Customer Reviews
Sheer Brilliance - By: Mr. A. R. J. Green, 06 Jan 2009 
Clever, witty, remarkably easy too read & broken down for easy reference. The book is one of the most enthrallling I've read I would tell anyone with even a smalll interest in the mysterious side of London to buy it. Just hope Roud may think of doing something similar with other cities York, Nottingham etc...
Highly recommended - By: FatBat, 16 Dec 2008 I can't recommend this book too highly. It is sensible, erudite & completely fascinating, & tells you more about the folklore & traditions of London than you would ever believe possible. Horn fairs, dancing chimney sweeps, the real Dick Turpin & the truth about Ann Boleyn's well, pig-faced ghosts, witches, murders & even a vampire. The only problem is that once you have started reading it is very hard to stop.
Fascinating book - By: A. Reader, 20 Oct 2008 This is a fascinating book for anyone who loves London, & an eye-opener if you have ever wondered whether cities have any folklore apart from ghost stories. Steve Roud divides London into seven regions, & finds an amazing variety of tales & customs (past & present) to discuss in each one, & links them to the buildings & streets. In the section on the City of Westminster, for instance, you get gruesome tales of hangings at Tyburn, conspiracy theories surrounding the fate of Cromwell's corpse, the custom of wife-selling, May Day celebrations by chimney sweeps, plague pits, the fair at Mayfair, gypsy fortune tellers, a school Pancake Day custom, the famous ghosts of 50 Berkeley Square & Newgate Gaol, & much more.
Roud doesn't just tell the story or describe the custom. He looks into its history & assesses the evidence, quoting directly from old or influential accounts. He has a rational, often amusing, way of dealing with nonsense & wild theories. We may have to wave goodbye to some favourite notions (about Sweeney Todd, or the Tower ravens, or Ring a Ring o' Roses), but the reasons behind them are always interesting. London's real traditions are even more entertaining than the fictions.
