In Search of London

About In Search of London

 

In his classic book on London, H. V. Morton turns his traveller's intuition and his reporter's eye for detail on the city that fascinated him since childhood.

 

In this remarkable, living picture of London past, present and timeless he explores the City and the Temple, Covent Garden, Soho and all the "submerged villages beneath the flood of bricks and mortar", uncovering layer upon layer of London's history.

 

Morton follows the leads of imagination and investigation back and forth across the city, tracing unforgettable scenes: the Emperor Claudius leading his war elephants across the Thames; the terrible executions at the Tower; the city that Shakespeare knew, and that of Pepys, and Nelson and Queen Victoria, and also the shattered yet defiant city of the Blitz and the postwar London of 'ruins and hatless crowds'.

 

Morton's quest for the city's heart reveals how London's daily life is rooted in a past that is closer and more familiar than we might think, making In Search of London as informative, entertaining and rich in human colour today as when it was written 50 years ago.

The Author

H. V. Morton

 

H. V. Morton (1892–1979) was one of the most popular travel writers of his time. After a brief period of military service he established a career as a journalist and became a reporter for both The Daily Express and The Daily Herald. H. V. Morton’s debut as an author came in 1927 with In Search of England, a book that became a best seller. His genial writing style endeared him to the countless readers of the books he wrote about his travels around the British Isles, Spain, Italy and the Middle East between 1927 and 1950. In 1941 H. V. Morton accompanied the delegation which travelled to Newfoundland for the meeting between President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill which established the Allied policy for post Second World War Europe, known as the Atlantic Charter. Morton was famously present at the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb by archaeologist Howard Carter and his team in 1922. After the Second World War, H. V. Morton emigrated to South Africa where he lived until his death in 1979.

Rights

Methuen holds the rights to this title in the territories listed below:

• WAL - World All languages

Reviews

 

'One of the world's great travel writers'

The Times

 

'A book to explore London with for most of a lifetime'

The Spectator