London 1870-1910: City at its Zenith
by Andrew Saint
Lund and Humphries £24.43

THIS intriguing, informative, richly illustrated and engagingly written volume covers 40 years of a city living a epochal change, from the completion of the Joseph Bazalgette’s outfall sewers, switching London Underground to electric propulsion, the growth of trade unionism, birth of social democracy and … the first all-weather ice rinks made possible using a novel mixture of glycerine and water.

In a curious, and perhaps telling, coincidence, the period addressed is equivalent to the average lifespan for the time of just 41.8 years.

The agricultural depression meant that many sought refuge in London where overcrowding and poor sanitation caused much premature death.