Through eight centuries of plague, fire, rebellion and war, this book reveals the compelling characters and often courageous actions of London’s Lord Mayors as they respond to some of the most dramatic events in the City’s history. As the dreadful plague ravaged London in 1664, Sir John Lawrence bravely opened his house to swathes of discharged servants … When the flames of the Great Fire swept indiscriminately through the capital, Sir Thomas Bludworth held his head in his hands and was heard to desperately shout, ‘Lord, what can I do?’
Set against a backdrop of the extravagant pomp and ceremony of the fabled Lord Mayor’s Show, while highlighting the extraordinary demands of office, this is a story of duty, treason, deception and betrayal. From those who distinguished themselves in office, to those who ended up in the Tower, London’s Lord Mayors shines a unique light on the personalities and decisions, successes and failures of the spectacle makers, fishmongers, drapers and goldsmiths who rose to hold one of the most successful civic offices in the world.
- The first history of this
world-famous office
- The new mayor of London will
be elected in May 2016. Although this is a different office, it will generate
publicity and people will be more interested in the respective roles of mayor
and lord mayor
- Publication to tie in with
the 800th anniversary of the Lord Mayor’s Show in November 2015.
Major procession and ceremony through London, will generate lots of publicity.
The Magna Carta was the document that was responsible for the show, as its
original purpose was the procession of the new mayor through the city to swear
loyalty to the sovereign
- Anticipated review coverage
in BBC History magazine and the national broadsheets