From Chaucer to Churchill, from Pepys to Dickens - the great figures from London's past all make their appearance in A. N. Wilson's affectionate and passionate account of one of the world's greatest cities.

Dramatic events are here too - from the Great Fire to the Blitz, from the Peasants' Revolt to Mosley's fascist rallies. But he also looks at the physical transformations of the city: the elegant squares and pleasure gardens of the 18th century; the prodigious expansion of the 19th century and the Railway Age. He moves through the First World War and the 'Big Bang' of the 1980s to celebrate the cosmopolitan nature of modern London while deploring the follies of recent urban planning.