Johnson’s Life of London: The People Who Made the City That Made the World - Softcover

Johnson, Boris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007418949 ISBN 13: 9780007418947

Publisher: HarperPress, 2012

Synopsis

London is special. For centuries, it has been amongst the greatest cities of the world. But a city is nothing without its people. This sparkling new history of London, told through a relay-race of great Londoners shows in one personality-packed book that the ingenuity, diversity, creativity and enterprise of London are second to none.

‘London is the best big city in the world.’ Boris Johnson

London, a city which has over the centuries, survived attack, fire and devastation, is a place where people feel enabled to create and empowered to invent. It is and always has been home to a great variety of remarkable men and women – whose lives have enriched the rest of the world. Boris Johnson’s book is a celebration of the people who, from the Romans to the present day, give the city its vibrant and exuberant character.

From Boudicca to Chaucer, Shakespeare to Florence Nightingale, Winston Churchill to Keith Richards, Johnson’s Life of London is the real story of London, told through the Londoners and non-Londoners who have helped to shape the greatest city in the world.

About this title

Review:

‘A book of hidden gems....his vocabulary is extraordinary and his polymathery a joy....as he cycles through history .we glimpse him everywhere....it is best when Boris’s enthusiasms are on display, as exuberant as a vase of bird-of-paradise blooms’ THE TIMES

‘Revealing anecdotes go far beyond familiar guide-book tales...Johnson’s unerring eye for detail catches your attention but also moves his story on...Johnson sets out his stall for London’s future with such patent sincerity that you’d have to be stony-hearted not to go along for the ride’ MAIL ON SUNDAY

‘As the thumbnail sketches accumulate, we come to realise just how like Boris all the London heroes have been’ EVENING STANDARD

‘Johnson’s sketchbook diverts......(while) Livingstone’s doorstop apologia will try the patience of the most obsessional geek’ INDEPENDENT

About the Author:

Boris Johnson was elected Mayor of London in May 2008. Before this he was the Editor of the SPECTATOR and Member of Parliament for Henley on Thames. He is the author of many books, notably HAVE I GOT VIEWS FOR YOU and DREAM OF ROME.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0007418949
• ISBN 13: 9780007418947
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416