Capital Disasters: How London has Survived Fire, Flood, Disease, Riot and War

This hardback volume chronicles the disasters that have beset London from the fiery destruction of Roman Londinium by Boudicca's hordes in AD 61 to recent catastrophes such as the Ladbroke Grove rail crash of October 1999. Author Withington, a former TV news reporter and national newspaper writer who lives in London, recounts upwards of 100 individual disasters of all types in a lucid and captivating narrative. Disasters are described in sixteen chapters grouped under four headings: Hostile Action; Fires; Accidents; Acts of God. Individual chapters include: Rebellion and Riot; Great Fires of London; Crushes, Collapses and Fatal False Alarms; Train...