Discovering London Curiosities

Curiosity is the desire to know or learn, inquisitiveness about trifles or other people's affairs, a curious matter or investigation, a vanity, a curious detail or feature. This book will introduce readers to a London so full of curiosities of all those definitions that they will in future 'watch where they go'. There must be many items that are passed every day without a second glance that would interest both the visitor and the Londoner - 'if I had known it was there and what it was'. For example, the statue of Charles I at Charing Cross and Aldgate Pump have history to tell, and they are only two of the hundreds of curiosities in London. After Charles' execution his statue was bought by a blacksmith and melted down - or was it? The water from the pump tasted different, so where did it come from originally? The chapters are arranged so that they make up interesting walks for exploring certain parts of London.