Christopher Winn Audiobooks

I Never Knew That About London: the city's hidden stories, street by street

1 audiobook reviewed

★ 4.6/5 average

359 listener ratings

Who is Christopher Winn?

Familiarity is the enemy of noticing, and the cure is a writer prepared to walk a well-known place slowly. Christopher Winn does exactly that with London in I Never Knew That About London, a title that doubles as a fair description of the listening experience.

The form is the compendium rather than the narrative. Short pieces, curiosities, the plaque you have passed a hundred times and the story sitting behind it. Books of this shape live or die on the quality of the selection, and this one has held a large audience since it appeared.

For Londoners it works as a corrective to familiarity. For everyone else it is a way of arriving in a city already knowing where to look.

Christopher Winn in audiobooks

I Never Knew That About London is the title to start with, and ten hours is generous for a book you are under no obligation to hear in order. Compendium listening is forgiving: dip in, skip back, no plot to lose.

Timothy Bentinck reads it, and the pairing is close to ideal. A warm, unfussy English voice is exactly right for material that amounts to a very good guided walk conducted at your own pace.

Strong scores from a large number of listeners bear that out. Explore the audiobooks below.