PHILIP DAVIES is the author of thirteen celebrated books and many articles for popular and replica uhren deutschland professional journals on a wide range of topics, particularly heritage conservation, and the history and heritage of London, India and the British Empire and Commonwealth.
An experienced broadcaster on both radio and television, he gives frequent talks on his books and on global heritage conservation replica watches issues. He has lectured to a wide variety of audiences in the UK and abroad including UNESCO, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Army Museum, the Soane Museum, the Bishopsgate Institute, English Heritage, the Special Forces Club, Cambridge University, the Army and Navy Club, the Oxford and Cambridge Club and at various literary events including the Irrawaddy Book Festival.
As a guest lecturer, Philip has led tours of India, Burma best replica watches uk and the Civil War battlefields of the United States.
London: The Great Transformation 1860-1920
(Atlantic Publishing)
The long-awaited sequel to the best-selling Lost London 1870-1945.
After 10 years of exclusive research in over 25 different archives in the UK and overseas, this new book contains a stunning collection of over 800 rare images which offer an astonishing insight into the capital’s history, from the earliest photograph of London taken in 1839 through to the 1920s. It reveals the twin poles of prosperity and poverty which shaped its myriad neighbourhoods and the lives of the people who inhabited them; mute witnesses to the monumental changes that were shaping the world around them.
Haunting and elegiac, this matchless book provides a fascinating glimpse into the very soul of the greatest city on earth.
‘Just wonderful … I can’t recall a more engrossing book.’
Bill Bryson
‘An astonishing photographic record of the lives and wretched environment mostly of the poor … You will be shocked. Faces stare out at you from the squalor.’
Matthew Parris, The Times
‘The 150-year struggle to save London’s soul’
The Daily Telegraph
‘The agony of lost London … an elegy for the capital’s forgotten gems.’
The Oldie
Lost Warriors: Seagrim and Pagani of Burma
The last great untold story of World War II
(Atlantic Publishing)
A sensational account of honour, courage, love and self-sacrifice in the face of appalling brutality. ‘There has not been a more heroic act during this war … Major Hugh Seagrim was a very great Englishman.’ Duncan Guthrie, BBC Broadcast 1945
The epic story of two forgotten Englishmen who rank among the most courageous heroes of the Second World War – the charismatic Major Hugh Seagrim, the T.E Lawrence of Burma, the most successful guerrilla leader of the war; a deeply-spiritual man still revered over 70 years later by the Karens of Eastern Burma, and Corporal Ras Pagani, one of the war’s most intrepid serial escapees. Having escaped alone from Dunkirk, and again from Singapore, Pagani was the only European ever to escape successfully from the fearful Burma Railway.
Serialised in The Daily Mail with film rights purchased by a major Canadian media company.
‘A remarkable work of history writing and scholarship’
Tristram Hunt, Director, V&A
‘Beautifully written, extraordinarily interesting; moved me to tears’
John Simpson BBC
‘Immensely gripping’
Bill Bryson
‘I have long been interested in Hugh Seagrim … and his extraordinary exploits.’
Aung San Suu Kyi
Lost England 1870-1930
(Atlantic Publishing)
From 1840-1914 England was in ferment, transformed on a scale unprecedented in its history. As the national panorama shifted with bewildering rapidity, so photographs recorded the changes. More than 1200 images of places frozen in time supported by an outstanding overview of the period offer a fascinating testament of the lives of our forebears and a priceless primary source.
An abridged version published in paperback as Images of Lost England.
‘What a magnificent book. Reminds us of a lost inheritance of great worth.’
Melvyn Bragg
‘The pictures are poignant, elegaic, yet stirring. So much of the Victorian and Edwardian age was beautiful and this book will make you wonder why we let much of it slip through our hands.’
Times Literary Supplement
‘Epic and riveting. I could hardly imagine a more satisfying book’
Bill Bryson
‘One of the best photographic books I’ve seen over the past few years. A beautiful book.’
Aung San Suu Kyi
London: Hidden Interiors
(Atlantic Publishing)
Behind London’s inscrutable facades lies a wealth of treasures hidden from public view little known to the world outside. This book offers virtual access to some of the capital’s most spectacular interiors in 1700 superb colour photographs. More than 180 extraordinary examples portray the richness and diversity of London’s architectural heritage, and the secrets that lie within.
