"Just across the River Thames from St. Paul's Cathedral stands an old house. It is the last genuine survivor of what was once a long ribbon of elegant houses overlooking the water. Built in the days of Queen Anne, it stands in the footprint of a far older habitation. Once, on this spot, was the Cardinal's Cap, a timbered Tudor inn; its vaulted cellars are still there, beneath the bricks and plaster and panelling of later centuries." "Some of the people who have lived in the house have been skilled; some were prosperous traders in the coal and iron on which Britain's industrial revolution ran. Some were rich and flamboyant; one was an early film star. Others have been among London's numberless poor." "All these real people, from the most famous to the most obscure, Gillian Tindall has researched through multiple archives, old newspapers, contemporary accounts and the memories of their descendents. She breathes life into the forgotten names of individuals who were as passionate in their time as we ourselves - and in so doing makes them stand for legions of others and for whole worlds that we have lost through hundreds of years of London's history."--BOOK JACKET.