London Lore

London Lore
Author: Steve Roud
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2012-03-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1409036197

In which part of North London were wild beasts once thought to roam the sewers? Why did 1920s working-class Londoners wear necklaces of blue beads? Who was the original inspiration for the 'pearly king' costume? And did Spring-heeled Jack, scourge of Victorian London, ever really exist? Exploring everything from local superstitions and ghost stories to annual customs, this is an enchanting guide to the ancient legends and deep-rooted beliefs that can be found the length and breadth of the city.

Knowing the Score

Knowing the Score
Author: Kat Latham
Publisher: Harlequin
Total Pages: 347
Release: 2013-08-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1426895925

Book one of the London Legends Rugby player Spencer Bailey is determined to win a spot on England's World Cup team. But with a month break before the selectors start watching him, he's eager to have fun with a woman who knows the score: the relationship will end when rugby season begins. The lovely American Caitlyn Sweeney seems perfect for the role of temporary lover, since her visa will run out soon anyway. Caitlyn works for an international disaster relief organization and can handle the world's worst crises, but she flinches from her own. Her past has left her with a fear of intimacy so deep that she has trouble getting close to anyone—until she meets sexy Spencer. His hot body and easygoing nature are too much for even her to resist. Neither Caitlyn nor Spencer expects to fall hard for each other. But with their relationship deadline approaching, the old rules of the game seem less important than before…until past secrets surface, challenging everything they thought they knew about each other. 86,000 words

London Urban Legends

London Urban Legends
Author: Scott Wood
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0752493809

How long has a corpse been staring out at passengers on the tube? Was London Bridge really shipped abroad by an American thinking he'd bought Tower Bridge? Did the Queen really mix with the crowds as a princess on VE Day? And did Hitler actually want to live in Balham? Where are there razor blades hidden and where did all these parakeets come from? Did they really belong to Jimi Hendrix? Urban legends are the funny, frightening and fierce folklore people share. Just like the early folk tales that came before them, which were attempts to explain the spiritual world, these tales are formed from reactions to spectacular events in the modern world, and reflect our current values. From royal rumours to subterranean legends, Scott Wood has researched and written about them with a sense of wonder, humour and a keen eye. He finds the truth, the myth and the lies amongst these tales.

Alice Temperley

Alice Temperley
Author: Alice Temperley
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2017-10-03
Genre: Design
ISBN: 0847848817

Alice Temperley, one of the most accomplished British designers working today, creates clothing that is coveted by the likes of Kate Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Olga Kurylenko, Rita Ora, Poppy Delevingne, Helen Mirren, Adele, Naomie Harris, and The Duchess of Cambridge. This book is conceived as a celebration of Alice Temperley's aesthetic and conveys the effortless decadence and handcrafted allure of her brand. This book highlights the key moments that have inspired the last decade of work—focusing on the personal moments that have shaped her brand. Filled with captivating photographs from Temperley London photo shoots and fashion editorials, ALICE TEMPERLEY: ENGLISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS gives an in-depth look into the inspirations and processes behind the creation of the collections. While her first Rizzoli book, TRUE BRITISH (2011), was a chronological story about the first 10 years of the brand, ENGLISH MYTHS AND LEGENDS gives a more intimate view of what defines Temperley London today and its evolution; revealing both practical and sentimental moments of the designer’s generative history.

The Lore of the Land

The Lore of the Land
Author: Jennifer Westwood
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 940
Release: 2006
Genre: Folklore
ISBN:

Where can you find the 'Devil's footprints'? What happened at the 'hangman's stone'? Did Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, ever really exist? Where was King Arthur laid to rest? Bringing together tales of hauntings, highwaymen, family curses and lovers' leaps, this magnificent guide will take you on a magical journey through England's legendary past.

