London is more than a city, it is a melting pot of peoples and characters.
Over the years, the capital has been home to an array of outlandish folk. There was the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who was stuffed and put on display in University College when he died. “Anti-protein” protestor Stanley Green recited his message on a placard up and down Oxford Street for 30 years.
Then there was Bumper Harris, a man with a wooden leg who was paid to go up and down London’s first Underground railway escalator all day long, to inspire the public to use it. One aristocratic eccentric had a carriage pulled by zebras; while a publican named Nathaniel Bentley sealed up a room and stopped washing after his bride died on the eve of their wedding. His pub, Dirty Dicks, became a legend and can still be visited in Bishopsgate.
These and other unusual characters are featured in a new hardback book, “Eccentric London” by Tom Quinn (New Holland, price £14.99 from British bookshops). It also includes some out-of-the-ordinary places to visit, from the Japanese Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park to the display of full-size dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park. Shops with a difference are another feature of London. From one of the last remaining shops to sell snuff (ground up powdered tobacco) – G. Smith & Sons in Shaftesbury Avenue – to the remarkable Twinings Tea Shop (run by ten consecutive Mr. Twinings) in Fleet Street.
If anyone should want proof of the saying “fact is stranger than fiction” it can be found in this city, and within the pages of “Eccentric London”.
Website: www.newhollandpublishers.com
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