Peter Ackroyd is more than a writer...he is a poet and bard!

I love London. Its my Capital , said a guy born in Scotland but from 3, a toddler raised in England. I class myself as English not Scottish and that's no disrespect meant , I grew up with a Scottish mum my only Scottish influence, surrounded by English people. I am always drawn to London, its amazing, I love the city. That said the older I have grown the more I am drawn to my birthplace. In conclusion, The UK is amazing. I love this place.

London is fascinating! I love long walks along its streets and lanes. The mix of old and new, the bizarre and familiar inspires me.

@rw9175

3 жыл бұрын

My fav art of the LONDON EXPERIENCE...Just walking her streets...!!!

@DaveSCameron

Жыл бұрын

@@rw9175 "Her"? You racist you! 😉

I read Chatterton and Clerkenwell Tales when I was in college, and ever since then there's nothing more fascinating than to hear Peter Ackroyd talk about London and its dusty old secrets.

I've been in love with London for years now, but sadly don't live there. I feel at home in this fascinating city. The feelings I get when I come back are similar to those I would get upon meeting an old friend, and when I leave again, it feels like I'm saying goodbye to the love of my life... I come to London several times a year, whenever time and budget allow, and in 2017 I'll try to break my personal record of 5 times in a single year. It's an addiction, a deep obsession for me. But a positive one, as London is a hub of cultural and social experiences, a testament of history, an inexhaustible source of inspiration... I love this city, I tell you. And in Peter Ackroyd's work, I find the same fascination as the one that lives in my own eyes and heart when they are turned towards London.

@SarahAllenHumboldt

6 жыл бұрын

lethe56....your perception of London is so passionate and all embracing; I would love to walk the streets with you; thank you. The first time I had to leave, I stood at the entrance of the airplane and cried.

@leon37847

3 жыл бұрын

where are you from?

@lethe56

3 жыл бұрын

@@leon37847 France. Not too far away. But with lockdown and travel restrictions, it's been tough. I only went twice this year...

I have this book, It's my favorite, I wrote inside it was as close to London I'd ever get. I've just entered my fifth decade, and with it I long to know what the river Thames smells like, to wander the streets of Dickens and Jack the Ripper. Vancouver can't compare.☔🇨🇦

i am Irish and i find this documentary brilliant thanks for loading it up

That’s the way to describe London - elemental London. Thank God we have the scale and epic of London

he saved his parmesan cheese !! brilliant program. thank you for posting !!

@TheSpikehere

4 жыл бұрын

Of course he did. It would have been worth a fortune.

Thanks!! I never even knew this existed. Ive read the book. Magnificent.

Well done for uploading this. Classic.

From a fellow Londoner - always my favourite historian - fabulous. xxx

Peter Ackroyd is great Brittish and European writer ! I worship his books !

Great doc. Lived in London my entire life and wouldn't switch it for anything!

Thank you for uploading this. It's one of my most favourite documentaries.

I love his books. Great to see this.

Fantastic, i'll never forget my first visit to London last year, what a buzz, now im in love.

@milkyedmonds4150

7 жыл бұрын

what a lovely thing to say about our city. although it has alot of atrocities and suffering, it is also recognised aroumd the world for both its good side and bad side. But to alot of us natives, its the city i:we love so dear. Im proud to be a Londoner cos its always been and is the first city in the western world to accept people of different colours and cultures. I know there will be some ignoranacis that will beg to differ , but all i can say to them meager few is go and read the history of London and learn how it became the financial hub of the world .And yes we had black people here 100s of years ago (not as slaves) cos they were the ones that worked flr queen liz 1st and had escaped being snatched by slave hunters in there own country . You see ? this city has done more than anyone else to help others in need of refuge and help in living safely....so that was a lovely statement to make irishfox.... God blessya...😉

@irishelk3

7 жыл бұрын

Milky Edmonds Yeah, i was just really taken away by it yknow, i knew in my heart that it was a place that i instantly loved, and especially the history and the music that started there, and im also a big William Blake fan so myself and my buddy trekked to Soho to look for his first home, only to find out it had been demolished in 1965, what a shame.

thank you for uploading this, since i am in the usa at the moment. I love to learn more about London.

These stuff are really great helping you to sleep

Good show! --Thanks for ULing!!

@shawndamccormick278

5 жыл бұрын

Getting thumbs up 4 years later. 😀

thank you

Brilliant documentary just brilliant

London is best remembered from a distance!

@novianovioTV

3 ай бұрын

No, you have to stride its streets in person, proudly and with a sense of purpose London itself provides, like Ackroyd does here

Thank you! Always wanted to buy the book ... of course I was living in London at the time, so couldn't afford it ..... will for sure get the book from the library.

Very entertaining and informative, but Ackroyd does remind me of a grown up Stewie.

@ajs41

6 жыл бұрын

Who's Stewie?

