Eccentric London: The Bradt Guide to Britain's Crazy and Curious Capital (Paperback)

~ Benedict le Vay (Author)
Key Phrases: coal dues, pub name, Fleet Street, World War, Earl's Court (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A guide to the eccentric people, places and events of London for travelers looking for a different kind of guide to touring the greatest city in the world.

From the Back Cover

Meet a man who listens to Tube trains from the road above with a large hearing-trumpet, the inventor who made giant ships out of ice, a chap who rides down the river in an Edwardian bath chair, the guy with the world's biggest collection of pillar boxes... These are just a few of the colorful characters to be found in Eccentric London, the fascinating follow-up to Benedict le Vay's sell-out book, Eccentric Britain. Here the London-born author revisits his childhood stomping grounds and devises district-by-district guides to everything compelling, curious, bizarre, absurd or hilarious. Plus the oddest shops, museums, jobs, pubs and people you could possibly imagine. (5 1/4 x 8 1/2, 384 pages, illustrations, maps)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides; 1st edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841620416
• ISBN-13: 978-1841620411
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,569,594 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great starting point., December 5, 2005

By	T. Hodges (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book I found was really good for inspiring searches for different things in London. I used it quite extensively for a trip a few years ago. I did have some difficulty locating a few things which I originally attributed to inaccuracies on the part of the writer, but upon further investigation discovered that they did exist as he described them but that I was simply unable to find them (viz. Richard Burton's Tomb in Mortlake, the mysterious Hill Garden in Hampstead Heath). I would advise the reader to research some of the items that he wishes to find on the internet before heading on a wild goose chase. A good supplement to this book is Andrew Duncan's Walking London.

edit: On a second trip to London I found both the tomb using better descriptions of it's location on the interweb and by asking an old woman to help me find a particular street, and the Pagola (hill garden) after many hours of wandering Hampstead Heath and seeing other lovely sites (hint: if you find the Spaniard Inn you are getting closer, and to get in to the garden it looks like you are walking rather close to somebody's house (private property) but if you forge ahead you will be happily rewarded).

5.0 out of 5 stars Things I would never know about, September 12, 2009

By	rainforest "rainforest" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eccentric London, 2nd (Bradt Travel Guide) (Paperback)

I love this book. It has many eccentric things about London. I always thought London only had old historical things, but there are very unexpected modern things too. For example, thanks to this book, we found platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter books and have great pictures at it. It gives you excellent directions to the various sites. There are so many things in the book that there was no way to cover them in one trip, but at least we got to see few. It has a shiny cover and makes it a good book to have in the bookshelf to glance it once in a while!

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, humorous, fun look at London, March 9, 2008

By	Puck Mendelssohn (Seattle WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eccentric London, 2nd (Bradt Travel Guide) (Paperback)

This is just a fun, fun book; once you start reading it, it's hard to stop. The author manages to sweep much more into it than you'll find in a mere sightseeing guidebook--historical anecdotes, interesting characters, the author's experience of working as a journalist in the London press, and more.

I bought the book with the object of planning walks to interesting sites, with emphasis on "not-major-tourist-attractions," on a future visit to London, and am very happy with it. In fact, the author offers up a number of suggested walks around notable sites, with reference to modern features, geography and history all woven in to one seamless discussion. If you stop to have a drink in each of the notable pubs, you might not finish the walks, so keep yourself to half a pint...