London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets

Peter Ackroyd

abr 2020 · Tantor Media Inc · Narración de Matthew Waterson

Información sobre este audiolibro

In this vividly descriptive short study, Peter Ackroyd tunnels down through the geological layers of London, meeting the creatures that dwell in darkness and excavating the lore and mythology beneath the surface. There is a Bronze Age trackway below the Isle of Dogs, Anglo-Saxon graves rest under St. Pauls, and the monastery of Whitefriars lies beneath Fleet Street. To go under London is to penetrate history, and Ackroyd's book is filled with the stories unique to this underworld: the hydraulic device used to lower bodies into the catacombs in Kensal Green cemetery; the door in the plinth of the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge that leads to a huge tunnel packed with cables for gas, water, and telephone; the sulphurous fumes on the Underground's Metropolitan Line. Highly imaginative and delightfully entertaining, London Under is Ackroyd at his best.

Acerca del autor

Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet, and broadcaster. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers London: The Biography, Thames: Sacred River, and London Under; biographies of figures including Charles Dickens, William Blake, Charlie Chaplin, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Matthew Waterson has been fortunate enough to narrate books on subjects as varied as the history of South Africa, the current state of FIFA, and mysteries and dramas. He can also be heard on many video games, the Netflix series Trollhunters, and on the radio for companies such as Twinings Tea and Frank's Red Hot Sauce.