Planning a trip to London? Or perhaps you just want to explore England from homea s part of a homeschool geography, history, or cultural study. These non-fiction books about London cover a broad range of fascinating topics that will bring the hustle and bustle of England’s capital right to your front door. When I’m reading up before a big trip, I always start with a few classic travel guides to get a better sense of the area I’ll be visiting and the landmarks I want to add to my itinerary. But then I like to dig a little deeper with books about the history, food, and culture so that I’m better prepared for the people I’ll meet and the experiences I’ll encounter. Thankfully if this is your first International trip, language barrier shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but be sure to brush up on your British colloquialisms before you go! If you plan to visit Buckingham Palace, you may also enjoy reading one of these books about the Royal Family or pack a royal romance for your plane trip over.
Fully updated, comprehensive coverage for spending a week or more exploring London Rick’s strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites Top sights and hidden gems, from Trafalgar Square and the Tower of London to where to find the best tikka masala or fish and chips How to connect with local culture: Catch a show in Soho, take afternoon tea, or have a pint of English ale with Londoners in a pub Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick’s candid, humorous insight The best places to eat, sleep, and relax with a Pimm’s Cup Self-guided walking tours of lively neighborhoods and world-class museums like the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Day trips to Windsor, Cambridge, and Stonehenge Detailed neighborhood maps and a fold-out city map for exploring on the go Covid-related travel info and resources for a smooth trip
Every corner of this cosmopolitan capital is brimming with personality. Dripping in pomp and tradition, Whitehalland Westminster are best known for their iconic sights and regal architecture. The rolling fields and peaceful woodlands of Hampstead Heath feel a world apart from the futuristic skyscrapers of the financial district of the City. And when the sun sets, Soho bursts into life – the perfect spot for an evening out. Our updated guide brings London to life, transporting you there like no other travel guide does with expert-led insights, trusted travel advice, detailed breakdowns of all the must-see sights, photographs on practically every page, and our hand-drawn illustrations which place you inside the city’s iconic buildings and neighbourhoods. Our annually updated Top 10 travel guide breaks down the best of London into helpful lists of ten-from our own selected highlights to the best museums and art galleries, places to eat, parks and gardens, and riverfront sights. In 30 carefully planned walks ranging from 2 to 6 miles, distinguished historian Andrew Duncan reveals miles of London’s endlessly surprising landscape. From wild heathland to formal gardens, cobbled mews to elegant squares and arcades, bustling markets to tranquil villages, Duncan reveals the pick of the famous sights, but also steers walkers off the tourist track and into the city’s hidden corners, taking you through the most interesting and attractive parts of London. Are you a fan of British TV but you get lost in translation? Maybe you plan to visit the UK one day? Or maybe you are just looking for the BEST Christmas gift for a fellow anglophile! Well, you’re in the right place… best-selling author Jeff Watson brings you the ULTIMATE guide to British Slang. An all-encompassing hilarious dictionary of everything that’s quintessentially British. A deep-dive into the most up to date & current slang spoken by Brits today, brilliantly illustrated, and hilariously explained. Before New York Times bestselling author Bill Bryson wrote The Road to Little Dribbling, he took this delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation of Great Britain, which has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie’s Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. Over the course of 1,500 years, the British monarchy has undergone numerous transformations—from early warrior kings ruling a fragmented land to today’s mostly ceremonial head of state, King Charles III. Timeline of the British Monarchy is a detailed work of visual reference from the founders of the Useful Charts website that traces the lineages of the kings and queens of Great Britain from the Anglo-Saxons of the fifth century to today’s House of Windsor. A giant wall chart shows the lineages of each ruling family, and four additional foldout charts provide further details on the main royal houses. Packed with full-color photos and illustrations, as well as insightful commentary on the most famous monarchs, this interactive book is a wonderful resource for anyone with an interest in the history of Great Britain. With over 100 iconic recipes, The British Baking Book tells the wonderfully evocative story of baking in Britain—and how this internationally cherished tradition has evolved from its rich heritage to today’s immense popularity of The Great British Bake Off.With lavish imagery and evocative narrative, the expert-baker author details the landscape, history, ingenuity, and legends—and show-stopping recipes—that have made British baking a worldwide phenomenon. From cakes, biscuits, and buns to custards, tarts, and pies, authentic recipes for Britain’s spectacular sweet and savory baked goods are included here—like pink-frosted Tottenham cake, jam-layered Victoria sandwich cake, quintessential tea loaf, sweet lamb pie, Yorksire curd tart, and more. Illustrating the story of how British baking evolved throughout the country, many of the recipes have a sense-of-place heritage like Dorset apple cake, Whitby lemon buns, Cornish cake, Grasmere gingerbread, and Scottish oatcakes. Evocative and fascinating, this cookbook offers a guided tour of Britain’s best baking.
