A London Year: 365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters

`If you're planning an outing to the capital, it's the perfect appetiser - packed with inspiring detail and observations.'

`Live everyday life, entries can be both monotonous and vivid, but A London Year will have something to teach residents and visitors alike.'

`The perfect book for all who live in or love this eternal, ever-changing city.'

'The erudite selection by editors Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison yields gem after gem.'

`One of the wonderful things about this book is the fact that the revelations themselves are contributed by some of the world's most famous writers. A transcendent read which creates a rich tapestry of our beloved capital through the ages.'

`A near-priceless collection of insights.'

`The perfect book for all who live in or love this eternal, ever-changing city.'

`It takes us through those 365 days through the words of Londoners themselves, skitting and dashing around from the past and the present. And what a cast list it has. In the first few pages, we meet Samuel Pepys (Mr W. Pen has left his sword on the coach to Westminster), Alan Bennett (Reg from Inverness Street Market has died, and we're standing by a trestle-table outside the Good Mixer), and Brian Eno (he's on a bus on the Great Western Road - a mobile version of the village well ). The dipping potential within it is delicious. The modern diary entries are the nicest touch, though, I think. Head-deep in the past, you feel a scorch of white heat suddenly encountering Michael Palin, or Anthony Sher, or Dickon Edwards of '90s Romo band Orlando, and indie band Fosca. Each season edges along with the mention of each moment and memory.'

`Live everyday life, entries can be both monotonous and vivid, but A London Year will have something to teach residents and visitors alike.'

`It is overflowing with pithy, scurrilous, poetic and witty words.'

`If you're planning an outing to the capital, it's the perfect appetiser - packed with inspiring detail and observations.'

Travis Elborough is an author and social commentator. His books include A Traveller's Year, A London Year, The Long-Player Goodbye, Being A Writer and A Walk in the Park: The Life and Times of a People's Institution. Travis is a regular contributor to Radio 4 and the Guardian, and has penned articles on all aspects of travel and culture, from pirates in the Caribbean to donkeys at the British seaside. He has written for the Times, Sunday Times, New Statesman, BBC History Magazine and Kinfolk among others.

NICK RENNISON has worked as a writer, editor and bookseller for more than twenty years. His London Blue Plaque Guide has been through three editions in the last decade and he has also published The Book of London Lists, described by the London Evening Standard as a book that 'can teach even the most die-hard Londoner something they didn't know'. He lives in Stockport.