Dr Johnsons London, Liza Picard
Dr Johnsons London, Liza Picard
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Dr Johnson's London

Author: Liza Picard

Narrator: Fiona Shaw

Abridged: 6 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/10/2006

Synopsis

Like its popular and acclaimed predecessor RESTORATION LONDON, this book is the result of the author's passionate interest in the practical details of the everyday life of our ancestors, so often ignored in more conventional history books. Based on every possible contemporary source - diaries, almanacs, newspapers, advice books, memoirs, government papers and reports - Liza Picard examines every aspect of life in London: the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework, laundry and shopping; clothes and jewellery, cosmetics and hairdressing; medicine, sex, hobbies, education and etiquette; religion and popular beliefs; law and crime. This book spans the years 1740 to 1770, starting when the gin craze was gaining ground and ending when the east coast of America was still British.

`Accessible and vivid. Picard's curiosity and enthusiasm are infectious, and she has an instinct for what will interest the lay reader' Daily Telegraph

Read by Fiona Shaw

(p) 2000 Orion Publishing Group

About Liza Picard

Liza Picard was born in 1927. She is the bestselling author an acclaimed series of books on the history of London: ELIZABETH'S LONDON, RESTORATION LONDON, DR JOHNSON'S LONDON and VICTORIAN LONDON. Her most recent book, CHAUCER'S PEOPLE, explores the Middle Ages through the lives of the pilgrims in THE CANTERBURY TALES. She read law at the London School of Economics and was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn, but did not practise. She worked for many years in the office of the Solicitor of the Inland Revenue before retiring to become a full-time author. She lives in London.

About Fiona Shaw

Fiona Shaw is an Irish actress and theatre director. She is best known for her aclaimed theatre roles but to International audiences she is probably most familiar for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films and in 2011 for her role as Marnie Stonebrook in the True Blood series. Fiona was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001 for her services to drama and she has of course read numerous audiobooks including Dr. Johnson's London by Liza Picard, for Orion.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship on October 20, 2019

An interesting and well-researched reference on everyday life in London in the mid 18th century, particularly for the poor and middle classes, this book covers everything from housing to medicine to jobs and labor relations to entertainment. It’s minutely organized and indexed, making it very easy t......more

Goodreads review by Richard on June 17, 2021

This fact-packed exploration of life in London between 1740 and 1770 is entertaining and informative. By necessity it lacks an overarching narrative, but Picard's weaving-together of her wealth of details is largely coherent and only occasionally scrappy. Similarly, her personal comments on those de......more

Goodreads review by Hutch on March 02, 2011

The only reason this book took me so long to finish is that I read it aloud to my husband at bedtime. Picard creates a fascinating account of life in 18th century London, and the best part is definitely the largest, first section that deals with the poorest element. The descriptions are very visual,......more

Quotes

At last, a riveting history book with no wars, few dates and minimal references to the King ... Picard has an unerring eye for picking out the most vivid phrase, the most apt memory or pithiest description from the wealth of contemporary information that exists Sunday Express

There are fascinating disquisitions on do-it-yourself decorating, on male and female underwear, on funerals, and on the language of fans ... Dr Johnson's London is a Baedeker of the past ... It is absorbing and revealing in equal measure The Times

In this new survey of Johnson's London, which spans the years 1740 to 1770, Liza Picard reveals what it was that proved so compelling about the monstrous metropolis ... With her keen eye for human quirks and human weakness, Picard brings the age's tortuous splendours and profound murkiness vividly to life, and does so with great verve and originality Observer

Picard's exploration of life in the mid-eighteenth century succeeds in being both accessible and vivid. Her curiosity and enthusiasm are infectious, and she has an instinct for what will interest the lay reader Daily Telegraph

This book sweeps across the London of 1740 to 1770 like a flying magnifying glass. [Picard's] dry humour and eagle eye make her a superb guide. It opens with a sedan chair tour around George II's London and along the river. I can only say it is brilliant Camden New Journal

This wonderful book drops us right in the noisy, dirty, dung-ridden heart of mid-eighteenth-century London ... Picard's street-level approach builds up a compelling, all-encompassing picture of how Londoners, from commoners to kings, lived and died Glasgow Herald

Read Liza Picard's book, wrap yourself in the atmosphere of the past, and you'll emerge with a gulp of relief to be living now, not then Sunday Times

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