A Londoner's own London

Description

A 1927 reviewer wrote: "Yet another of Mr Harper’s irrepressibly chatty and discursive books on London. This time he takes us for rambles along the Strand, through Covent Garden, Bloomsbury, Pentonville, St Marylebone, St John’s Wood, down the Mile End Road, to Stepney Church and Poplar. Observes the contrasts between the Strand of the day (1927) and of 1838 as recorded in Tallis’ ‘London Street Views’. Less than a century prior to publication the street is unrecognizable. As usual, our guide is replete with information and humour and his entertaining reminiscences are the result of the close observation and curiosity of a lifetime. Illustrated by the author." Accurate enough. This is one of the later works of this author and those who have read CGH will know him as a gentleman who was gifted the life circumstances that permitted him to spend his time in travelling England at a pace that rarely exceeds that of a bicycle and producing well observed accounts of road, town, country and people enlivened by his excellent knowledge of history and his affectionate and still very funny commentary. The modern traveller will find the contrast between his England and ours sometimes striking and sometimes not as CGH introduces us to a country and aspects of a way of life before the challenges of facing first the Kaiser and then Hitler swept both away for ever. On the other hand many of the subjects on which he occasionally expresses negative views - such as the development and suburbanisation of villages, the construction of buildings unsympathetic to their surroundings, the damage done by crowds of day trippers and their litter - are still debated today. So pack the churchwarden with a plug of ready rubbed, fill the port decanter and settle back to enjoy the journey.

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