Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

  • London

  • The Biography, Foundations
  • By: Peter Ackroyd
  • Narrated by: Simon Callow
  • Length: 3 hrs
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (84 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

London

By: Peter Ackroyd
Narrated by: Simon Callow
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Ackroyd portrays London from the time of the druids to the beginning of the twenty-first century, noting magnificence in both epochs, but this is not a simple chronological record. It is a comprehensive account, animated by Ackroyd's concern for the close relationship between the present and the past as well as by what he describes as the peculiar "echoic" quality of London whereby its texture and history actively affect the lives and personalities of its citizens. London is perhaps the most important study of the city ever written, and confirms Ackroyd's status as what one critic has called "our age's greatest London imagination". Foundations tells the story of London's formation and physical conception, it's early growth and character.
©2000 Peter Ackroyd (P)2004 Random House Audiobooks
  • Abridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Europe Great Britain
Show More Show Less
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Alan Partridge: Big Beacon cover art
Shakespeare cover art
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection cover art
From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast (Series 1) cover art
The Last London cover art
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England cover art
I Never Knew That About London cover art
London Labour and the London Poor cover art
Restoration London cover art
London Orbital cover art
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict cover art
The Diary of Samuel Pepys cover art
London in the Eighteenth Century cover art
The American Civil War cover art
In Search of the Dark Ages cover art
The Alan Clark Diaries cover art

Critic reviews

"Peter Ackroyd was born to write the biography of London....A brilliant book" ( Sunday Telegraph)

What listeners say about London

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    55
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    10
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Ian Parke

London, not as I thought I knew it.

Excellent production, Simon Callow is superb with the type of voice that one can listen to for hours. The content was fascinating and gave me new insight into how London became London.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Abbas

good but short

this could easily be merged with Peter Akcroyd's other titles to make a single expansive book

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Nigel

Get under the skin of a city

I'm neither a Londoner, nor a London-dweller, and this is the first time I've wished I could be either. Ackroyd's introduction to the city is compelling, with believable conclusions and a good sprinkling of amusing anecdote. The links between the ancient past and the city's bustling present are rich and thought-provoking. But beware - you'll want to keep stopping to check a map and follow the lines of ancient walls and roads as Simon Callow describes them in his measured tones. If you are lucky enough to be in the City, you can play a real-life 'Da Vinci Code' by visiting the three ancient Druidic sacred groves that are alleged to stand in the heart of the city. By calling this a biography, Ackroyd promises to bring the city to life; he succeeded for me, and the book does what is says on the cover.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Anonymous User

It’s greedy to have split this book up

Brilliantly read, brilliantly written but the splitting up of the book seems to me greedy. I thought it was the whole book, I should have noticed reading time, I think though that it would have been more fare if Audible had been more clear.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for MRS JANE THOMPSON

What a con!

Expecting the listener to pay for each 3 hour section of the book is simply not on, particularly when this is not made clear in the description. Simon Callow reads very well, but I will be reverting to print for the remainder.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful