The Groundwater Diaries: Trials, Tributaries and Tall Stories from Beneath the Streets of London

The Groundwater Diaries: Trials, Tributaries and Tall Stories from Beneath the Streets of London
Tim Bradford

A flight of imagination back to a time when London was green meadows and rolling hills, dotted with babbling brooks. Join Tim Bradford as he explores the lost rivers of London.Over the last hundred and fifty years, most of the tributaries of the Thames have been buried under concrete and brick. Now Tim Bradford takes us on a series of walks along the routes of these forgotten rivers and shows us the oddities and delights that can be found along the way.He finds the chi in the Ching, explores the links between London’s football ground and freemasons, rediscovers the unbearable shiteness of being (in South London), enjoys the punk heritage of the Westbourne, and, of course, learns how to special-brew dowse. Here, then, is all of London life, but from a very different point of view.With a cast that includes the Viking superhero Hammer Smith, a jellied-eel fixated William Morris, a coprophiliac Samuel Johnson, Deep Purple and the Glaswegian deer of Richmond Park, and hundreds of cartoons, drawings and maps, ‘The Groundwater Diaries’ is a vastly entertaining (and sometimes frankly odd) tour through not-so-familiar terrain.

THE GROUNDWATER DIARIES

Trials, Tributaries and Tall Storiesfrom beneath the Streets of London

TIM BRADFORD

Dedication (#ulink_28caf28d-3676-5370-a3c1-0fcadf91275c)

To Cindy, Cathleen and Seán

Contents

Cover (#u6499860d-b4b5-5584-b8c5-b5bf9717e235)

Title Page (#u1f3446ea-123d-5330-bc40-8bcc93e82568)

Dedication (#ub9afdec2-823f-52ee-b669-86804b8f4413)

AUTUMN (#uc39c5e1e-0dea-5763-a354-38e9efa36cdc)

1.A Bloody Big River Runs Through It (#u9d906781-f004-5f71-ad0b-0647c3c848b1)

2.Special-Brew River Visions (No Boating, No Swimming, No Fishing, No Cycling) (#uc3fb6abb-e703-5747-a652-074fddcd4a30)

London Stories 1: The Dogpeople (#ulink_68e460b1-71f0-5201-b2d6-6fd95f722cfc)

WINTER (#ud6122a3f-d063-5d01-8008-29319fe251d3)

3.Football, the Masons and the Military-Industrial Complex (#u0bdf3e5a-0e33-5263-bef6-e0fbc19a0e92)

London Stories 2: A Young Person’s Guide to House Prices (#ulink_337c0c30-5333-5846-9992-759197847cb6)

4.From Eel to Eternity: William Morris and the Saxon-Viking Duopoly (#u2a76a5b9-0ffc-5294-b3bb-4bf6f764a8f7)

London Stories 3: Going to the Dogs (#ulink_c50d9cc8-d368-5425-97c9-531c7454d734)

5.Spa Wars (#u9a5c9b9d-8f4a-5d14-9ba0-e010ce3b5644)

London Stories 4: The Secret Policeman’s Bar (#litres_trial_promo)

6.Invisible Streams (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 5: Triumph of the Wilf

SPRING (#litres_trial_promo)

7.The Pot and the Pendulum (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 6: Catching Muggers, Starsky-and-Hutch Style (#litres_trial_promo)

8.Can You Feel the Force? (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 7: Our Man in a Panama Hat (#litres_trial_promo)

9.Danish Punk Explosion Dream (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 8: Suspicious Mind (#litres_trial_promo)

10.Big Sky Over Norton Folgate (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 9: Hidden Art Soundscapes in the Aura of Things (#litres_trial_promo)

11.River of Punk (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 10: The Secret Life of the Market Trader (#litres_trial_promo)

12.Fred the Cat and the River of the Dead (#litres_trial_promo)

SUMMER (#litres_trial_promo)

13.Acton Baby! (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 11: How to Fuck Your Knees Before You’re Fifty (#litres_trial_promo)

14.The Suburban River Goddess at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 12: Swedish DIY Fascism (#litres_trial_promo)

15.The Unbearable Shiteness of Being (in South London) (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 13: 30 Love in the Time of Henmania (#litres_trial_promo)

16b.Sorry to Keep You (#litres_trial_promo)

17.The Tim Team (#litres_trial_promo)

18.Doing the Lambeth Walk (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 14: Welcome to Shakespeare Country – Britain’s Heritage Industry (#litres_trial_promo)

AUTUMN (#litres_trial_promo)

19.Bridge Over the River Peck (#litres_trial_promo)

London Stories 15: A Night Out at the Ministry of Sound (#litres_trial_promo)