I Never Knew That About London

by Christopher Winn

This book is a captivating journey around London to discover the unknown tales of the capital’s history. Travelling through the villages and districts that make up the world’s most dynamic metropolis it unearths the hidden gems of legends, firsts, inventions, adventures and birthplaces that shape the city’s compelling, and at times, turbulent past.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, London, Audiobook, British Literature, Reference

287 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2007

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book very much meets the criteria set by its title, an exploration of the history of London via it's buildings, roads, bridges, statues, parks etc. Starting in the City of London, chapter by chapter to different areas and Boroughs of London, this a mightily informative book that covers everything from Roman and Middle Ages London to the impact of the Millennium, yet somehow manages to include so much more such as referencing royalty, politicians, religion, celebrities, villains, heroes etc. There are also references to writers, publishers, printers, artists, musicians and more. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the multi-layered genesis of older cities, and of course especially London. Please note that this is history of a city tour-guide book, so was easy to put down; a read that merits a well deserved Four Star 9 out of 12 rating from me.

2024 read

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you make a trip to London be sure to have a copy of this book at hand. Here you come across background knowledge about many places you never heard before. It is also a fantastic resource what to explore in the most exciting city of the world (okay, I'm a bit biased here). Every part of the city has hidden sights to be found by you. The author did a brilliant job here. Also liked the sketches and short descriptive style. Ideal for urban exploration. Highly recommended must read for London enthusiasts!

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s some good stuff in here and all interesting. Some is a little repetitive and the audio version really doesn’t lend itself to binging, but if you love London... (and if you don’t, you’re dead!)

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A marvelous little book packed with interesting little facts about London.

I learned a lot of things about the city that I didn't know, as well as adding over 20 places I had never heard of to my "Too Visit" list for my trip to London next year.

Only thing that stopped this being a 5 star read was the irritating habit the author had of EMPHASIZING POINTS USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS ALL THE TIME. I began to wonder if the book had actually been written by a 12 year old. It was extremely annoying and did detract from the readability of the book.

I recommend the book to all Londonphiles, Anglophiles in general, and armchair travelers of all types.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guide book that took me an inordinate amount of time to finish, probably because I couldn’t make myself stop googling things. I’m not complaining. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The author loves, loves, loves old churches and Georgian houses and is not a fan of the new carbuncle architecture, so keep that in mind if you are considering reading this. It’s not really chronological or done east to west or north to south, so have a map handy. Noted and notorious people are mentioned —where they lived, where they dueled, where they are buried etc. Winn’s humor is subtle. Too bad most visitors are not going to have the time to seek out more than a few of these places.

[AdiTurbo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bailing out. This is not exactly what I head in mind when looking for a book about London and its many sites. I expected a lighter travel book. This one focuses on ancient churches and monuments, and gives historical, architectural and anecdotal details in much more abundance than I would ever be able to remember or care for, till it becomes overwhelming. Not for me right now, I guess.

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting facts set out by area - a book that I listened to before and after my recent trip to London, but one that would probably have been better dipping in to physically while I visited the places featured.

[Tatiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to us by someone at our local book store when I was looking for a London guide. I had previously been to London so he recommended it as an alternative guide. It's incredibly interesting, full of really great information and if you're a bit of a junkie for random bits of information this is a great book for you. Had it not been for this book we would not have found the only cross eyed statue in London or the original location on Sweeney Todd's barber shop.

Not a traditional guide book at all. If you're looking for a book with maps and admission times this is not the book for you. But it is a fantastic book to figure out what the buildings and statues and sights you're walking by are.

It would also be a fun read if you're not going to London but just like history.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book packed with neat tidbits about London. The author organized this book by area, and works his way along the Thames. A typical entry in here is two to three paragraphs long, and occasionally accompanied by a sketch. This is a great book to grab every now and then and read a little bit of. I have not yet had the opportunity to travel to London, but I came away from this book with a wealth of knowledge about some of the lesser-known, but no less remarkable areas and landmarks. There are now some additional not-as-famous sights that have been added to my personal tour list.

[Dick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book with many interesting places to look for in London and facts about those places. I'd have liked a little more of an explanation of the stories around those facts but this may be because of my poor historical knowledge. I would also personally have preferred more bias towards the cultural highlights as the book tends to be weighted towards the historical and architectural. That being said there is still much of interest to be gleaned. Ideal for dipping into in the bath.

[Jimmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was jam packed with fun facts and stories about my favorite city in the world, London. I am a map geek and used a map to make sure I didn't miss a thing. I now need to plan a trip to London.

[Mimna · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book certainly throws a lot of interesting facts at you, but I don't know how many I caught. Full of a variety of London trivia and I feel like if someone is planning a visit to London this would be a great book to discover little places of interest to visit. It's a little repetitive at times but overall not bad.

[Rachel Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Get yer facts! Get yer luvverly facts here! Ten facts a fiver! Come on ladies, don't you want some facts today?!

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

And I still do not know that about London because I gave up at page 158. The book was overdue at the library and not worth the $1 fine I paid for it. It's mostly a collection of the names of old buildings and a sprinkling of facts -- just enough to tease but never enough to satisfy.

The book was poorly put together. Teeny print made it painful for my old eyes to read. And why the choice of illustrations instead of photographs? And why not identify what the illustrations are (only a few of the illustrations on the first 158 pages had captions -- all the rest you had to guess.) And why were the illustrations so SMALL? For example, the text described a statue of a man as being the only cross-eyed statue in London. So, curiosity peaked, it would be nice to see the cross-eyes on said statue. But the illustration was so small that you barely see the HEAD, let alone the cross-eyes.

