Every day until Christmas we will be pointing you in the direction of a London Christmas gift that (with a bit of luck) you won’t already have on your list. Climb up onto our collective lap and we’ll see what we can move from our sack to your stockings…
Countless books offer ideas for unusual things to do in London. More than a few of them begin with that famous old chestnut by Dr Johnson, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life...". This new book by Tom Jones does both, but with a charm and pedigree that sets it apart in a marketplace as crowded as Westfield on the first Saturday in January.
Like the much-loved blog from which the book springs, Tired of London, Tired of Life presents an idea for something to do in London every day — from 'Watch the New Year's Day parade' to 'Watch the fireworks over the Thames' at year's end. But this is no compendium of obvious central London stuff. See the Dagenham wind turbines, Visit a barge graveyard in Rainham, Climb Barn Hill (in Brent)...the suburban suggestions will keep tiredness of London at bay in even the most jaded citizen. Longtime readers of the blog will also be pleased to find that the book's content is either completely new, or greatly rewritten.
So while the format and concept are nothing new (Time Out's 1000 Things To Do... books are particularly close cousins), the choice of ideas matched with beautiful illustrations make Tired of London, Tired of Life a treasure both handsome and useful.
Tired of London, Tired of Life from Virgin Books is available in advance copy now from the Museum of London shop, and on more general sale from 5 January.