@russlawrence7185

5 жыл бұрын

Whose stewie 😂😂😂 family guy ffs absolutely pissing myself here Ingmar 😂😂😂

@nunyastieger3541

4 жыл бұрын

Hahahaha

@nunyastieger3541

4 жыл бұрын

First comment I read in the first minute of watching this now I cant unhear it damn you lmao

@pdunderhill

3 жыл бұрын

By stature, stance, delivery and use of language he reminds me of Churchill.

I love that Peter still calls Bouadicia "BOWDISEYA" I bet he's in some Soho alehouse right now saying KIYEV! 👍😂

25:57 for the great fire of london in 1666

Peter Ackroyd is bonkers.

@croydonrudeness1079

3 жыл бұрын

hahaha that made me lol. He's certainly a character and also brilliant, London A Biography is a fantastic book.

did UK TV cut the scene in which Charlotte Bronte is portrayed after nearly 10 minutes or did you and if so for what reason? I have the original BBC broadcast and noticed the difference in running time of about 1min and then I noticed that it was this scene that was missing.

I wonder what the peoples of ancient times would have thought of our fascination with archaeology - saving a 2,000 year old section of wall in the middle of a city probably would have seemed pointless to them.

@pdunderhill

3 жыл бұрын

Alexander the great was fascinated by, what was ancient even then, Egypt.

@robrobert9541

3 жыл бұрын

@@pdunderhill Yes, but to the point of preserving an ancient ruin?

London is nuts, I'd love to go there again. I'd choose to live in York though.

Do you have the water episode please?

I love London

8:25 .....is that dude the Senator from the movie Gladiator?

@Laphin

9 жыл бұрын

Yep, that's him!

@dormonmartell4051

9 жыл бұрын

Brother Cadfael.

Wwoderick ...and Biggus Dickus!!

How do bells ring backwards? 3.40.....does he mean that the peals were rung in reverse order?

@johnthekeane

8 жыл бұрын

+Sue Harvey Yes.

A dangerous place, creativity, stimulation but no peace. Alas now too expensive for ordinary people.

Being a Londoner, I wish I could experience what first time tourists experience.

@mikesnyder1788

7 жыл бұрын

Our first visit there in 1987 was priceless! Not only were we amazed and dwarfed by everything we saw, the Londoners were so totally gracious to my dear (now deceased) mother-in-law. It was her dream to visit London and as an advanced Multiple Sclerosis patient, we really had to improvise. Everyone, and I mean everyone, went out of their way to make our visit special... from the private docent at Westminster Abbey to the young woman who stopped traffic near Tower Bridge so we might have safe passage across the street. Best to you and yours from the US of A!

@antipatsy

6 жыл бұрын

Sian Waller my first visit was in 1995, after years of longing. I could feel the age and the history through the ground. Westminster Abbey was utterly entrancing; I think I frightened our guide, as I couldn't take my hands off one of the doors. I might be a bit mental, but I loved it.

have you all watched "the secret history of our streets"?

Great doc about a great city, thank you very much. Obviously Hitler didn't want to destroy that tasty financial district; he hated people, not wealth and power. Some must have taken it to appear that the rich were in collusion with him. I think he just said, "All this will soon be mine!" Incredible how indomitable the people there have been. Five million books burnt in one night - that must have pleased the devil. When I read a book about Virginia Woolf's suicide as a youth, I don't remember the connection between the bombing of her house (her city) and her total despair being drawn. Maybe I was too young to understand?

I used to know Peter Ackroyd when he lived in East Acton, on his way to the station in the morning he would always stop and give my younger brother Horace and I a few sweets each, even though we were both in our forties and married by then. It didn't matter though as we gave them to our dad, George never charged him much either just enough to get our cigarettes for the day and something for our own childrem, happy days

@SarahAllenHumboldt

6 жыл бұрын

grofuss88, Thank you for sharing that memory; that is charming.

43:33 - I walked down there :-)

As if before the Romans came Britain had no culture, as if there existed no Coelbren alphabet. No, even before the Romans/ Anglo-Saxons came to Britain there was already a centuries old civilization. Why do you think they murdered every Druid they could find?

@CleversonSantos

7 жыл бұрын

Roland Wieffering Simply because they did... Druids were as the fanatic muslim cleric are today... but in those days human rights didnt even exist...lol

@kelrogers8480

3 ай бұрын

Your comment is very immature and silly. But just perhaps they objected to the Druids' practice of human sacrifice!

One or two small factual errors, normal in Ackroyd ( for instance trams never ran past or even near London Stone ) but quite a well presented video with the usual BBC knack of making costumed actors ( playing commentators like Tacitus , Pepys etc ) look relaxed, normal and natural. The idea of fire as a purifying and renewing force in London and that London is always "trying to kill you" is compelling and interesting.

Episode 3????

A very interesting documentary. I shouldn't make fun of Peter Ackroyd and his talking about romans etc, but his pronunciation of "r" as "w" (more or less) reminds me of this clip from Monty Python's "Life of Brian" kzread.info/dash/bejne/eqaXxKWQZNyfdNo.html

I live in London

lekker dramatisch

FOR AN AMAZING INSIGHT TO LONDON IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE SECOND -- JEM AND SAM A REVENGERS TALE BY FERDINAND MOUNT SAM BEING MR PEPYS.

hello it is me

9:00

Anybody else notice he confused London and Tower Bridge?

