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 Crashes; Plague; and Wild Weather. In addition to the text around 40 black and white plates provide some illustrative background. There is also a full five‐page index.
All the expected disasters are here and a few more besides. Great Fires of London, not surprisingly, devotes 14 pages to the conflagration that began in a Pudding Lane bakehouse on 1st September 1666, leaning heavily on the eyewitness account of Samuel Pepys. His property was spared, although he did have to bury his port and Parmesan cheese as a precaution, but over 13,000 houses, one‐third of the city's total, were burned to the ground. No fire since has come close in scale, but Withington recounts numerous other blazes such as the massive one that destroyed the Palace of Westminster in 1834, the Crystal Palace fire of 1936 and the two fires at Alexandra Palace a century apart in 1873 and 1980
Also covered here in eight pages is the Kings Cross tube station fire of 18th November 1987. Having ascended the Piccadilly Line escalator under which this fire began just 30 minutes before a fireball burst across the ticket hall and claimed 31 lives, this account naturally held the reviewer's attention. But Withington succeeds in bringing all the disasters to life, spicing them with anecdote and tales of individual bravery. He also makes the effort to explain both the origins and repercussions of many disasters. Thus his account of the Moorgate crash of 1975 devotes nearly four pages to possible explanations for the train hurtling into the buffers and the measures taken to prevent a recurrence. Similarly, his coverage of the Marchioness pleasure‐boat sinking on the Thames in August 1990 has two pages on the aftermath, including a summary of the findings of the public inquiry.
While Withington has not written this book as a reference text and the narrative format does not always lend itself to quick consultation, there is no doubt it will be one of the most valuable sources for basic information on the disasters that have occurred in London. Other reference sources may provide detail, often at greater length and depth, and historical accounts on the capital may cover much the same ground, but there are few similar books providing so convenient an overview of all major London disasters. Recent titles such as Neal (1992) or Milford (1998) tend to focus on a particular period or a specific type of disaster. London and South East England reference collections will want this book, as will other major UK public and general libraries. Outside the UK the appeal will be limited, but this is the definitive general source for broad summary detail on the fires, famines, floods, storms, diseases, crashes, explosions, enemy action, acts of terrorism (and even earthquakes) that have befallen the UK's capital over the last 2,000 years.