An abridged version published in paperback as Images of London Hidden Interiors.
‘A beautiful, beautiful book,’
Robert Elms, BBC Radio London
‘I am dazzled – positively dazzled – this is my book if the year. I am just blown away to realise that I have walked past so many of these places without having any idea how fabulous they are within.’
Bill Bryson
‘A stunning photographic tour of treasures of the capital … the great joy of this book is the wonderful collection of photographs …’
David Meara, The Times
‘The text by Philip Davies is crisp and informative; the photographs by Derek Kendall are a revelation’
Times Literary Supplement
Lost London 1870-1945
(Atlantic Publishing)
With a Foreword by HRH The Duke of Gloucester
(Atlantic Publishing)
Described as a ’a publishing phenomenon’, and short-listed for the prestigious Spears Book prize, Lost London 1870-1945 is one of the best-selling books on London ever published. The book opens windows on to a vanished past; one which is tantalisingly familiar, but also hauntingly remote. Over 500 hitherto unseen photographs and a ‘superb’ text provide a direct link to a long-distant past.
An abridged version published in paperback as Images of Lost London.
‘This endlessly absorbing book that is at once a record of destruction, a haunting collection of relics and a door into the past’
John Carey, Sunday Times
‘Stunned shock and awe … in pin-sharp clarity.’
Marcus Binney, The Times
‘This is a beautiful, haunting and heartbreaking book … Only Philip Davies – with his breadth of cultural knowledge and love for London – could have done this subject justice and given such a tragic tale a touch of poetry.’
Dan Cruickshank
‘Stuffed with beautiful images … this satisfyingly heavy book depicts a grimy, muddy city with spots of aristocratic grandeur, a city on the verge of transformation’
Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times
Panoramas of Lost London: Work, Wealth, Poverty and Change 1870-1945
(Atlantic Publishing)
An exhibition of highlights from Lost London 1870-1945 at Kenwood House and City Hall enlarged the book’s finest photographs to poster size revealing their hidden detail to astonished audiences that attended in record numbers. The exhibition’s success and overwhelming public interest prompted this large-format book; a breathtaking series of visual revelations of lost lives and lost beauty and an evocative reminder of the transience, life and death of cities.
An abridged version published in paperback as Images of Panoramas of Lost London.
‘Photographs can weave a magic spell that transports us through time; they can capture, tantalise and inflame the imagination … if the actual buildings cannot be brought back to life, this evocative and haunting book is the next best thing; like its many photographs, it too is pervaded by an intangible magic.’
Dan Cruickshank
‘A glorious and monumental piece of work.’
Bill Bryson
The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India – Volume II Islamic, Rajput, European
(Penguin / Viking)
Along with its companion volume by the eminent scholar George Michell, The Penguin Guide to the Monuments of India is the most comprehensive guide to the architecture and monuments of India ever published; an absorbing, scholarly account of the historical, religious and architectural elements that have blended together to make the many-faceted civilisation of India.
Also published by Penguin Books in paperback.
‘A magnificent achievement… the most comprehensive guide to the multi-layered heritage of India ever published.’
The Daily Telegraph
‘An authoritative, scholarly and thoroughly informative guide to one of the world’s greatest civilisations.’
Gavin Stamp
Troughs and Drinking Fountains
(Chatto & Windus)
Horse troughs were the filling stations of their day, while drinking fountains saved thousands from disease and inebriety in the squalid streets of Victorian England; an enthralling account of the work of philanthropic societies to provide free, fresh drinking water for both people and animals, and the remarkable, and often beautiful artefacts which resulted.
‘A fascinating study of forgotten memorials and artefacts on Britain’s streets, which once provided life-support for people at a time of acute need.’
Colin Amery, Financial Times
Splendours of the Raj: British Architecture in India 1660-1947
(John Murray)
Selected by The Times critics as a book of the year, this pioneering book on the architecture and monuments of British India highlighted the extraordinary legacy of buildings and sites that have enriched the many-layered history of India; a testament to the long-standing special relationship between Britain and the sub-continent for the past 300 years.
Also published in paperback by Penguin Books.
‘This is a really important book offering a splendid overview of the heritage of the Raj.’
Penelope, Lady Betjeman
‘A stunning and scholarly achievement; one of my books of the year.’
Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Times