John Pullen

Secret Curious London John Pullen

In over 2,000 years London has witnessed many things - from events that have changed the course of history to the personal stories of its inhabitants, many of whom struggled to make a living. But through all this there have been people, places and events which are just a little bit strange. This fully illustrated book looks at a variety of these - the quirky, the macabre and the curious. In Curious People we will read of the man who had all his books buried with him in his coffin, a convict who became a Maori chief, a foreign statesman given an island full of ducks to run in the middle of London and the tales of two prostitutes who made it from poverty to the height of society - with one of them being more famous for her cakes. Curios Places shows why Buckingham Palace is back to front, Eros is completely wrong, why a statue cries and why a mammoth lived in a bank in Trafalgar Square. Part Three, Curious Events, lifts the lid on a Victorian sex cult which you can still visit, how a lady can rent a soldier, why there should be milk maids in the Mall and why Three Wise Men still deliver gold, frankincense and myrrh to a royal palace each year. Finally the Just Curious section tells of two duelling ghosts, why Handel tried to throw a castrato singer out of his Mayfair home window and where mothers could sell their children to strangers. These and many more weird tales from London's past are here with photographs showing where these stories took place and how to visit them.