Cheery intro

I saw a Hillman Hunter.

Jonathan Thomas, bless you, Sir; this is excellent, and I would never have seen it, if not for you. I regret the ingratitude and rudeness below of (I assume) other Americans. They obviously have no appreciation of story telling and literary musings.

I wish it would have given more information and less grandiose ramblings of the presenter.

@J-SH06

5 жыл бұрын

myrtle164 couldn’t agree more But that’s the type of cunt you meet in London. Have you ever seen the movie withnal and I? There’s a line in it set in the English countryside where a local describes a man as a “London type , came up here with his son”. Always reminds me of peter ackroyd. Pretentious man interested in sodomy.

@thomasbell8800

4 жыл бұрын

@@J-SH06 Blithering jackanapes.

New York.

Liverpool. #milesahead

I wish I could turn off the music

A woaman woad

was looking forward to watching this. Will move on and find another one, after the first few minutes. For that matter...not only can LONDON kill....but then.... so can Oslo, Munich, Kyoto, or Boston. Weird introduction.

@nokomarie1963

8 жыл бұрын

+Marvin Bone Boston is especially given to lurking in dark corners.

@CabbagePatchBstard

8 жыл бұрын

+Nokomarie LOL!

That phoneshop on the corner is probably a Starbucks now.

That was good. He has the same speech impediment as Lucy Worsley, but is not quite so cute. "He Wanks the Highest in Wome!"

1666

In less than hundred years, London shall at last successfully have rid itself of Rome. And hopefully of the Orient as well.

He sounds like Jimmy Page

@kring2602

9 жыл бұрын

he sounds like grownup Stewie

@ACS402010

9 жыл бұрын

kring LMAO!

@pappyreeves7580

8 жыл бұрын

+kring That is definately grown up Stewie !!! Glad he's got a good job..love stewie !!! lol

t h e b a t h

this guys scary shit is too much. i just wanted a healthy documentary

A somewhat morbid and bizarre account.

For some reason people who can't differentiate the letters "r" and "w" properly really drive me up the wall.

@Laphin

9 жыл бұрын

It's sortof a UK lisp, it's fairly common, lol

@suzannesadiiqa

8 жыл бұрын

+shwndhh It's not that people cannot differentiate between the two letters, they are just unable to enunciate them properly.

@barryhecker

6 жыл бұрын

Don't you mean the rall?

When you have wood chimneys shit like this will happen! Not even being English you don't I now shit!

8 minutes in and he still hasn't said much. I'm done.

@pdunderhill

3 жыл бұрын

Gresham College have uploaded many of their public lectures about London on YT, a bit drier but maybe more suited to your needs?

@Em.5.4.3.2.1

3 жыл бұрын

Agree. It's all him him him drama and OTT music. Funny, I came here for the history of London. I'm done too.

I don't like the way he says "Boudicca." For whatever reason, that sort of drives me nuts.

I can't like this, mainly because it's seems too biased by his utter love for London and his overly and sickly poetic narrative....

Sadly his anti establishment and royalist view vastly skew and undermine the accuracy of his findings, interpretations and recordings across much of his work. If you read any Ackroyd work also reference other sources to obtain an informed balance.

The pretentiousness of the narrator AND some contributors ruin ( for me) what could have been a brilliant documentary. A great many interesting stories where in it, if u unwrapped all the bullshit and cringe the contributors put around them.

That guy is just so annoying...

What an awfully tacky documentary - that dramatic music, the attempted parallels of London with his health...yuk.

What an absoloute load of crap.

@deezynar

8 жыл бұрын

+zzebowa It's not, really, but you made me laugh.

I rather did not enjoy this documentary. It seemed the history could have been covered in a combined history documentary of England and forgo the excitement of London on fire alone. Onward!

@milkyedmonds4150

7 жыл бұрын

correct me if im wrong but the programme was about london not the rest of the country....read the label u fool... Davies.... my god there is some fukin dunces in this comment wall.....

@lethe56

7 жыл бұрын

There are dunces indeed.

Wish the presenter would quit waxing poetic and just get on with the history. Lot's of empty, subjective anecdotes, not enough actual substance.

@leesawford

4 жыл бұрын

Teragram perfectly put. A lot of pretentious cringe as the contributors seemed unable to contain themselves to just telling the story.

My god! This is a horrible film!

Abstract and lacking in true history! This is a romanticized version of british history, The kind of content I'd expect to be subjected to on an overpriced open top bus!

@WalkingSideways

2 жыл бұрын

It's based on his biography, so it's going to be his personal take on the city, not an objective history. As a born and bred Londoner I loved it, he captures some the madness and energy of the city I recognise. But, I'm not sure how all that blood and gore could be interpreted as 'romantic' though.

Ackroyd is a poor presenter with a monotonous voice and a slight speech impediment. It would have been much better to have someone else adapt his work into a documentary. He's basically reading out chunks of text from his book but television is a completely different medium.