Cross River Traffic - A history of London's bridges [Kindle Edition]

• 'Years of research and years of wearing out his shoes walking across the city's bridges has paid off... The book is packed full of great tales' South London Press
• 'Fascinating new book... a good read for anyone interested in the metropolis' What's on in London
• 'Roberts lives at Elephant and Castle in South London- roughly equidistant from every bridge from Tower Bridge to Vauxhall- which must make him particularly well- qualified to write this entertaining book' Canal Boat & Inland Waterways
• 'Roberts is a lucid and funny writer - his ability to provide a historical overview as he focuses on bygone detail makes fascinating reading' Sainsbury's Magazine This delightful little book sketches biographies of each of London's bridges, from Hammersmith in the west to Tower Bridge in the east, that span what the author, in Conradian style, calls the "haunted, uncivilised force" of the Thames. Roberts, who has also written an ebullient study of nursery rhymes, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, wears his research lightly with a witty, conversational tone (Hammersmith Bridge is "enjoyably nuts", and has survived "even the terrifying ordeal of the scathing words of art critic Brian Sewell"). -- Guardian. Roberts's tone is pleasantly relaxed. Adopting a chatty style, he's never slow to qualify an architectural detail with an anecdote, still managing to hold back enough information for sections on "Brief Bridge Facts", which detail the vital statistics, and some notes on the engineers and architects. Hammersmith bridge is fairly useless ("In the space of thirty years (it) was closed, repaired, opened, bombed, closed, re-repaired, bombed again and eventually re-opened"); Waterloo is "the crossing of romantics and suicides", and the Millennium bridge offers diversions such as the Budgie Man, a street entertainer whose show is "Part Blue Peter, largely avian and completely bonkers". There are very few books that inspire readers to go and physically exert themselves, but this one should have people criss-crossing the Thames until their shoes wear out. -- Independent.

"This book is a delightful history of London's bridges and the
photographs alone make it well worth a look."

‘A delightful history of London’s bridges'

'This book is a delightful history of London's bridges and the
photographs alone make it well worth a look.'

Cross River Traffic started life as a photographic project that set out to make people look at London's Bridges in a different way. Tied in with this was the notion of the death of the traditional commuter with broadsheet, brolly and bowler. The book forces the reader to view the outwardly familiar in an amusing and entertainingly different light.

Time Out described it as "The excellent Bridge tome." Whilst the South London Press very kindly said. "Years of research and years of wearing out his shoes walking across the city's bridges has paid off... The book is packed full of great tales." The Independant were equally effusive stating that "There are very few books that inspire readers to go and physically exert themselves, but this one should have people criss-crossing the Thames until their shoes wear out."

The Guardian described "this delightful little book sketches biographies of each of London's bridges, from Hammersmith in the west to Tower Bridge in the east, that span what the author, in Conradian style, calls the "haunted, uncivilised force" of the Thames. Roberts, who has also written an ebullient study of nursery rhymes, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, wears his research lightly with a witty, conversational tone (Hammersmith Bridge is "enjoyably nuts", and has survived "even the terrifying ordeal of the scathing words of art critic Brian Sewell").

CROSS RIVER TRAFFIC tells the history of London's current road and pedestrian bridges and their predecessors – why and how they were built as well as incidents that have occurred on them, from ghost stories to terrorist plots, sexual antics to suicides. The book explores the reasons why the crossings are situated where they are and the effect on the communities they link as well as on London as a whole. The bridges stitch the north and south of the river together, and were instrumental in unifying the metropolis in the Victorian era. Now they are helping to refashion London's waterfront for the 21st century.

Within the history of London Bridges are woven more general discussions on commuting, pollution, wildlife, flooding, politics, transport and gentrification. Illustrated with stunning photographs of each bridge by a selection of London-based photographers, CROSS RIVER TRAFFIC is a delightfully digressive and informative history of the architectural backbone of the world's first metropolis. It also answers crucial questions such as why do London's bikers meet on Chelsea Bridge, who was assassinated on Waterloo, how did a hairdresser save Hammersmith and a poet the Albert Bridge. Along side the tales of the bridges are woven more general discursions on commuting, pollution, wildlife, flooding, politics, transport and gentrification.

Chris Roberts lives in South London not far from the river. He winters in libraries and spends the summer months conducting tours along the banks of the Thames and over the bridges.
He is the author of Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme, also published by Granta. (www.fandmpublications.co.uk)