Underground London: Travels Beneath the City Streets

Magnificent and renowned, London's attractions have also been minutely documented. But scratch the surface of the city and a more mysterious, murky world is revealed. A world to which we are introduced by intrepid traveller Stephen Smith as he plumbs the hidden depths of the metropolis, wandering (and sometimes wading) through buried treasures from Roman times to the present day.
Exploding corpses in catacombs, the bowels of the Palace of Westminster, the culverts of Hampton Court and the miniature Mail Rail that once distributed 12 million letters a day - Smith's eclectic journey covers the bizarre, the arcane and, always, the intoxicating (including the wines in the hallowed cellars of Berry Brothers). From the 25 miles of Cold War bunkers to the astonishing twelfth-century water main, he reveals labyrinthine delights that span the centuries.

Stephen Smith works for Channel 4 news and writes regularly for the LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS