No Free Parking: The Curious History of London's Monopoly Streets

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From the medieval cobbles, through Dickensian iron and fog, to the neon lights and bustle of the twenty-first century, the ever-changing streets of London map out the vibrant stories, triumphs and struggles of everyone who ever called London home.

From the Roman and Celts marching along the ancient Old Kent Road, to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, the game of Monopoly has painted London's story across cheerful coloured tiles.

But those Monopoly streets live and breathe - they don't just illuminate our history. They open up whole new ways of thinking about it. The mobs have taken to our streets. The overlords have taken them back. Wars have spilled out into them. Lovers have snuck around them, and fires have raged through them.

In a city of rags and riches, where folk hero Dick Whittington believed the streets were paved with gold, anything could happen - and everything has.

You may think you know the history of London. You don't. Or at least, not entirely. This is the story of the capital as you've never, quite, heard it before.

Author Bio

Nicholas Boys Smith is a Londoner. He read history at Cambridge where he received a double first and an historical research MPhil with distinction. After an international career with McKinsey & Co and in finance, he founded and now runs the London-based social enterprise Create Streets. He has served as a Commissioner for Historic England and has a host of distinguished academic credentials. Alain de Botton has called his recent research: 'an artful recipe book for that most crucial of human achievements: good cities.' He has written for the Spectator, Evening Standard, Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph, The Critic, etc, and been interviewed across TV and radio.