Book Launch & Beyond

On Thursday 25th September, my book Why is Downing Street Painted Black? and 364 other fun London facts was officially published by Harper Collins, with a small gathering that evening at Stanford's Travel, an amazing bookshop specialising in maps, travel guides and travel writing that has been knocking around the Covent Garden area since 1853.

When I turned up, they'd sorted out a nice window display featuring some of the book's illustrations, done by Ollie Mann.

It was a lovely evening, made all the more enjoyable by the behind the scenes work of Stanford's staff, so a big thanks to them. As well as friends, family and a few repeat walkers, I was delighted that a couple of people who feature in the book were able to attend including Mr. James Cook from the shirt makers Turnbull & Asser and Ben Wilson 'the Chewing Gum Man' who I had embroiled to help with the treasure hunt we executed in August. 

It's been a novel (non-fiction) experience actually seeing my book on display in bookshops around London, particularly after spending the best part of 20 years writing fiction and non fiction books and screenplays to no avail. 

From Monday to Sunday the following week, each day I placed a copy of my book somewhere in London for people to find, posting a clue or two on Instagram Stories and a note attached to the book which read 'Take Me, I'm Yours'. Four of the seven people who found a book wrote to tell me, and the first one on the Monday, told me it was also his birthday. Double Whammy. 

Oh yes ...I left them at places that feature in the book. 

Later in the week I did a walk with a woman called Sam who won the 'Ben Wilson Chewing Gum Treasure Hunt' back in August. She's called Sam, is a mudlark and found all five of Ben's chewing gum art just a couple of days after he finished them. The paint had hardly dried. Sam's prize (aside from a copy of the book) was to do a walk with her and her friends / family around her favourite one of Ben's pieces of chewing gum art done for the book. Turns out her friends were also mudlarks, and we did a bit of a wander around the Fleet Street area before ending in a pub in Blackfriars. Here's Sam with her book. 

I forgot to say, on the Monday, I did a talk, my first ever talk (with a screen, projector and everything) above a pub called The Devereux, organised in part by Grace who came on one of my walks a few years ago. I talked about fun facts that are in the book that surround the pub, so Temple, Fleet Street, Middle Temple, Inner Temple ...that kind of thing. I completely forgot to take any photos, but someone in the audience took this. It's the only record. 

On Saturday 4th October, 20 or so people very kindly turned up to an event I did with the Brick Lane Bookshop in east London. I did a walk around the Brick Lane and Spitalfields area that began and ended at the shop. Also, if you're on the look out for a signed copy of Why is Downing Street Painted Black? I signed quite a number whilst I was there. 

I've also recently featured on a couple of podcasts. The first (The Conversation: Coffee Break) was with crime writer Nadine Matheson who writes a cracking series featuring a detective called Anjelica Henley set in around modern day Deptford and south east London. You can listen online (wherever you get your podcasts), or watch here.

The second was with former professional rugby player Ross Neal who had a slightly different angle. His podcast Human Alchemy concentrates on interviewing people from elite sport, leadership, the military and hardcore outdoor adventurers. I was obviously a slight departure, but Ross has been on a couple of my walks and was interested to hear about my route to tour guiding and social media as well as the way I run my tours. You can listen to Ross's chat with me HERE or watch it on You Tube.

Many thanks to everyone that pre-ordered Why is Downing Street Painted Black? and everyone that has bought it since its publication. Really appreciated it and if you find it enjoyable, please feel free to pop a review somewhere (Amazon, Goodreads, Waterstones, Google Books etc). 

For those living in the States, I believe it'll be published there in December. 

Oh yes ...on the evening of Tuesday 4th November, I'll be giving a talk entitled 'Many Facts You Probably Don't Know About London' with 'Pints of Knowledge' which organise lectures in pubs. See you there?