A detailed list of recommended parks, gardens, markets, and floral designers A spring tour of blossoms and blooms A field guide of common spring-blooming trees and shrubs Step-by-step instructions for creating a London-style bouquet And more
Lane offers a practical travel guide for anyone planning to see London in bloom in real life. She plans out a tour of spring blossoms, with a field guide for identifying flowering trees and shrubs. She even includes a list of addresses for her favorite parks, gardens, floral boutiques, and flower markets. This richly detailed and beautifully illustrated book provides a miscellany of historic features and curiosities to spot as you wander around the capital. Whether you’ve always wondered why there are cattle troughs on your route to work, why bollards often look like upside down cannons or wanted to know what a Victorian stink pipe is – this book will provide the tools to decipher London’s secret code, and introduce you to a treasure trove of hidden spots to explore. Opening in 1863, the first sections were operated by steam engines, yet throughout its long history the Tube has been at the forefront of contemporary design, pioneering building techniques, electrical trains and escalators, and business planning. Architects such as Leslie W. Green and Charles Holden developed a distinctively English version of Modernism, and the latest stations for the Jubilee line extension, Overground and Elizabeth line carry this aesthetic forward into the twenty-first century. In this major work published in association with Transport for London and now updated, Tube expert Oliver Green traces the history of the Underground, following its troubles and triumphs, its wartime and peacetime work, and the essential part it has played in shaping London’s economy, geography, tourism and identity. Specially commissioned photography by Benjamin Graham (UK Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017) brings the story to life in vivid portraits of London Underground’s stations, tunnels and trains. When we seek an example of great leaders with unalloyed courage, the person who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the iconic, visionary war leader immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior force of Nazi Germany when bombs rained on London and so many others had caved? In Churchill, Andrew Roberts gives readers the full and definitive Winston Churchill, from birth to lasting legacy, as personally revealing as it is compulsively readable. In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits. Taking us back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn’t exist), Mitchell tells the founding story of post-Roman England up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It’s a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and a few Cnuts, as the English evolved from having their crops stolen by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king. How this happened, who it happened to, and why the hell it matters are all questions that Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit, and the full erudition of a man who once studied history—and won’t let it off the hook for the mess it’s made. A funny book that takes history seriously, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how the British monarchy came to be—and who is to blame.
Were all unmarried affluent men really “in want of a wife”? Where would a young lady seek adventure? Would “taking the waters” at Bath and other spas kill or cure you? Was Lizzy Bennet bitten by bed-bugs while traveling? What would you wear to a country ball or a dance at Almack’s? Would Mr. Darcy have worn a corset? What hidden horrors lurked in elegant Regency houses?
This is the age of Jane Austen and the Romantic poets; the paintings of John Constable and the gardens of Humphry Repton; the sartorial elegance of Beau Brummell and the poetic license of Lord Byron; Britain’s military triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo; the threat of revolution and the Peterloo massacre. In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler’s Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history: the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition that reflected unprecedented social, economic, and political change. And like all periods in history, it was an age of many contradictions—where Beethoven’s thundering Fifth Symphony could premier in the same year that saw Jane Austen craft the delicate sensitivities of Persuasion.
