the first time, is an account for all to read—but preferably not at night—when you only think you are alone! Ghosts of the Tower of London is part of The Paranormal, a series that resurrects rare titles, classic publications, and out-of-print texts, as well as publishes new supernatural and otherworldly ebooks for the digital age. The series includes a range of paranormal subjects from angels, fairies, and UFOs to near-death experiences, vampires, ghosts, and witchcraft.
Download or read book London s Strangest The Thames written by Iain Spragg and published by Portico. This book was released on 2015-03-05 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 19th-century MP John Burns described the Thames as 'liquid history' and ever since the Romans founded Londinium in 43 AD, the river has played a key cultural and economic, political and social role in the history of England. London's Strangest: The Thames reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on, beneath and along the banks of the famous waterway. From appearances of the world's first submarine to the raid on the Sex Pistols river concert, Lord Nelson's final journey to John Prescott's watery protest, and even the recent escapades during the floods, the River Thames really has witnessed it all.
Download or read book Backstairs Billy written by Tom Quinn and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "William Tallon was a creature of extremes: though intensely loyal, he was also a dangerous risk-taker; though charming, he could also be vicious; though considerate and amusing, he could be ruthless and predatory. For much of his life he was driven by two demons: a powerful sex drive and an intense, almost pathological love for the Queen Mother..." From humble beginnings as a shopkeeper's son in Coventry to 'Page of the Backstairs' at Clarence House, William Tallon, or 'Backstairs Billy' as he came to be known, entered royal service at the age of fifteen. Over the next fifty years, he became one of the most notorious and flamboyant characters ever to have graced the royal household - the one servant the Queen Mother just could not do without. While others came and went, he remained by her side, becoming one of her most trusted friends and confidants. The fascinating life story of the man who spent more than half a century working for one of the world's most elusive institutions, Backstairs Billy provides a rare glimpse of what the royals really get up to behind closed doors...
Download or read book Romance Readers Guide to Historic London written by Sonja Rouillard and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-16 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At last! A London guide written just for historical romance fans. Or for travelers that want to experience old London.Have you ever wanted to walk in the footsteps of your favorite romance heroine? See grand historic settings from best-loved novels?Or just learn the fascinating backstories of these intriguing places from Almack's to White's to Bedlam and more from the comfort of your own home.Now you can!Author Sonja Rouillard has combined her love of travel and romance fiction to create an entertaining book that s perfect for a cozy fireside read at home or for planning that grand London excursion. For the Armchair Traveler . . . everything you want to know about the places from your treasured historical romance novels discover which buildings still exist and what they are now read love stories from real-life heroes and heroines that frequented these old places with Then & Now pictures of what the buildings looked like in the past compared to now and featuring romance excerpts from Jane Austen to Georgette Heyer to today s best-selling authors For the London Adventurer . . . everything you need to explore the old London that still exists hiding within the modern city sleep like a princess in a 900-year-old castle or on an antique four-poster bed in the heart of London enjoy a delicious authentic Afternoon Tea with prices ranging from Governess on Holiday to King s Ransom, there s something for everyone featuring easy to read maps of Mayfair and St. James's neighborhoods and ~for the guys activities that will especially interest your man too! plus insider tips to get the most from your travel budget So, take a walk in the footsteps of your favorite heroine ~ whether on a grand, once-in-a-lifetime adventure to London or from the comfort of your own home with a warm cup of tea at your side.Kindle Ebook coming by May 2017Learn more at: Romance Readers Guides dot comTwitter: @RomGuides
Download or read book The Ravenmaster written by Christopher Skaife and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, the Tower of London has been home to a group of famous avian residents: the ravens. Each year they are seen by millions of visitors, and they have become as integral a part of the Tower as its ancient stones. But their role is even more important than that—legend has it that if the ravens should ever leave, the Tower will crumble into dust and great harm will befall the kingdom. The responsibility for ensuring that such a disaster never comes to pass falls to one man: the Ravenmaster. The current holder of the position is Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife, and in this fascinating, entertaining and touching book he memorably describes the ravens’ formidable intelligence, their idiosyncrasies and their occasionally wicked sense of humour. The Ravenmaster is a compelling, inspiring and irreverent story that will delight and surprise anyone with an interest in British history or animal behaviour.
Download or read book Underground London written by Stephen Smith and published by Abacus. This book was released on 2010-12-02 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is visible to the naked eye has been exhaustively raked over; in 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.
