Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Dr. Johnson's London

  • By: Liza Picard
  • Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
  • Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (53 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Dr. Johnson's London

By: Liza Picard
Narrated by: Fiona Shaw
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Like its popular and acclaimed predecessor, Restoration London, this book is the result of the author's passionate interest in the practical details of the everyday life of our ancestors, so often ignored in more conventional history books.

Based on every possible contemporary source (diaries, almanacs, newspapers, advice books, memoirs, government papers and reports), Liza Picard examines every aspect of life in London: the streets, houses and gardens; cooking, housework, laundry, and shopping; clothes and jewellery, cosmetics and hairdressing; medicine, sex, hobbies, education, and etiquette; religion and popular beliefs; law and crime. This book spans the years 1740 to 1770, starting when the gin craze was gaining ground and ending when the East Coast of America was still British.

©2000 Liza Picard (P)1999 Orion Publishing Group Ltd
  • Abridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Restoration London cover art
Elizabeth's London cover art
Victorian London cover art
London Labour and the London Poor cover art
Great and Horrible News cover art
London in the Eighteenth Century cover art
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England cover art
The Diary of Samuel Pepys cover art
English Society in the Eighteenth Century cover art
The Mill on the Floss cover art
In Search of the Dark Ages cover art
The Murderous Children of 19th Century Britain cover art
Mortal Monarchs cover art
London in the Nineteenth Century cover art
Londonwalks cover art
Journal of the Plague Year cover art

Critic reviews

"Picard's writing is engaging and lucid, Fiona Shaw narrates with enthusiasm, and the book has been thoughtfully abridged." ( The Times)

What listeners say about Dr. Johnson's London

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars

Too short. Really impressive detail and research

I wish it had been twice as long. I hope Ms Picard will consider doing the regency era as a follow up.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining, fascinating and delicious!

Books like this make me wonder how humanity survived in the past - the dangers to one's life were truly unlimited, from poisonous medicine and food made life-threatening by cost-cutting production methods to a seemingly infinite array of health threats and illnesses and all the plain old dangers to one's safety when out and about in smoggy, disease-infested and crime-ridden London.
Liza Picard paints a vivid and fascinating picture of our capital, full of fascinating details and delicious tidbits. I love history and sometimes find myself romanticising whichever period I am obsessed with at that particular moment. Books by Liza Picard and Ruth Goodman are excellent reminders of the hardships the people of the past had to face every day, things that don't even cross my mind as I mindlessly enjoy all the advantages of this modern age.
"Dr Johnson's London" is an entertaining, breathtaking and delicious dive into the daily life of all sorts of Londoners between 1740 and 1770. Most recommended!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!