Product Description

This attractive, lively and comprehensive book tells the stories behind 800 of the capital's plaques. Arranged geographically - by borough and area - it is the first published guide to London's plaques for over half a century to be compiled with the aid of the official local government and English Heritage files. It features new research on the people and buildings that have been commemorated, both of which are extraordinarily diverse. Over the course of its history, London - which Benjamin Disraeli described as a 'roost for every bird' - has been home to figures as varied as Winston Churchill, Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi and Jimi Hendrix, all of whom were influenced by the homes and areas in which they lived. London's blue plaques scheme, founded in 1866, is the oldest of its kind in the world, and has been imitated around the globe. Originally envisaged as a means of making 'our houses their own biographers', the scheme aims to commemorate the link between notable figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked. It is a uniquely successful means of connecting people and place, drawing out the human element of the historic environment, and has helped to save a number of London's buildings from demolition. Driven by the general public, the scheme remains hugely popular, and has been imitated around the globe. 'Lived in London' provides the perfect introduction to the many people and buildings honoured under the scheme, and also celebrates the plaques themselves, wonderful objects that have - over the course of the last 140 years - been manufactured by firms such as Minton, Doulton and Poole. By drawing out London's historic associations, they enliven the streetscape and serve to bring us into direct contact with the past, opening a window into another time by showing us where the great and the good have penned their masterpieces, developed new technologies, lived or died.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11445 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Review

"... [a] huge and handsome book ... Houses, their occupants and the plaques are depicted in a wealth of beautifully reproduced photographs." --Peter Parker, Daily Telegraph, 11th July 2009

"... a new complete illustrated guide ... [with] biographies [that] are a well-judged mixture of facts, achievements, anecdotes and quotations ..." -- Andrew Robinson, Nature, 9th July 2009

"Sensibly arranged by region ... a book for those who love to saunter down some of the byways of history." --Good Book Guide, July 2009

"... the first in-depth guide to the capital's plaques ... Beautifully illustrated ...includes maps of locations ..." --Editor's Choice, Heritage Today, July 2009

"...a handsome, comprehensive, coffee table book."
--Jonathan Main, The Transmitter, 1st August 2009

'... a comprehensive and elegantly written guide ... an abundance of photographs ... beautifully presented ... [a] scholarly and diverting compendium.' --Michael Walker, Times, 5th September 2009

'... an important insight into the development of British historical consciousness ... [and] a fitting homage to this wonderful [Blue Plaques] project.'
--Otto Saumarez Smith, Building Design, 14th August 2009

`Arranged geographically, this well-illustrated guide reveals the stories behind 800 of the city's plaques.' --National Trust Magazine, Autumn 2009

`The blue-plaque scheme [is] lavishly celebrated in Lived in London.'
--Church Times, 11th September 2009

`Not only is [this] book beautifully designed and illustrated, but Cole's fascination with her subjects is infectious.' --Duncan Wu, Times Higher Education Supplement, 24th September 2009

About the Author
Emily Cole is Head of Blue Plaques Team, English Heritage.

Customer Reviews

Not just another tourist pocket book
This is not just another pocket book guide. For a start. it is 337 pages long and weighs heavily. The authors from EH have trawled the Blue Plaque archives and they reveal the arguments and infighting that often occurred as well as the changing criteria adopted and names the designers and contractors who made the plaques. The book is superbly illustrated both from archives and with new photographs and gives a potted biog of the individual commemorated. It is an excellent piece of research and a good example of book production from Yale. One error: for George Alexander entry - St James' Theatre was not in King St Covent Garden.

An excellent birthday gift- and a treat
I purchased this book as a gift for my husband who'd heard about it on Radio London. He is interested in architecture, period buildings, and people - and he is a world expert in door furniture (yes, really!). It's an excellent book - the the type you can refer to rather than "read" in a chunk. It has made us want to visit parts of London we don't know very well, to have see where this kaleidoscopic variety of people lived and worked.

blue plaques
I love books on London and this is no exception. I am really enjoying working my way through the interesting facts concerning the 'blue plaques' of London. This definitely a book which has to be perused at the table as it is quite large and heavy.