London cover art

London

The Biography, Foundations

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
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.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

London

By: Peter Ackroyd
Narrated by: Simon Callow
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

 Ackroyd portrays London from the time of the druids to the beginning of the twenty-first century, noting magnificence in both epochs, but this is not a simple chronological record. It is a comprehensive account, animated by Ackroyd's concern for the close relationship between the present and the past as well as by what he describes as the peculiar "echoic" quality of London whereby its texture and history actively affect the lives and personalities of its citizens. London is perhaps the most important study of the city ever written, and confirms Ackroyd's status as what one critic has called "our age's greatest London imagination". Foundations tells the story of London's formation and physical conception, it's early growth and character.©2000 Peter Ackroyd (P)2004 Random House Audiobooks Europe Great Britain

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Alan Partridge: Big Beacon cover art
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection cover art
From the Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast (Series 1) cover art
The Last London cover art
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England cover art
I Never Knew That About London cover art
London Labour and the London Poor cover art
Restoration London cover art
London Orbital cover art
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict cover art
The Diary of Samuel Pepys cover art
London in the Eighteenth Century cover art
The American Civil War cover art
In Search of the Dark Ages cover art
The Alan Clark Diaries cover art
A Brief History of Britain 1485-1660 cover art

Critic reviews

"Peter Ackroyd was born to write the biography of London....A brilliant book" ( Sunday Telegraph)
All stars
Most relevant
I'm neither a Londoner, nor a London-dweller, and this is the first time I've wished I could be either. Ackroyd's introduction to the city is compelling, with believable conclusions and a good sprinkling of amusing anecdote. The links between the ancient past and the city's bustling present are rich and thought-provoking. But beware - you'll want to keep stopping to check a map and follow the lines of ancient walls and roads as Simon Callow describes them in his measured tones. If you are lucky enough to be in the City, you can play a real-life 'Da Vinci Code' by visiting the three ancient Druidic sacred groves that are alleged to stand in the heart of the city. By calling this a biography, Ackroyd promises to bring the city to life; he succeeded for me, and the book does what is says on the cover.

Get under the skin of a city

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent production, Simon Callow is superb with the type of voice that one can listen to for hours. The content was fascinating and gave me new insight into how London became London.

London, not as I thought I knew it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Brilliantly read, brilliantly written but the splitting up of the book seems to me greedy. I thought it was the whole book, I should have noticed reading time, I think though that it would have been more fare if Audible had been more clear.

It’s greedy to have split this book up

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this could easily be merged with Peter Akcroyd's other titles to make a single expansive book

good but short

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book itself is, of course, a stunning piece of rich and brilliantly researched treasure and Simon Callow’s narration captivates and draws one in totally. I never tire of his voice. Never.

A perfect combination of voice and word.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews