Hachette India

Lost London

Richard Guard

Lost London is the story of the city as told through the buildings parks and palaces that are no longer with us. Places like the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens the leading venue for public entertainment in the city for over 200 years or the Palace of Whitehall whose 1500 rooms made it the largest royal residence in Europe until it was destroyed by fire at the end of the 17th century. From bull rings to ice fairs plague pits to molly houses this is a fascinating journey through London's forgotten past unearthing the extraordinary stories that lie beneath familiar streets as well as shining a light in the city's darkest corners.

Richard Guard

Having moved to London in 1984 Richard Guard worked for six years as a cycle courier during which time he fell in love with the city while also gaining an intimate knowledge of its history and topography. Eventually he succeeded in breaking into the film industry and is now one of the country's most sought-after documentary editors with a string of awards to his name. While researching for a film on London Richard delved into the capital's past and found a wealth of inspiration in London's antiquarian bookshops. These literary explorations (and a late-night excursion into hidden London when Richard discovered a way into the disused Kingsway Tram Tunnel on Southampton Row WC1) inspired Lost London. Richard has lived in seventeen different parts of the metropolis over the years and is now settled in East Dulwich with his wife and three sons. He has published articles of cycling and on travelling in Asia and is also the lead singer of the Dulwich Ukulele Club an eleven-piece band that tours the country and plays at a variety of music festivals.