100 Years Of London
A visual record of Britain s capital city through a century in which much changed, and much remained the same. Contains around 300 photographs from PA Photos huge archives, spanning the whole of the 20th Century. Hand-picked by PA Photos own archivists, most of these images have lain unseen since they were used as news pictures when first taken. Each image has been scanned especially for this book, many from glass plates, ensuring the best possible quality of reproduction. One of the world s great capitals, London is an icon for both the British people and visitors alike. A financial centre, official home to the Royal Family, site of important sporting venues, a hub of entertainment and the arts, the city s facets are many. This book shows London at its best and worst through the 20th century, a century in which it has experienced events of immense significance from the Blitz to the Millennium.About the AuthorPA Photos is the photographic agency of the PA Group, the UK s national press agency best known as The Press Association. Established in the 19th Century, the PA has been capturing and archiving news photography for 140 years. Along the way, PA Photos has incorporated other great British photo libraries, such as Barratts and Sport & General, into its archives, resulting in an extraordinary library of over 15 million images recording British life over more than a century. Many of these pictures have not been seen since the time that they were first taken: to modern eyes the archives of PA Photos yield a unique insight into Britain s recent past. Thanks to the science of photography we can view the 20th century more accurately than any that came before, but it is thanks to news photography, and in particular the great news agency that is the Press Association, that we are able now to eyewitness the events that made up life in Britain, not so long ago.