London has long been a magnet for aspiring artists and writers, musicians and fashion designers seeking inspiration and success in this great city. In London Calling, Barry Miles explores the counter culture that sprang up in the decades following the Second World War, focussing on the West End and Soho, where the presence of so many artists has established a unique atmosphere; creative, avant garde, permissive, anarchic – the throbbing heart of London.

Here are the heady days of post-war Soho when suddenly everything seemed possible, the jazzbars and clubs of the fifities, the teddy boys and the Angry Young Men, Francis Bacon and the legendary Colony Club, the 1960s and the Summer of Love, the rise of punk and the early days of the YBAs. The vitality and excitement of these days and years of change – and the sheer creativity of London – leap off the page of this marvellously evocative and riveting book.