Tom Quinn (1) (1956–)

This one has been my bedside table reading for most of the year, and it's perfect for that, with short chapters that are often only two or three pages, ideal for grazing while my husband brushes his teeth before bed.

So many interesting little tidbits here, though I do wish there were some sources to back them up. It's so hard with these trivia books to know what's true and what might just be hearsay--which I wouldn't mind reading, as long as I know that it's more of an urban legend than a confirmed story.

In lieu of quotes, these are my favorite tidbits:

> The Cross Bones graveyard for the prostitutes licensed by the Bishop of Winchester ~1171
> The Egypt-inspired Lincoln's Inn Fields, with an open court, Sir John Sloane's house stuffed with curiosities, and the residence of Nell Gwynn, Charles II's favorite mistress
> The College of Arms in the old City
> Fortnum and Mason, a shop established by a former servant in the royal household, which supplied royalty and nobility, and which had survived from the 1600s through the printing of this book (2000s?)
> The swashbuckling adventures of Hannah Snell, who joined the navy disguised as a man and still managed to receive her pension after she spilled (and bragged about) the beans on her secret
> The surviving house on Craven Street where Benjamin Franklin lived while in England
> The original inspiration for Tom and Jerry, who started out as human characters in cheap Victorian publications
> The apparently impressive monuments to the dead in Kensal Rise Cemetery, which I would love to visit if I ever get back to London
> The now-defunct Necropolis Railway--which would make a fantastic name for a book--which took corpses and funeral processions to cemeteries out of town
> The descriptions of "toshers", who searched Victorian sewers for objects to sell on (pretty sure these inspired Neal Gaiman in Neverwhere)
> The riot at Roger Fry's first Post-Impressionist art show. Honestly, I just love it when art causes so much outrage.
> The Cheshire Cheese pub, particularly its longtime resident Polly the parrot, who celebrated the end of WWI by "imitating the noise of champagne bottles corks popping an estimated 400 times and then fell off her perch suffering from exhaustion (p. 207)
> The apparently confusing staircases at Liberty's, which I would love to see if it still exists.
> The beautiful public bathrooms that have apparently been shuttered. Alas!
> The monument to animals at war--though I'm more interested in the stories of said animals than the monuments themselves. I'm sure there's a book out there for me!… (meer)