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Do Not Pass Go: From the Old Kent Road to Mayfair
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Do Not Pass Go is the fourth comedy travelogue from Tim Moore--previous books have, respectively, chronicled his experiences trekking across Iceland in the footsteps of the Victorian Lord Dufferin (Frost on My Moustache), recreating Coryate's Grand Tour in a Rolls Royce (Continental Drifter) and cycling the route of the Tour de France (French Revolutions). Here, Moore, abandoning his customary modus operandi of inept Englishman abroad, opts to explore his native city by, as his children put it, "going round the Monopoly board but, like, in real life."
Monopoly was, at least officially, invented during the 1930s by Charles Darrow, an unemployed boiler salesman from Germantown, Pennsylvania. (Darrow went to his grave, Moore notes, "stubbornly refusing to recall any contact with The Landlord Game, patented in 1904."). The original, and subsequent American versions, featured the streets of Atlantic City. The English, London edition first appeared in 1936, the same year as television and, apparently, the phrase "body odour". Produced by Waddingtons, a firm of Leeds printers, the actual streets and stations were haphazardly chosen by Victor Watson, the managing director, and his secretary, Marjorie Phillips, after a weekend jolly in the capital.
Armed with board, dice and a 1933 London directory, Moore soon finds himself beaten by a Brazilian transsexual at Kings Cross (where else?); searching for the "Ampersand of Death" on Oxford Street; discovering how Coventry Street made the grade; tracing the decline of proto-Starbucks Lyons in Piccadilly and, of course, eating jellied eels in the "poo brown" east end of Whitechapel. Moore places himself firmly in the centre of his yarn and, like Bill Bryson, displays a remarkable eye for the incongruous comic detail. Sometimes the quips and jokes come at expense of real interaction with those he meets, but the result is a hilarious paean to game and city, that will have you ferreting about in a cupboard to retrieve a long neglected set. (I know I did.) --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Review
'Moore is a talented and very funny writer' Daily Telegraph 'Hailed as the new Bill Bryson, he is in fact a writer of considerably more substance and the jokes come thick and fast' Irish Times
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Not a big Monopoly fan, but certainly a big fan of this book. Tim Moore does his research before going to a place, so he knows the kinds of things to look out for as well as the questions to ask: which makes this book really very enjoyable. I've learnt a lot of trivia from this book too - did you know that, for example, more people shop at Selfridge's every year than live in Australia? His writing is amusing and clever; his observations all the more valid for the research he does; and he comes across as a very human writer. If you live in London, or visit regularly, you'll get a lot out of this book - probably why I read most of it on holiday in the USA.
35 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read all of Moore's books to date and this is definitely one of the best. I hacked through most of DO NOT PASS GO on two 3 hour flights. Be warned. Do not read alone in public spaces unless you are immune to the embarrasment of being considered deranged for laughing out loud.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I loved this book! Gripping from start to finish, I couldn't wait to continue the trip around the monopoly board each night for the last few weeks.
The story told via the author's journey around the Monopoly Board streets often made me laugh (the sort of giggling that when on a train, everyone looks over at you wondering what the heck you're reading); often enraged me about how London has pretty much changed for the worse since the 1930s, and made me really wonder about our history as a whole.
Despite having walked down many of the streets, I would have never guessed the history or stories of each, and I now feel compelled to go and visit them all now that I do know. There is so much more than meets the eye to the popular game we all played as kids. It never occurred to me to think why the colours were linked together, why some unfamiliar streets and stations were chosen instead of their more obvious counterparts and what has happened to those places since Monopoly was created.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It was the best book I've read in ages.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
tim moore
Wonderful book, quick delivery - great range, and very good service as usual from supplier - will buy again .
Published 3 days ago by S. Craig
do not pass go
a very good read about the author's trip around the Monopoly board.interesting to see what has disappeared over the years.
Published 23 days ago by David Jaques
A tour I'm planning to embark on
Haven't we all wondered about where some of those oh-so-familiar places really are? They trip off the tongue as we're so used to them through the game, yet there are plenty whose... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Alec
Don't Pass Do Not Pass go
Whether or not you're an enthusiast for Monopoly, this book is a light-hearted, easily digested masterpiece of a book about London. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mr. Ralph Smith
You Placed Last in the Entertaining Book Contest
Another week, another slice of lad literature. However, `Do Not Pass Go' is not your typical boozy affair, but a history of London through the guise of a Monopoly Board. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Sam
Strangely dull
I found this book really hard going - the historical facts are occasionally interesting, but the commentary from the author is so negative that it colours almost every engaging... Read more
Published 19 months ago by J. Smith
Highly entertaining and original.
Highly entertaining and suprisingly informative ride around the London of the 1930s Monopoly board. An original angle on a unique slice of London's rich and varied history. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Paul Harris
Do not pass up the chance to read it
Hilarious stuff. I really enjoyed this book. It gives some great insights into the history of London too. Tim Moore has a gift for dry humour.
Published on 20 Oct 2009 by J. D. Norris
A romp around old London town
Moore has a very easy style of writing that leads you effortlessly though the streets featured on the Monopoly board. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2008 by Hayles
Do not collect £200
I arrived at Kings Cross Station, my first time working in London, and took a taxi along Euston Road and Pentonville Road to my temporary digs near the Angel, Islington. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2008 by C. Young
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