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I Never Knew That About London

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I Never Knew That About London

By: Christopher Winn
Narrated by: Timothy Bentinck
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About this listen

Best-selling author Christopher Winn takes us on a captivating journey around London to discover the unknown tales of our capital's history. Travelling through the villages and districts that make up the world's most dynamic metropolis, I Never Knew That About London unearths the hidden gems of legends, firsts, inventions, adventures and birthplaces that shape the city's compelling and at times turbulent past.

See the Chelsea river views that inspired Turner in his final years, and find out where London's first nude statue is. Explore London's finest country house in Charlton, and unearth the secrets of the Mother of Parliaments. Spy out the village that gave its name to a car and the Russian word for railway station. Discover which church steeple gave us the design of the traditional wedding cake, where the sandwich was invented, and where in Bond Street you can see London's oldest artefact. Visit the house where Handel and Jimi Hendrix both lived. Climb the famous 311 steps of the Monument, go from East to West and back again at Greenwich and fly the world's biggest big wheel.

Brimming with facts, stories and snippets providing a spellbinding insight into the history of London, this beautiful listen is guaranteed to inform and amuse in equal measure.

Christopher Winn's first book was the best-selling I Never Knew That About England. A freelance writer and collector of trivia for over 20 years, he has worked with Terry Wogan and Jonathan Ross and sets quiz questions for television as well as for the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph.

He is also the associate producer of a TV series by ITV on Great Britain, airing in 2014. His website is http://www.i-never-knew-that.com.

©2007 Christopher Winn (P)2015 Audible, Ltd Europe Travel Writing & Commentary England Great Britain Middle ages Royalty Village Tudor

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Critic reviews

"A delightful and informative addition to the capital's literary legacy... I Never Knew That About London will not fail to enhance months, even years, of gentle urban exploration.... Any number of morning or weekend outings can be constructed from these rich pages.... Winn's touch is always light, and his knowledge is never overbearing, so the selections and observations remain unfailingly interesting." (Rory MacLean, Guardian Online)
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I was expecting something a little more juicy, very much a Wikipedia style book and glad I didn’t read it in hard copy. Superficially researched, there’s a lot more depth to the places and some juicier facts and stories which were either completely missed or skimmed over. A bit vanilla but the narrator did a good job of staving off the monotony

Not exactly ground breaking...

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This book is chockablock with really interesting facts.. the narrator is clear and easily understood and I want a paper version and a ticket to London so I can tour the city in such an interesting way. So glad I got it.

Amazing

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Generally meet expectations but certain facts were repeated, almost verbatim, which made me think I had repeated a chapter.

Interesting but have a map of London with you

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Interesting read with some revelations that will definitely be added to the "to do" list.

Some very interesting snippets

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Heaps and heaps of interesting facts and information on many parts of London, about the obvious and the less obvious locations of the Great city.
Presented almost as a list of bullet points the facts are interesting but only have a limited story behind each one.
But it certainly makes me want to go and visit some of the more obscure places mentioned.

Fascinating Facts

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I enjoyed this book, and found it very interesting. However, I liked the new York book much better because it was organised around walks, which makes it much more useful and enjoyable because you can actually do the walks in the book and listen to the commentary from the book as you walk. It’s a shame the same approach wasn’t done for this book.

Very interesting

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I love London, history and trivia so I couldn't wait to listen to this book. I'm afraid I lasted about half an hour. There is so much information, with all measurements being given in imperial and metric, all people and events being followed by start and finish/birth and death dates and facts following each other with very little break or structure in between. I felt like reading a close-spaced wall of text but with my ears. I might buy it as a physical book if I see it on offer as I think it probably works better in that format, but I certainly won't bother with this audio book again.

Too much information

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if you need a book to fall asleep to then this is it. Read in a monotone voice it's essentially a list of facts which given a bit more time on each one might of made it more interesting.

This is a list

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Great book with so many facts. I will forever use this as reference when i'm in London.

And now i do.

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I found this book very interesting. I have been living in London for over 7 years now and this book gave more depth to the city I thought I knew already pretty well.
The truth is that you'll find this book the most interesting when the author speaks about areas you are already familiar with.
Personally I'm more familiar with Central and the East, therefore I was more interested in those chapters. I am not really familiar with the areas of Chelsea, Putney or Hammersmith and therefore I couldn't relate much with those chapters.
Best listening to this book while you're on Google Maps, tagging places the author talks about for future reference.

Very interesting if you lived in London for long

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