But those Monopoly streets live and breathe – they open up whole new ways of thinking about our history. From the Roman marching along the ancient Old Kent Road to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, from Dickensian iron and fog to the neon lights of the twenty-first century, the game of Monopoly has painted London’s story across cheerful coloured tiles. During every Morrison family Christmas there comes a point when someone is sozzled enough to shout the dread words: “Come on, let’s get out the Monopoly.

He has lectured internationally, written for the Spectator, Evening Standard, Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph and Guardian, and been interviewed across TV and radio. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.No Free Parking starts with a brief introduction to how the London Monopoly streets were most likely chosen, before tackling each street (and utilties and rail) one by one.

From the Roman and Celts marching along the ancient Old Kent Road, to the rattling newspaper presses of Fleet Street, the game of Monopoly has painted London's story across cheerful coloured tiles. Nevertheless, I did find the book very readable and enjoyable and because there's only so many pages for each chapter, you don't get bogged down in too much information.A mind-numbing hour later some bumptious child is gleefully piling hotels on Mayfair and everyone else is desperately trying to go bankrupt and get the wretched ritual over for another year. Each account is freighted with incident and charm, and the book works beautifully on the level of pure narrative history. Unfortunately we cannot offer a refund on custom prints unless they are faulty or we have made a mistake.

To take London’s Monopoly streets as a starting point for an evocation of London urbanism is a witty conceit but it also provides a solid anchor for any constructive understanding of how we human beings live in our streets. Boys Smith is one of Britain's leading public intellectuals on architecture and urbanism, championing a revival of street-based traditional urbanism against the 'traffic modernism' of the twentieth century. I did enjoy it, once I adjusted my expectations from 'interesting fun, fact book with history' to 'history book'. Lots of quirky stuff and fantastic quotes plus also some hugely thought-provoking big picture stuff about how London has grown in the way that it has. Taking London's Monopoly Streets is a brilliantly conceived way into looking at the city's longest lasting feature - those very streets.

The author’s love of London and its history are infectious - reading his evocative descriptions will send you (and your children) out exploring, looking up at the face of buildings and imagining what was once there.