Sherlock Holmes firstcame to live in London in 1877 -the date is arguable - and in this bookMichael Harrison, London's historian extraordinary, delightfullycompares the city that Holmes and Watson knew with the London of today.Whatchanges have taken place in the Baker area since the Two Friends firstset up Street housekeeping at 221B in 1881? And what of the theatres andmusic-halls, like the old Olympia and the Oxford; the restaurants - afive-course dinner at the Globe in Coventry Street for only 3s; and theshops - dress-suits from five guineas upwards - which they surelypatronised? And how much would they recognise today of the riversidescene they glimpsed in 1888 as they raced down-Thames in hot pursuit ofJonathan Small and the Great Agra Treasure in one of the most excitingriver chases in literature?Here, in prose and pictures, are theanswers to all these questions. The famous buildings that have gone andthose which, not always for the better, have replaced them; the streetswhich have altered beyond recognition; and the changes, too, which havetaken place since Holmes's day not only in the face of London but themanners, the dress and the very way of life of its people - a far removefrom the customs and traditions of the London 'Society' once familiarto 'the world's greatest consulting detective'.Illustrated byclose on a hundred photographs and drawings, this is a book which notonly Sherlockians will welcome as uniquely combining an enjoyablyinstructive guide to the London of today with a 'nostalgic evocation' ofHolmes's London of gaslight, hansom cabs and 'gasogenes'.