London's Strangest Tales: Historic Royal Palaces PDF Download

Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1849941890
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
London's Royal Palaces are still some of the most visited places in England. A great deal of their official histories are well known. But London's Strangest Tales: Historic Royal Palaces reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on the grounds of these beautiful buildings. It gives an alternative history: from the wandering inebriated zebras at the Tower of London, the cricket ball that probably killed a king, and the mystery of Kew's disappearing mosque. This is a wonderful collection for anyone with an interest in the history and heritage of our palaces and in London life generally.

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Anova Books
ISBN: 9781861059765
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
Following in the bestselling footsteps of the Strangest series, London is now available in a beautiful gift format – the perfect present for the London obsessive in the family! This fascinating volume is packed with amazing things you didn't know about the capital, such as the fact that it’s still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in Burlington Arcade. Did you also know, for example, that there is a tiny, working jail cell that looks like a fat lamppost, situated at the southeast corner of Trafalgar Square, that still has a direct phone link to Scotland Yard? Or indeed, that the entrance to Buckingham Palace that faces down the Mall is actually the back door, not the front? Whether you're a visitor to the capital, a dailuy commuter or one its 7.5 million inhabitants, this book is an alternative, and often bonkers, guide to the city.

Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 9781909396470
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
London's Royal Palaces are still some of the most visited places in England. A great deal of their official histories are well known. But London's Strangest Tales: Historic Royal Palaces reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on the grounds of these beautiful buildings. It gives an alternative history: from the wandering inebriated zebras at the Tower of London, the cricket ball that probably killed a king, and the mystery of Kew's disappearing mosque. This is a wonderful collection for anyone with an interest in the history and heritage of our palaces and in London life generally.

Author: Stephanie Clarke
Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1780882998
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Down, Dirty and Divine is an invitation to readers to go on a meaningful and transformational journey through the undergroundof London, and to assist in healing the City whilst also cleansing their own soul and the soul of the planet.Murder and madness, death and disease, crime and corruption, pain and punishment, ghouls and ghosts – this is London’s morbid history. But it is humanity’s history too. Rev. Stephanie Clarke answers the question: how can we heal? Selecting 12 London Underground Tube Stations as the physical and spiritual entry points into the City’s underbelly, she offers readers some historical information, some personal reflection and an affirmative prayer to heal the particular trauma associated with the site of each Tube Station. In a dream-state, the author was told that the 2012 Olympic Games would stimulate an unprecedented convergence of the masses upon the City of London and would be a powerful catalyst to usher in global transformation. Serendipitously, many of London’s great citizens, including Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral, have long held the vision of London as the New Jerusalem, a celestial city of light and a universal centre of peace and reconciliation.Down, Dirty and Divine is a spiritual tour guide, inviting readers to be active instruments in the fulfillment of this grand planetary vision in 2012 and beyond.

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1911042300
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
London’s Strangest Tales takes a walk on London’s weirder side with an absorbing collection of curious tales from one of the world’s greatest cities. This fascinating book is packed with amazing things you didn’t know about Britain’s capital, like the fact that it’s still forbidden to run, carry an umbrella or whistle in the Burlington Arcade, and the fat lamppost at the corner of Trafalgar Square that is secretly a tiny prison cell. And did you know that the entrance to Buckingham Palace you see from the Mall is actually the back door and not the front? The stories within these pages are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for a new generation of London-lovers, this book is a brilliant alternative guide to the city, whether you’re a visitor, a daily commuter or one of its 8 million inhabitants. Word count: 45,000

Author: Michael Farquhar
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780140280241
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
From Nero's nagging mother (whom he found especially annoying after taking her as his lover) to Catherine's stable of studs (not of the equine variety), here is a wickedly delightful look at the most scandalous royal doings you never learned about in history class. Gleeful, naughty, sometimes perverted-like so many of the crowned heads themselves-A Treasury of Royal Scandals presents the best (the worst?) of royal misbehavior through the ages. From ancient Rome to Edwardian England, from the lavish rooms of Versailles to the dankest corners of the Bastille, the great royals of Europe have excelled at savage parenting, deadly rivalry, pathological lust, and meeting death with the utmost indignity-or just very bad luck.

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1911042874
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
More extraordinary but true stories from London’s history. In this fascinating follow-up to his bestselling London’s Strangest Tales, Tom Quinn makes a further foray into the weirder side of the capital, bringing us a splendiforous collection of bizarre-but-true stories that explore a thousand years of London’s history. Discover the ghosts that stalk West End theatres, the mysterious mummy who lives in a City church cupboard, and secret tunnels under the Thames. Find out why there’s a TARDIS at Earl’s Court, why frogs once rained from the skies, and why the mulberry tree in the gardens at Buckingham Palace isn’t quite what it was supposed to be. A dip-in-and-outable treasure trove of London lore, London’s Truly Strangest Tales is both an ideal gift for dyed-in-the-wool Londoners who want to find out more about the great city they live in, and the perfect souvenir for people just passing through. Word count: 58,000

Author: Lucy Worsley
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1596919418
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
From the Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces in England, a vivid and captivating portrait of a seventeenth-century nobleman, his household, and the dramatic decades surrounding the English Civil War. William Cavendish embodied the popular image of a cavalier. He was both courageous and cultured. His passions were architecture, horses, and women. And, along with the whole courtly world of King Charles I and his cavaliers, he was doomed to failure. This is the story of one remarkable man, but it is also a rich evocation of what sustained him-his elaborate household. In this accessible narrative history, Lucy Worsley brings to life the complex and fascinating hierarchies among the inhabitants of the great houses of the seventeenth century, painting a picture of conspiracy, sexual intrigue, clandestine marriage, and gossip. From Ben Jonson and Anthony Van Dyck to long-forgotten servants, Cavalier recreates the cacaphony, stink, ceremony, and splendor of the stately home and its inhabitants.

Author: Tom Quinn
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
ISBN: 1785901532
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
For Alice Keppel, it was all about appearances. Her precepts were those of the English upper classes: discretion, manners and charm. Nothing else mattered - especially when it came to her infamous affair with King Edward VII. As the King's favourite mistress up until his death in 1910, Alice held significant influence at court and over Edward himself. But it wasn't just Edward she courted: throughout her life, Alice enthusiastically embarked on affairs with bankers, MPs, peers - anybody who could elevate her standing and pay the right price. She was a shrewd courtesan, and her charisma and voracity ensured her both power and money, combined as they were with an aptitude for manipulation. Drawing on a range of sources, including salacious first-hand eyewitness accounts, bestselling author Tom Quinn paints an extraordinary picture of the Edwardian aristocracy, and traces the lives of royal mistresses down to Alice's great-granddaughter, the current Duchess of Cornwall. Both intriguing and astonishing, this is an unadulterated glimpse into a hidden world of scandal, decadence and debauchery.

Author: Iain Spragg
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1910232408
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
The 19th-century MP John Burns described the Thames as 'liquid history' and ever since the Romans founded Londinium in 43 AD, the river has played a key cultural and economic, political and social role in the history of England. London's Strangest: The Thames reveals the bizarre, funny and surreal events and episodes that have occurred over the centuries on, beneath and along the banks of the famous waterway. From appearances of the world's first submarine to the raid on the Sex Pistols river concert, Lord Nelson's final journey to John Prescott's watery protest, and even the recent escapades during the floods, the River Thames really has witnessed it all.