'If you're planning an outing to the capital, it's the perfect appetiser - packed with inspiring detail and observations.' -- Frank Barrett Mail on Sunday Travel 'Book of the Week' 'Live everyday life, entries can be both monotonous and vivid, but A London Year will have something to teach residents and visitors alike.' -- Lowenna Waters Financial Times 'The erudite selection by editors Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison yields gem after gem.' Metro 'A near-priceless collection of insights.' Londonist '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.' Caught by the River 'It is overflowing with pithy, scurrilous, poetic and witty words.' Kensington & Chelsea Today '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.' Best of British 'The perfect book for all who live in or love this eternal, ever-changing city.' The Angel Resident

A former bookseller and Web-site editor, TRAVIS ELBOROUGH has been a freelance writer, author, and cultural commentator for the last decade. His books include The Bus We Loved: London's Affair with the Routemaster, Wish You Were Here: England on Sea and London Bridge in America. He lives in London N16. 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 Manchester. Travis and Nick's previous book is London Quiz.

200 diarists, including: James Agate Elias Ashmole W.N.P. Barbellion Tony Benn Alan Bennett John Betjeman James Boswell Elizabeth Bowen Ford Madox Brown Fanny Burney Dora Carrington Alan Clark Ossie Clark John Dee Charles Dickens Bubb Dodington Maria Edgeworth Edward VI Dickon Edwards George Eliot John Evelyn Michael Faraday Joseph Farington Caroline Fox George Gissing Alec Guinness Nathaniel Hawthorne Derek Jarman John Keats Oona King Charles Lamb James Lees-Milne Henry Machyn Thomas Moore Harold Nicolson Michael Palin Samuel Pepys Vita Sackville-West Jonathan Swift W. M. Thackeray Vincent Van Gogh Queen Victoria Horace Walpole Evelyn Waugh John Wesley Virginia Woolf Joan Wyndham