London Lore

a wonderful collection of stories and legends, to be recommended to anyone who is at least half in love with the dark side of London’s past. – Peter Ackroyd * The Times *[An] absorbing compendium by folklore expert Steve Roud. He excavates the history of the capital, from obscure suburban streets to famous sites like the Tower of London * The London Paper *I’ve been enthralled … The book’s real strength lies [in] its exposure of deeper levels of custom, tradition and magical thinking that lie beneath the smooth Tarmac of contemporary realism – Will Self * Evening Standard *A spellbinding study of our city’s folklore … digs through layers of hearsay and speculation to investigate how and why the stories and traditions arose in the first place * Newham Recorder *An absorbing and fascinatingly thorough book * Harrow Observer *

Steve Roud recently retired from his position as Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and has served as Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society for over fifteen years. He has been researching British folklore for over thirty years and is the joint author of the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore. His other books include the Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland, which won the Katherine Briggs Folklore Award in 2004, Monday’s Child is Fair of Face … and other traditional beliefs about babies and motherhood and The English Year, a month-by-month guide to festivals. He also compiles the Folk Song Index and the Broadside Index, two internationally acclaimed computer databases of traditional folk and popular song.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.