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London Made Us

A Memoir of a Shape-Shifting City

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London Made Us

By: Robert Elms
Narrated by: Robert Elms
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About this listen

Robert Elms has seen London change beyond all imagining: the house he grew up in is now the behemoth that is the Westway flyover, and areas once deemed murder miles have morphed into the stuff of estate agents' dreams, seemingly in a matter of months.

Elms takes us back through time and place to myriad Londons. He is our guide through a place that has seen scientific experiments conducted in subterranean lairs, a small community declare itself an independent nation and animals of varying exoticism roam free through its streets; a place his great-great-grandfather made the Elms' home over a century ago and a city that has borne witness to epoch - and world-changing events.

'This is a shape-shifting city, happy to shed its skin of brick and stone for steel and glass, to jettison the unprofitable unsentimentally, to abandon the unfashionable and discard the undesirable. London is a giant kaleidoscope, which is forever turning. Take your eye off it for more than a moment and you're lost.'

©2019 Robert Elms (P)2019 Canongate Books Ltd England Thought-Provoking

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There is no doubt that Elms is qualified to have a view on the London of today. He is at times eloquent, insightful and
knowledgeable. At others boring repetitive and annoyingly hypocritical - the lower middle class luvvy popping into his club like so many establishment bores of the past. I hated the football but, liked his performance. On balance it is like his radio show. When he gets it right it is spot on.

Something of a curate's egg

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An absolute joy from start to finish, I learnt so much, definitely will listen to this again.

Brilliant

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If you were born in London, grew up in London, worked in London or moved to London, you will find much to love in this glorious love letter to our capital city. It is jam - packed with memories and anecdotes. My particular favourite was to be reminded of Stanley Green aka 'Protein Man' who was a familiar sight on Oxford Street when I worked in Soho in the seventies. Enthusiastically read by the author himself this is a wonderful listen and an easy five stars all round.

Love Letter to London

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As a Londoner I think I know the city pretty well but I learned a lot about parts I don't know too much about. Insightful, well-written and I enjoyed the anecdotes as well as the historical facts.

Very enjoyable and illuminating

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So many places and fond memories in this book!

I spent a large part of my life in Soho and Camden.

I have moved to Spain this helped me make sense of what I’m missing and what London means to me.

So good!

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Excellent history of London, covering lots of aspects. I would highly recommend even as a Geordie.

Really Enjoyable!

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Excellent book, written and read by Robert Elms. Anyone who's listened to his BBC London radio show will like this. He clearly loves London, both old and new. He also has an eye for the obscure and the hidden bits of 1970s 80s London.

For anyone who loves London

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An insightful, thoughtful and thought provoking work about a great, ever changing city. The read is as good as you'd expect from an author with such a rich broadcast experience. To listen is to love London more.

The best recent book about London

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I can’t recommend highly enough.
This is my London too - many of the same faces names haunts and pleasures.
Robert Elms hits a perfect pitch - avoiding nostalgia and describing places in time perfectly.
Bravo.

Perfectly pitched ….. absolutely brilliant.

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I've enjoyed this book immensely twice, originally in the written form and again by listening to the authors own voice.

fantastic ode to London past and present

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