Overview

There is probably not a London suburb with more intense historical connections, more diversity and more astonishing buildings and artefacts than Greenwich. There are sections on MARITIME GREENWICH - home of the Maritime museum and the CUTTY SARK; ROYAL GREENWICH - Greenwich Park was Henry VIII's favourite residence and where he met Anne Boelyn; SCIENTIFIC GREENWICH - home of the Royal Observatory and GMT and of course The Dome itself... What's it going to be like compared to similar vast jamborees - the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Festival Britain of 1951, what is that strange fabric stretched over those yellow spikes and WHO is going to settle in the 1400-home Millennium Village, to be opened in 2000, with the remains of the old gasworks lying a couple of feet below

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Reviews

'An ideal souvenir for any visitor wanting a straightforward account of the place's development from fishing village to backdrop to the Dome' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY 'Charles Jennings's engaging history explores how a draughty bend of the river at Greenwich became a place of global importance...a rich tapestry of history.' OBSERVER 'His affection for the place is evident on every page... His book, easy and anecdotal in style is a reminder of why Greenwich, with its rich history, was an appropriate focus for our millennial attention.' SUNDAY TIMES 'Charles Jennings's book on Greenwich is the business- witty, erudite, readable... fascinating.' TIME OUT 'Greenwich was initially thought a poor choice for the millennium celebrations. Beyond the picturesque park, Observatory and Naval College, it is a sprawl of run-down estates. The transport links were ineffectual and the Dome site was a ghastly industrial wasteland, in a state of what Jennings calls poisonous decay thanks to chemical plants and gas works. Many considered Birmingham a better choice. What swung the decision was the weight of history. What could be a more appropriate place to mark the millenium than the very place where time itself is measured? Charles Jennings' Greenwich explores the history that culminated in the Dome--a story as curious and eclectic as the place itself. Somehow this obscure fishing village beyond city boundaries grew to become the centre of Britain's Navy, the birthplace of classical architecture and a Royal home. Greenwich Mean Time was declared in an 1880 Act of Parliament, having come into common use through railway timetable synchronisation. Before that, longitude, latitude and the positions of the stars were already been calculated at the Observatory. Jennings' previous portraits of Britain--the upper classes caricatured in People Like Us and Northern life explored in Up North--demonstrated his wry humour. But Greenwichis a very different, meandering history, which doesn't always capture the place and its people. The most fascinating material in the book is the working-class history and lurid folk law--wild beast shows, tumbling and intoxication at the Greenwich Fair; the highwaymen of Blackheath; notorious murderers--which could have filled an entire book in itself.' - Sarah Champion , AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW

Author Information

Charles Jennings was born in London and was educated there and at Oxford University. He is married with two children and works as a writer and journalist.

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