London Urban Legends

London Urban Legends
Author: Scott Wood
Publisher: The History Press
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0752493809

How long has a corpse been staring out at passengers on the tube? Was London Bridge really shipped abroad by an American thinking he’d bought Tower Bridge? Did the Queen really mix with the crowds as a princess on VE Day? And did Hitler actually want to live in Balham? Urban legends are the funny, frightening and fierce folklore people share. Just like the early folk tales that came before them, these tales are formed from reactions to spectacular events in the world, and reflect our current values. From royal rumours to subterranean legends, Scott Wood has researched and written about them with a sense of wonder, humour and a keen eye. He finds the truth, the myth and the lies amongst these tales.

Contemporary Legend

Contemporary Legend
Author: Gillian Bennett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2013-09-05
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1135812195

First published in 1996. For most of the time since the Grimm brothers first contrasted the fairy tale (Märchen) and the legend (Sage), the former has enjoyed the greater reputation among folklorists. Only in recent years, and with the work of such scholars as Gillian Bennett and Paul Smith, has it been recognized that—both as art and as news—the legend is now central to contemporary culture in a way that the Märchen no longer is. The present book is the first collection of essays on legend to appear in English since 1971. Nevertheless, its publication consolidates a gradual shift which has taken place over the last two decades, in which English-language scholarship has taken the lead in the study of certain kinds of legends—variously dubbed modern horror legends, urban legends, urban myths or, here, contemporary legends.

Legend

Legend
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2011-11-29
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 110154595X

"Legend doesn't merely survive the hype, it deserves it." From the New York Times bestselling author of The Young Elites What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets. Full of nonstop action, suspense, and romance, this novel is sure to move readers as much as it thrills.

The Legend of Spring-heeled Jack

The Legend of Spring-heeled Jack
Author: Karl Bell
Publisher: Boydell Press
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 1843837870

An intriguing study of a unique and unsettling cultural phenomenon in Victorian England. WINNER of the 2013 Katharine Briggs Award NEW LOWER PRICE This book uses the nineteenth-century legend of Spring-Heeled Jack to analyse and challenge current notions of Victorian popular cultures. Starting as oral rumours, this supposedly supernatural entity moved from rural folklore to metropolitan press sensation, co-existing in literary and theatrical forms before finally degenerating into a nursery lore bogeyman to frighten children. A mercurial and unfixed cultural phenomenon, Spring-Heeled Jack found purchase in both older folkloric traditions and emerging forms of entertainment. Through this intriguing study of a unique and unsettling figure, Karl Bell complicates our appreciation of the differences, interactions and similarities between various types of popular culture between 1837 and 1904. The book draws upon a rich variety of primary source material including folklorist accounts, street ballads, several series of "penny dreadful" stories (and illustrations), journals, magazines, newspapers, comics, court accounts, autobiographies and published reminiscences. The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack is impressively researched social history and provides a fascinating insight into Victorian cultures. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in nineteenth-century English social and cultural history, folklore or literature. Karl Bell is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Portsmouth.

New Legends of England

New Legends of England
Author: Catherine Sanok
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 081229470X

In New Legends of England, Catherine Sanok examines a significant, albeit previously unrecognized, phenomenon of fifteenth-century literary culture in England: the sudden fascination with the Lives of British, Anglo-Saxon, and other native saints. Embodying a variety of literary forms—from elevated Latinate verse, to popular traditions such as the carol, to translations of earlier verse legends into the medium of prose—the Middle English Lives of England's saints are rarely discussed in relation to one another or seen as constituting a distinct literary genre. However, Sanok argues, these legends, when grouped together were an important narrative forum for exploring overlapping forms of secular and religious community at local, national, and supranational scales: the monastery, the city, and local cults; the nation and the realm; European Christendom and, at the end of the fifteenth century, a world that was suddenly expanding across the Atlantic. Reading texts such as the South English Legendary, The Life of St. Etheldrede, the Golden Legend, and poems about Saints Wenefrid and Ursula, Sanok focuses especially on the significance of their varied and often experimental forms. She shows how Middle English Lives of native saints revealed, through their literary forms, modes of affinity and difference that, in turn, reflected a diversity in the extent and structure of medieval communities. Taking up key questions about jurisdiction, temporality, and embodiment, New Legends of England presents some of the ways in which the Lives of England's saints theorized community and explored its constitutive paradox: the irresolvable tension between singular and collective forms of identity.