And some of the facts presented here are suspect. There are at least three "oldest police forces in London" (although one is oldest ORGANIZED police forces, which makes me wonder which was the oldest unorganized police force). The author cannot make up his mind whether to just present facts or to be an architecture critic. You could make a drinking game of how many times you are told that the view is lovely.

A good idea for a book but poorly executed.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this in a little bookstore in Wimbledon Village a few months after moving to London. And no, it has not taken me two years to read it. It has been on standby most of the time.

The book contains lots of interesting facts about London. It is not for the casual first time tourist, but if you want to know where to find the only cross-eyed statue in London or why the different bridges are painted in certain colours this is the book to go to. There's lots and lots of info here, from place name origins to historic events to this king/queen/actor/politician/you-name-it was born/lived/died here. It is full of "on this site, this event took place in that year" and I often stopped to read tidbits aloud to my roomie. If my description made it sound boring, I'm sorry, cause it's not.

Definitely recommend this if you have the slightest interest in London/England/history. London is and has always been full of both the remarkable and the bonkers.

[Belle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book and have recommended it to many people. Its crammed full of so much fascinating (and often oddball) information about everything, that I wanted to keep reading to find out more but at the same time I had to pace myself just to take it all in! I found out the origins of so many British sayings and what an amazing guide book this would be! All it would need are accompanying street maps.
This is certainly a keep forever (and delve into again and again) book, so why have I not given it 5 stars? The only reason is because how on earth can you write such a lovely book about London and not include Highgate? North London just wasn't really covered, which is a crying shame.

[Christopher S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished reading this book, for the second time. In truth it is a reference book for researching locations that you plan to visit or looking for your next place of interest to add to your visitor wish list. It is full of fascinating titbits of information, (many seemingly unrelated to London) like where expressions such as "...mad as a hatter..." and "...at sixes and sevens..." originated as well as how driving on the left came about, who is responsible and why!
I recommend this book for any Londoner, or any visitor who wants a bit more depth added to the facades and frontages of the buildings that they see...

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

c2007. I saw this book in a flashy, smooth papered and glossy edition and it looked wonderful. So much so, that I put my hands in my pockets and bought a second hand version from Amazon. Slightly disappointed because this seems to be the first hardback edition. Nevertheless, it is really interesting - full of facts but not done in a ponderous fashion. This will definitely be one of my go-to books after I have done a London trip and it certainly illustrates how history is hidden on nearly every lane, road or alley in London. Highly recommended.

[J.]

I don't usually enjoy these types of books, but I picked this one up on a whim at a bookstore once and started perusing it. I ended up really enjoying the section I read (about the Strand), largely because of how the book was organized. It is presented in a sensible order both for people who are unfamiliar, and for those VERY familiar, with London. It also allowed for reading for whatever amount of time you were able to dedicate (e.g. you could just read one entry, but you could also read an entire section because it flowed so smoothly and succinctly.)

[Susu · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are lots of details about sights around London - and some will never make it into more traditional guide books. Some of them will definitely lead to "I never knew that!" - granted. Some are only intersting to hardcore Londonistas because the names/places/events involved are not worldwide knowledge. It´s sometimes a little hard to make the connections. And I would have hoped for better quality photographs - and larger size for the illustrations.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is true, I don't know everything about London. The book is neatly organized by city sections and written in a newspaper column style format. It's a bit overwhelming and some points are not so interesting....I don't need to know what the first statue of a monarch sitting on a horse is. In the end it reaffirmed my existing knowledge--Pepys went every where and Christopher Wren built everything.

[Kaylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not one for guide books and I would have never picked this up had my mom not given it to me.

Turns out Winn has equal parts historical trivia and dry wit. I absolutely loved this book (though it isn't the sort of thing one just sits down and reads straight through...). Informative and humorous, and so far removed from the classic guide books that it feels more like a history book than a point of reference for self-guided tours.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very comprehensive compendium of Greater London sights and sites (287 pp.) I thought I knew everything there was to know about London (I have a library of over 1,100 books about London,) but this book surprised me again and again with interesting items. It is an excellent resource.
One slight problem I had with the book was that the author occasionally repeats folk etymologies about phrases and expressions that simply aren't historically accurate. Apart from that, it's terrific.

[Hristian Trendafilov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative! The book follows the boroughs along the river. Talks about the most interesting sights but also hidden gems. And about the history of each place - but not tracing it all, just that period of tine where a fameous person lived or something interesting happened.
Which makes it fragmented and hard to read in a long sitting. But great to flick a few pages every now and then, do some exploring and repeat.

[Northlake Public Library District · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this one up planning my trip to London, but the problem with I Never Knew That . . . is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Not a trivia book, not a travel guide, not a history, but some odd Frankenstein's monster of the three, the book would probably be most useful for current residents of London to read some background information on their neighborhood's history.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this one up planning my trip to London, but the problem with I Never Knew That . . . is that it doesn't know what it wants to be. Not a trivia book, not a travel guide, not a history, but some odd Frankenstein's monster of the three, the book would probably be most useful for current residents of London to read some background information on their neighborhood's history.

[Acacia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book filled with more facts than you'll know what to do with, including such gems as "Rotherhithe Leisure Centre is a very good tongue-twister if you attempt to say it three times quickly".

In all honesty though, this book is super informative and makes you want to get out and explore London!

[Silvia Weyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book packed with really interesting information about London. I'm only giving it three stars because it completely ignores the whole of North London. I don't understand how the author did not think to write a single word about Islington, Camden or Highgate, but devotes a few pages to Shadwell. Still worth reading though, but incomplete.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truthfully, after all these years I thought I had heard most of London's tales. Winn quickly abused me of that notion. If a bit robotic in flow and dry in language, Winn still amazes and illuminates the City with fascinating vignettes and insights. A great piece for both the novice and the habitué. Interesting and engrossing.