Kingston may have been the point of crossing for Caesar in his expedition to conquer Britain. It is the town where some Saxon kings were crowned, & it is one of only four royal boroughs in the country. The author describes Kingston`s unusual role in cinema, aircraft manufacture & boat making. However, she does not neglect to record that the town acquired at one time an unwanted notoriety for being `malodorous`. June Sampson has devoted much of her journalistic life to the history of the area.