A Tesco on every corner, Boden catalogues piled through the letterbox, & Center Parcs holidays
- Britain has been overrun by
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A delightful romp around the British Isles searching out the mad marquess, the eccentric earl, the barmy baron, & the daft duke & gathering a fair collection of crackpot inventors, weird adventurers & fascinatingly & not to mention insanely curious customs along the way. All of which make this rainy little island home to that remarkable breed of individual
- the British eccentric. This expanded book still doesn't tell you where Stonehenge is, but it does tell you where ten spookier stone circles are where there will be no crowds, no admission charges & no parking problems... This is a book for the intelligent, humorous, curious tourist who doesn't go with the crowd. It is also a great armchair read that has been known to have readers weeping with mirth at the weird ways of the British.
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Cambridge is a popular city for international tourists, keen to take a behind-the-scenes look at this old English university city`s people & places. Benedict le Vay reveals hidden secrets & amazing stories of the city`s architecture, scandalous stories of the most outrageous dons &, most importantly, how to punt on the River Cam without looking like a complete prat. ...

Everyone knows about the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral & the London Tower, but Eccentric London focuses on the capital's less conventional history. This heavily illustrated book takes the reader around the capital district by district, stopping at a range of unusual locations including the hatters Lock & Co., patronized by Napoleon & little changed since the early 18th century; Highgate Cemetery, with chains leading up through gravestones to tiny bells as an insurance policy should someone be buried alive; & Britain's smallest prison in Trafalgar Square. Eccentric London is an exploration of the hallmarks of London's long & chequered history, illustrated by Ricky Leaver's unique photography. ...

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 colourful 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 devises district-by-district guides to everything compelling, curious, bizarre, absurd or hilarious. Plus the oddest shops, museums, jobs, pubs & people you could possibly imagine. ...

Dreaming spires, honeyed stone, cycling dons.. .forget all that tourist twaddle, says Benedict le Vay. Find out the secrets the colleges don`t want you to know, the inside track on the best pubs & eating places, the scandal & gossip about nutty professors & disgraceful students past & present, the brilliant stories about the great, the good & the bad. William Morris called Oxford `a perfect jewel` of a city; Benedict le Vay goes in search of the quirkier gems among its medieval back alleys. Here roam batty dons, daft students, barmy aristocrats & political firebrands. Who does that gargoyle remind you of? Why is a shark plunging into that man`s house? When do students jump naked into the River Cherwell as Latin hymns are sung? What powers the ` Cosmic Triangle` of vibrant East Oxford? How do you control a punt without looking like a plonker? The guide also cover the pubs where Inspector Morse & Bill Clinton enjoyed a pint, where to eat a great fry-up in a unique setting, where to find a weird museum & a calendar of annual eccentric events. ...

Eccles in 1905 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. In this title: the map covers much of Eccles. The town centre is in the south-west corner of the map & coverage stretches east to Weaste Lane & northward to Cholmondeley Road. Features include Salford football ground, Ladywell Sanatorium, Salford Union Infirmary, Little Bolton, Victoria Church, tramways, Hope Hall, Weaste Hall, Hart Hill, St James church, LNWR railway with Eccles station & section of Docks Branch, Eccles Mill, quilt manufactory, St Mary's church, St Andrew's church, Market Place, Town Hall, Ellesmere Park, etc. On the reverse is a selection of street directory entries, including Church Street, Eccles New Road, Eccles Old Road, Gilda Brook Road. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25 ...

Eccles in 1905 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers much of Eccles. The town centre is in the south-west corner of the map & coverage stretches east to Weaste Lane & northward to Cholmondeley Road. Features include Salford football ground, Ladywell Sanatorium, Salford Union Infirmary, Little Bolton, Victoria Church, tramways, Hope Hall, Weaste Hall, Hart Hill, St James church, LNWR railway with Eccles station & section of Docks Branch, Eccles Mill, quilt manufactory, St Mary`s church, St Andrew`s church, Market Place, Town Hall, Ellesmere Park, etc. On the reverse is a selection of street directory entries, including Church Street, Eccles New Road, Eccles Old Road & Gilda Brook Road. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

Ecclesall Village in 1902 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers the Ecclesall Village area south-west of Sheffield, stretching from All Saints church at Ecclesall westward to Whiteley Wood Hall, & from Dobbing Hill southward to Bents Green. Other features include Silver Hill, Thrift House Farm, Hill Top, Greystones Quarry, Hill Turrets, etc. An Ecclesall Bierlow directory is on the reverse. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

Ecclesfield in 1901 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers the village of Ecclesfield north of Sheffield. Features include St Mary`s church, Stock`s Hill, The Wallet, The Cross, St Michael`s Field allotment gardens, Hallamshire Paper Mill, The Hall, Norfolk Foundry, Ecclesfield Common, etc. Coverage extends east to show both Ecclesfield stations (on the Midland & Great Central lines); Butterthwaite, Gibraltar Steel Works, Rainstorth Farm. On the reverse is a directory of Ecclesfield, plus a 1916 railway timetable for the MR`s Sheffield-Barnley line. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...