Benedict le Vay reveals London's most bizarre and macabre secrets with his novel approach, which doubles both as a thematic guide to the hidden attractions of the streets of London and a compelling insight into the citizens and culture of this historic city.

...meet a man who listens to tube trains from the road above with a large hearing-trumpet, the inventor who made giant ships out of ice, a chap who rides down the river in an Edwardian bath chair, the guy with the world's biggest collection of pillar boxes...These are just a few of the colourful characters to be found in Eccentric London. This is an insider's guide to the city by someone who has lived, loved, eaten, drank and worked in London for five decades. He takes you to the best and most eccentric pubs and restaurants, specialist shops (26,000 stores selling £62billion worth of stuff a year), bizarre bookshops, weird museums, least-known secret neighbourhoods where you won't find tourists, but will find the utterly odd and amazing.Marvel at the petrified pile of century-old hot cross buns at the Widow's Son pub; discover what the 'Royal Ravenmaster' does for a living; and pay a visit to Pierre Vivant's curious tree, formed from 75 sets of blinking traffic lights. Ben le Vay's Eccentric London will help you dig beneath the capital's barmy surface to reveal the barmier world beneath.

Eccentric Laughter explores new ways to watch postwar British film comedies, arguing that their representations of eccentricity offered a set of possible queer futures for a Britain that had been destabilized by years of conflict and social upheaval. Far from being the apolitical cinema described by previous critics, these comedies—including both perennial favorites from Ealing Studios and neglected films ripe for rediscovery—make a joke of and suggest alternatives to the heterocentric home and family. Referencing a wide range of theories, the book gives details of how these films' comic queernesses are not structured on fixed identities but on an open play of possibilities, depicting eccentricity, artifice, drag, ruins, and the wild in ways that can still offer inspiration for experiments in living today. Engaging with contemporary queer theories and politics, the book argues that these films continue to address questions of urgent relevance to students and other viewers in the twenty-first century. Films discussed include The Belles of St. Trinian's, Genevieve, The Lavender Hill Mob, Simon and Laura, The Stranger Left No Card, and Young Wives' Tale.

A delightful romp around the British Isles searching out the mad marquess, the eccentric earl, the barmy baron, and the daft duke and gathering a fair collection of crackpot inventors, weird adventurers and fascinatingly and not to mention insanely curious customs along the way. All of which make this rainy little island home to that remarkable breed of individual - the British eccentric.This expanded book still doesn't tell you where Stonehenge is, but it does tell you where ten spookier stone circles are where there will be no crowds, no admission charges and no parking problems... This is a book for the intelligent, humorous, curious tourist who doesn't go with the crowd. It is also a great armchair read that has been known to have readers weeping with mirth at the weird ways of the British.

So you think eccentric France means frogs' legs and pigs' trotters? Think again. Piers Letcher takes you to places where you can feast on forgotten vegetables, saddle up for national donkey day, or gorge yourself at the world tripe championships. He also reveals the truth behind France's most colorful characters, including Coco Chanel, Joan of Arc, Mata Hari and the Marquis de Sade. This latest addition to the Bradt eccentric series makes fascinating reading for those looking to discover the hidden side of France, as well as for armchair travelers who delight in the extraordinary. Feeling adventures? Try your hand at pig-squealing, or brave the Rhone Valley's Crocodile Farm; Romantic? Visit the Lovers' Wall in Montmartre, or Provence's hidden Paradise; Festive? Indulge yourself at the Palais du chocolat, or take a Champagne cure; Or just plain curious? Check out the country's most unusual towns, gardens, hotels and restaurants.

Cambridge is a popular city for international tourists, keen to take a behind-the-scenes look at this old English university city's people and places. Benedict le Vay reveals hidden secrets and amazing stories of the city's architecture, scandalous stories of the most outrageous dons and, most importantly, how to punt on the River Cam without looking like a complete prat.

"You don't just visit Edinburgh; you fall in love with the place." The best-selling author of Eccentric Britain takes you away from the obvious tartanalia and into Auld Reekie's hidden corners to find spooky stories, weird buildings, mad judges and strange customs. Benedict le Vay also asks the pressing questions that others avoid: Is the Scottish Parliament a monumental cock-up? Was the Stewart dynasty really useless? Should you eat deep-fried Mars Bars...?

A Tesco on every corner, Boden catalogues piled through the letterbox, and Center Parcs holidays - Britain has been overrun by all-pervasive corporate sameness. Or has it? Ben le Vay - expert on all things eccentric - reveals the quirky gems hidden near your home: hotter than the spice girls everywhere, Norfolk's fascinating Mustard Museum; Devon's Gnome Reserve, home to over 1,000 of Britain's beloved garden characters; or the fourth Earl of Dunmore's eccentric home, The Pineapple. Encompassing eccentric pastimes, aristocrats and bizarre last wishes, Ben le Vay's Eccentric Britain is both a humorous and entertaining read, as well as practical guide to some of Britain's most peculiar and unexpected monuments, gardens and museums. Benedict le Vay is a features editor on a leading British newspaper. He spends his spare time researching zany facts about the British and their way of life. He is also the author of Bradt's Eccentric London and Britain from the Rails.

Everyone knows about the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral and the London Tower, but Eccentric London focuses on the capital's less conventional history. This heavily illustrated book takes the reader around the capital district by district, stopping at a range of unusual locations including the hatters Lock & Co., patronized by Napoleon and little changed since the early 18th century; Highgate Cemetery, with chains leading up through gravestones to tiny bells as an insurance policy should someone be buried alive; and Britain's smallest prison in Trafalgar Square. Eccentric London is an exploration of the hallmarks of London's long and chequered history, illustrated by Ricky Leaver's unique photography.

A guide to the quirky gems hidden across Britain and the weird and wacky things the British do, from bog snorkelling and chimney peeping, to mud marathons and cheese rolling.