No Free Parking

The Curious History of London's Monopoly Streets

Nicholas Boys Smith

• Publisher: Blink Publishing
• Year: 2022
• eBook ISBN: 9781789465396
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Architecture General
• Index: History

'Weaves the wacky, the woeful and the wonderful into an entertaining narrative spiced with lots of London-inspired poetry' - The Times From the medieval cobbles, through Dickensian iron and fog, to the neon lights and bustle of the twenty-first century, the ever-changing streets of London map out the vibrant stories, triumphs and struggles of everyone who ever called London home. From the Roman and Celts marching along the ancient Old Kent Road, to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, the game of Monopoly has painted London's story across cheerful coloured tiles. But those Monopoly streets live and breathe - they don't just illuminate our history. They open up whole new ways of thinking about it. The mobs have taken to our streets. The overlords have taken them back. Wars have spilled out into them. Lovers have snuck around them, and fires have raged through them. In a city of rags and riches, where folk hero Dick Whittington believed the streets were paved with gold, anything could happen - and everything has. You may think you know the history of London. You don't. Or at least, not entirely. This is the story of the capital as you've never, quite, heard it before.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Epigraph
• Introduction: Streets of woe and gold
• 1. Old Kent Road: Ancient route to the Thames
• 2. Strand: London re-born on the Saxon shore
• 3. Fleet Street: From friars to filth
• 4. Whitehall: Forgotten palaces
• Interlude: Water Works
• Interlude: Go To Jail
• Interlude: Electric Company
• Interlude: Railway Stations
• Conclusion: Advance to Go
• Acknowledgements
• Select Bibliogrphy
• Endnotes
• Photo Credits
• Photos