Tracks - Kevin J. Last

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Résumé :
Tracks: A Journey Through Metro-Land tells the story of Metro-land and the development of suburbia that grew alongside the Metropolitan Railway. Originally the brainchild of eminent Victorians, the Metropolitan grew to become the queen of underground lines, eventually expanding to a point some fifty miles outside London. Author Kevin J. Last describes how the concept of Metro-land was an aspiration for several levels of society, promising a better lifestyle well away from the deprivations of wartime. The idea that the working man could live comfortably outside the 'smoke' in individually designed houses would mean that he could also thrive at work, largely due to the regular service offered by the new railway. This was quite exceptional in that, while nominally an underground line, most of the Met's route was above ground and, in length, went far beyond other similar lines, far out into the Buckinghamshire countryside. Not marked on any map, Metro-land is as much a concept of the mind as a real place....

Biographie:
Kevin J Last has degrees in Film Studies and English Literature. Fascinated by the power of film, he has lectured widely for various universities and written, produced and acted in educational and entertainment shows for the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford and elsewhere. Subjects have included the Music Hall, World War I and John Betjeman. He has been published on a number of occasions both in the Daily Mail and a trilogy of books on Cotchford Farm in different eras for Unicorn Publishing. He has a wide knowledge of the films of Alfred Hitchcock....

Sommaire:
Tracks: A Journey Through Metro-Land tells the story of Metro-land and the development of suburbia that grew alongside the Metropolitan Railway. Originally the brainchild of eminent Victorians, the Metropolitan grew to become the queen of underground lines, eventually expanding to a point some fifty miles outside London. Author Kevin J. Last describes how the concept of Metro-land was an aspiration for several levels of society, promising a better lifestyle well away from the deprivations of wartime. The idea that the working man could live comfortably outside the 'smoke' in individually designed houses would mean that he could also thrive at work, largely due to the regular service offered by the new railway. This was quite exceptional in that, while nominally an underground line, most of the Met's route was above ground and, in length, went far beyond other similar lines, far out into the Buckinghamshire countryside. Not marked on any map, Metro-land is as much a concept of the mind as a real place....